About Cassowary Art Trail
The Cassowary Art Trail is a social endeavour with a unique combination of culture, art and conservation!
Purpose of the Project
The Cassowary Art Trail sets out to educate local communities and tourists alike on the value of the cassowary to provide unique and exclusive services to the sustainability and diversity of the rainforest and promote Tropical North Queensland as a must-see destination and bring tourists into our townships.
How this is achieved
Local individual Indigenous and non-indigenous artists paint life-sized cassowary statutes from each region where the painted cassowaries are placed. Setting up the Cassowary Art Trail under the same concept creates a strong branding for the whole Wet Tropics region from Mission Beach to the Daintree.
The Cassowary Art Trail is a not-for-profit project initiated by Jurg Jutzi in partnership with Kuranda Conservation Community Nursery Inc. The first three cassowary statues were set up around Kuranda in October 2022. These statues were painted individually by three local artists, Connie Rovina, Rebecca Koller and George Riley (Djabugay). Each artist was using their local knowledge and creativity to illustrate their connection to the cassowary and will express the story in the painting.
This project was achieved with local contributions from businesses and organisations and the Regional Art Development Fund (RADF) grant. In future, to fund the project's expansion, in-kind contributions, further cash donations and the selling of relevant merchandise are being sought, along with leasing out a painted cassowary statue for a minimum of one year.
What are the funds raised used for?
Initially, we used the lease amount to finance the next painted cassowary statue. Ultimately, any profit created will be used for conservation and revegetation projects handled by Kuranda Conservation Group, including:
Support, maintenance and expansion of the existing Cassowary Art Trail to encourage visitations to the region.
- Habitat restoration of specific rainforest trees for cassowaries from nursery to planting out;
- Research projects that help to protect cassowaries and all wildlife, including tracking;
- Maintenance of existing cassowary habitat.
Where are we going from here?
2023 Expanding the trail in Kuranda with additional statues. In April, one additional cassowary, which local artist Melanie Hava painted, was launched. Another two will be set up mid-year at Rainforestation Kuranda and another at Cairns ZOOM & Wildlife Dome. This results in a total of 6 painted cassowary statues.
2023/24 Expand into other cassowary habitats like Mission Beach, Innisfail, Babinda, Atherton Tablelands and the Daintree. Different contact and discussion from each region are ongoing.
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We need your support to achieve this goal to expand into the whole Wet Tropics.
Thank you very much for your support
Regards from Kuranda
Jurg Jutzi
Founder /Project manager
Project in collaboration with
Kuranda Conservation Community Nursery Inc
