While welcomed, the recent heavy rain will cause further delays in the repair work underway on the single access road into Binna Burra Lodge, Lamington National Park in the scenic rim of the Gold Coast hinterland
On 8 September 2019, the historic Binna Burra Lodge and eleven homes in the local Beechmont area were devasted in the first major bushfire impact on what has turned out to be a terrible bushfire period for many parts of Australia. ‘For nearly five months now we have collaborated closely with the Department of Transport and Main Roads as they have done remarkable work to secure the cliff faces above and below the access road’ said Steve Noakes, Chairman of Binna Burra Lodge. ‘It’s dangerous work for the TMR team and their contractors, and we are enormously appreciative of the scope of the task they are undertaking.
The heavy rain last weekend has caused further instability on the slopes, and that will result in further delays to our reopening.’ Binna Burra has been hopeful of a partial reopening in April this year, in time for the Easter break. ‘That remains the target, but it is totally dependent on the weather conditions we will experience over the next few months’ explained Noakes. Neil Scales the Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland made a site inspection to the Binna Burra side of Lamington National Park today to get a first-hand briefing on the condition of the road and the situation at Binna Burra. ‘We were delighted to have Neil and his senior team visit us on site today. It gave us the opportunity to express our sincere appreciations to all TMR staff who are helping get this challenging road project completed and also for us to get a better understanding of the engineering and road stabilisation challenges TMR is faced with’ said Noakes.
Not long after Binna Burra was founded in 1933, a ‘flying fox’ was erected to haul goods up the to the location. It consisted of a huge wheel, (called the whim), laid horizontally at the top of the rise, pulled round by draught horse to draw a heavy-duty cable on which baggage was strung for its ascent, about 150 metres (490 ft). At night it was festooned with lanterns. The base of the flying fox was a large tallow wood tree. The flying fox operated until March 1947 when a road was completed to the lodge. The road became all-weather in 1951 when it was taken over by the Main Roads Commission and it was laid with bitumen in 1969. Nowadays, the road is the property of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Government of Queensland. Falling boulders on the access road remain a constant threat.
Chairman of Binna Burra Lodge, Steve Noakes, thanks to Neil Scales the Director-General of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland, for the extensive work being undertaken by TMR and its sub-contractors to make the road access into the Binna Burra side of the Lamington National Park secure and safe.
