About Us

National Trust of Australia (Queensland) is a not-for-profit charity and member-based organisation, committed to conserving Queensland’s natural and cultural heritage, special places and collections within our care, as well as the protection of native wildlife, habitats and threatened species throughout Queensland. 

Delivering our mission ‘To conserve and advance our natural and cultural heritage for future generations’ is both a challenging and rewarding responsibility and is achieved through good governance practices actively followed by the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) Board and senior management.

National Trust of Australia (Queensland) is made up of a diverse and inclusive work team of 1000 volunteers and employees state-wide that are committed to our mission. We also partner with many community and training organisations, and other Australian charities to help achieve our goals.

National Trust of Australia (Queensland) is governed by an independent skills-based Board of nine directors supported by various Committees including Audit and Risk; Heritage and Advocacy; and Nominations and Governance. We acknowledge the genuine commitment of our staff, volunteers, regional Branch Committees and members who continually participate in all the National Trust programs and activities on offer across Queensland.

Our journey has yielded a strong organisation. National Trust of Australia (Queensland) was established by state legislation in 1963 as a member-based charity. In 2014, the National Trust transitioned to a public company limited by guarantee, a registered charity, and independent of State and Federal governments.

Today, we have over 24,000 members and a portfolio of 15 unique properties across Queensland from the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in the south-east to Cooktown Museum in the far north. Our State headquarters is located at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is an iconic part of Gold Coast heritage and one of the earliest tourism attractions in Australia, and this year marks the 75^th Anniversary year of the Sanctuary.  The Sanctuary was established by Alex Griffiths in 1947 as the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary and was listed on the State Heritage Register for its significance and contribution to nature-based tourism in Queensland. The Sanctuary developed from a local interest place to feed the wild rainbow lorikeets,  to an internationally recognised nature-based tourism attraction.  The Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary was awarded State Tourism Award winners for and National Silver Award winners of best Major Tourism Attraction in 2022.  Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary also is proud to lead and participate wildlife conservation programs.  NTAQ also operates Garima Conservation Reserve that is a stunning rainforest property in the Currumbin Valley that now houses one of our most significant threatened species breed-to-release programs, the Eastern Bristlebird breeding program. 

Another key operation is Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the world.  Located on the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary site, Currumbin Wildlife Hospital delivers much needed veterinarian services to native wildlife as a free community service.  The Wildlife Hospital participates in world leading research projects to ensure that we are focused on the prevention of diseases. 

Governance

NTA(Q) is a company and is independent of government.

On 1 July 2014, the statutory body National Trust of Queensland became the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) Limited, a public company limited by guarantee.

NTA(Q) is governed by a Board under the provisions of the constitution.

Amendments of the Constitution as outlined in the Notice of Meeting of 28 November 2017 were unanimously approved by Special Resolution by a majority of Governing Members present at the Annual General Meeting of 28 November 2017:

The Board determines the policies of NTA(Q) and governs the activities undertaken by NTA(Q)’s staff and many volunteers.

Under the new corporate structure, the Trust’s activities remain unchanged, however, the updated constitution allows all members of National Trust of Australia (Queensland) to also become members of the Company and be entitled to attend future Annual General Meetings and vote on resolutions and elect Directors via secret ballots.

Updated Constitution of National Trust of Australia (Queensland)