Ninney Rise facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ninney Rise and John Busst Memorial |
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Ninney Rise, 2003
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| Location | 405 Alexander Drive and Esplanade, Bingil Bay, Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1940s – 1960s (post-World War II) |
| Built | c.1960 |
| Architect | John Busst |
| Official name: Ninney Rise and John Busst Memorial, John and Alison Busst's Residence | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 6 August 2010 |
| Reference no. | 602499 |
| Significant period | 1960s onwards |
| Builders | John Busst |
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Ninney Rise and the John Busst Memorial are important historical sites located in Bingil Bay, Queensland, Australia. Ninney Rise is a unique house designed and built around 1960 by John Busst, an artist and environmental hero. He lived here with his wife, Alison. This special place is also known as John and Alison Busst's Residence. It was officially added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 August 2010 because of its historical importance.
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A Home for an Environmental Hero
Ninney Rise is found in beautiful Bingil Bay, north of Mission Beach in northern Queensland. John Busst, an artist and environmentalist, built this house around 1960. He used bricks made nearby and local bamboo for its construction. John lived in the house with his wife, Alison, until he passed away in 1971. From this home, Busst led a strong and successful effort. He worked hard to protect Queensland's amazing Great Barrier Reef and its tropical rainforests. He fought against plans that would have harmed these natural treasures.
Early Settlers and Natural Beauty
The land where Ninney Rise stands was once part of a large 160-acre block. Sidney B. Cutten first claimed this land in 1884. The Cutten family were among the first non-Indigenous settlers in the area. They were known for their gardening skills. The original home at Ninney Rise was built by the Alexanders, who were cousins of the Cuttens. This home served as a boarding house for many years. However, John Busst's house was built on a different spot.
For a long time, areas like Mission Beach, Bingil Bay, and Dunk and Bedarra Islands remained mostly untouched. This was because they were isolated and often hit by strong cyclones. These challenges helped keep the area's stunning natural beauty. This natural beauty, along with exciting stories from Queensland author Edmund James Banfield, drew artists and nature lovers to the area. John Busst and his sister Phyllis were among them. They first leased a part of Bedarra Island in 1940. Later, they bought almost the entire island.
John Busst's Artistic Journey
John Busst's interest in art, building, and speaking up for causes started when he was young. He grew up in Victoria. After attending Wesley College, he studied at Melbourne University. He then shared a house with Arthur Munday and Harold Holt, who later became the Prime Minister of Australia.
Busst and Munday later studied art with Justus Jorgensen, a painter who was very important in Melbourne's art scene. In 1934, Busst followed Jorgensen to Eltham, a suburb outside Melbourne. This area had attracted artists since the early 1900s. There, Busst helped build a community of artists, musicians, and craftspeople known as Montsalvat. Their building ideas included using natural and local materials. They used things like pise de terre (rammed earth) and mud bricks. As one of Montsalvat's builders, Busst learned creative and natural building skills. This artistic background influenced how Busst built his homes. When he moved to north Queensland with his sister in 1940, his first house on Bedarra Island was made with handmade mud bricks. This house has since been taken down.
Moving to Bingil Bay
After 1947, John Busst divided his land on Bedarra Island and sold 86 acres. His sister Phyllis went back to Melbourne. John married Alison Shaw Fitchett, who joined him on Bedarra in the early 1950s. In 1957, John and Alison Busst sold their Bedarra Island home. They moved to Bingil Bay, buying just under 10 acres of land. This land reached the beach and offered amazing views of the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef. They also bought another 154-acre block to the north. This larger block included a lot of tropical lowland rainforest and a rocky area called Ninney Point. In the late 1950s or early 1960s, the Bussts built their new home on this site.
John Busst designed their new house to be very strong. He wanted it to survive the powerful cyclones that hit the coast. He used materials found nearby. He hired a local builder to construct the main part of the house using bricks from the Silkwood Brickworks. Then, Busst used bamboo, which had been planted in the area a long time ago, for decoration. He created beautiful ceiling designs, door and window frames, and other fittings throughout the house. He even made furniture from bamboo.
A visitor named Patricia Clare described the Busst's new home in the 1960s. She wrote that the white house stood on its own cliff, with rainforest behind it. In front, the blue water stretched out to the hidden reefs. She said it was like a traditional Australian country house, with rooms surrounded by wide verandahs. The roof was like a shady hat pulled down low. Busst built it like a fortress, using brick and strong concrete to last through cyclones. He once said, "I am not interested in making anything that won't last for a thousand years." She remembered stepping into a room with a ceiling made of bamboo patterns.
Busst's unique artistic style and his love for nature's beauty slowly grew. He began to understand the scientific reasons why nature needed to be saved. In the 1960s, he became an environmental activist.
Protecting Queensland's Natural Wonders
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Queensland's coast was facing big threats. There was a rapid increase in development, driven by a boom in using natural resources. Busst saw large areas of rainforest being cut down. This was to make space for growing sugar and bananas, and for cattle farms. When the wet season came, topsoil would wash into the ocean. This carried pesticides, nutrients, and phosphates out to sea and onto the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef was also suffering from fishing practices that were not sustainable and many crown-of-thorns starfish.
Saving the Rainforests
John Busst was a founder, Chairman, and Secretary of the Committee for the Preservation of Tropical Rainforest. In 1965, he convinced the Australian government to hire rainforest scientists Dr. Leonard Webb and Geoff Tracey. They did the first detailed study of north Queensland's rainforests. Their 1966 study was very important. It was the first time anyone scientifically said how important Queensland's lowland rainforests were to the world. It also suggested protecting all types of North Queensland forests. This led to the first actual protection of lowland tropical Queensland rainforest.
Webb and Tracey stayed with Busst at his Bingil Bay house while they worked on medicinal drugs from rainforest plants. They were pioneers in studying and protecting Australian rainforests. They pushed for lowland rainforests to be saved by creating national parks. The Bussts joined them in this important campaign.
The "Save the Reef" Campaign
John Busst's campaign to save the Great Barrier Reef became very famous. It is well-known in Australian environmental history. In 1967, a cane grower wanted to collect coral from 84 acres of what they said was dead reef. They wanted to use it as a cheap source of agricultural lime. Busst strongly objected. He gathered proof that Ellison Reef was alive.
This led to a big fight involving many important environmental groups. These included the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Queensland Wildlife Preservation Society, the Queensland Littoral Society (now called the Australian Marine Conservation Society), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (US). Busst also sent an objection to the Minister for Mines, the Premier, and other government officials. He got a lot of media attention for the case. He also got help from his long-time friend, Prime Minister Harold Holt. Holt, who had visited Bingil Bay with John Busst, even built a holiday home nearby.
Six months after the hearings in the Innisfail Courthouse, Queensland Mines Minister Ron Camm said no to the mining request. This was a huge victory! It set a rule that the reef should not be mined. It also made the public aware of the issue of using the Reef's resources. This case became a cornerstone for the conservation movement in Queensland.
Fighting Against Oil Drilling
Busst's other major fight was to protect the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling. By September 1967, the Queensland Government had leased a massive area of the Great Barrier Reef (nearly 21 million hectares) to companies that wanted to drill for oil. Busst wrote to both Harold Holt and Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam. He suggested a pause on drilling on the reef. He also asked for their support for a tropical marine science research center in Townsville.
This campaign became very political. Busst and his supporters showed that some government ministers, including Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, had shares in the oil companies. The campaign grew bigger. It pushed for the Australian Government to take control of the reef from the state government. Even though he was not well, Busst worked with trade unions and politicians, especially Senator George Georges. They pressured the Queensland Government and the oil companies. Busst planned to sue the Queensland Government, saying they worked with businesses to promote drilling. He made this plan widely known.
Public support grew, and the "Save the Reef" campaign got support from all political sides. The campaign became international as Busst sent up to 4,000 letters around the world. In March 1970, an oil tanker ran aground in the Torres Strait. This alarmed the federal government, which then started a Royal Commission (a big official inquiry) into mining on the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time, laws were being written to give the federal government control over underwater resources on the Continental Shelf.
During these tough campaigns in the 1960s, Ninney Rise, Busst's house at Bingil Bay, became the heart of the movement. Many important visitors came here. These included politicians like Harold Holt, and famous scientists. Marine biologist Dr. Don McMichael, Japanese bird expert Dr. Jiro Kikkawa, rainforest ecologists Webb and Tracey, and US marine collector Eddie Hegerl and his dive team all visited. Many conservation workers and author Judith Wright also came. Wright, who was the first president of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland in 1962, was deeply involved in the activism. She wrote about it in her book The Coral Battleground, which she dedicated to Busst. In the 1990s, Wright described Busst as "the man whose energy and devotion had first sparked off, and largely continued" the fight to save the reef.
Busst passed away in 1971 while preparing his evidence for the Royal Commission. Judith Wright wrote the words for a memorial plaque at Bingil Bay. It overlooks the ocean just below Ninney Point. This plaque remembers his strong dedication to conservation and nature. Four years later, the Australian government took over managing the Great Barrier Reef. They did this by creating the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act. This created the world's largest marine protected area.
Ninney Rise After John Busst
Alison Busst divided the land around Ninney Rise in Bingil Bay in 1975. She gave the northern rainforest headland around Ninney Point to the State of Queensland. Four years later, she sold the house to an American conservationist named Kate Tode.
Kate Tode and her friend, Jean Rentoul, moved into Ninney Rise in October 1979. Mrs. Tode took care of the Bussts' home. She also added another level above the garage at the northern end of the house. In the early 1980s, she arranged for a tool shed and driveway to be built. She also had a swimming pool installed and re-tiled the bathrooms and kitchen. In 1982, Tode gave 3.8 hectares of the property to the State. This became National Park 1828 (now part of the Clump Mountain National Park) on 17 March 1984. When Tode passed away on 22 February 1990, she left the rest of the property, including the house, to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS). Ninney Rise was officially handed over to QPWS in 1995.
In the early 2000s, QPWS planned to sell the property. However, conservation groups successfully argued against it. They told various Queensland Ministers that the place had important cultural and natural heritage values. In 2008, QPWS made some repairs to the building, mainly to the verandah ceilings, floor, and foundations. John and Alison Busst's former home in Bingil Bay still belongs to the people of Queensland.
A community group called Friends of Ninney Rise leased Ninney Rise from the Department of Environment and Science in mid-2014. You can find more information about John Busst and the fight to save the Great Barrier Reef on their website, www.ninneyrise.com.
What Does Ninney Rise Look Like?
Ninney Rise is located on a 1.98-hectare block of land. It is just south of Ninney Point in Bingil Bay. This is about 160 km south of Cairns and 35 km south of Innisfail. The property includes the main house, a separate garage, and large grounds. These grounds have native rainforest and a designed garden with a swimming pool, walkways, and driveways. The site is next to Clump Mountain National Park to the north, Bingil Bay to the east, and other homes to the south and west.
You reach the house by driving up a winding driveway from Alexandra Drive. The grounds are like a park with some old, tall trees. Next to the house, covering the northern part of the lot, is a thick tropical lowland rainforest. The house and grounds, including a swimming pool at the southern end, are only 20 meters from the beach at Bingil Bay. They offer views of the Coral Sea. About 50 meters west of the house, there is a concrete-block building with a sloped roof. This building contains a garage with a work area and a toilet. The swimming pool and garage are not considered part of the historical importance of the place.
The main part of the house is shaped like a "T" when you look at it from above. It faces roughly north-south, with the long eastern side looking out towards the ocean.
Building Features of Ninney Rise
The house is low to the ground. Its main walls are made of brick and support a concrete beam. The timber-framed roof, covered in metal sheets, is attached to this beam. The sloped roof extends over the main part of the house to form the verandah roof. This roof is held up by a concrete verandah plate on steel posts. These posts are fixed to the raised concrete verandah floor. The verandah floor is supported at its edges by concrete pillars. At each corner of the verandah, a brick wall extends diagonally from the house's brick foundations to the outer edge of the verandah floor. Three sets of concrete steps lead from the verandah to the garden. Two are on the front (eastern side) and one is on the western side. The verandah floor and stairs are covered with tiles. The verandah ceiling is lined with split bamboo.
The main walls of the house are made of two layers of bricks with a space in between. The bricks are laid on their sides in a pattern called stretcher bond. Every two or three bricks, a header brick connects the two layers of the wall. This creates a cavity of about 50 mm. The outside walls are painted, and the inside walls are plastered smooth. Many of the outside window and door frames are made of painted timber. However, some have been replaced with aluminum frames and flyscreens.
In the middle of the western side of the house, a single-story wing joins at a right angle. This wing has a sloped extension on its northern side. At the northern end of the main house, next to what was once the northern verandah, there is a two-story structure with a sloped roof. This part has a former garage on the ground floor and a newer addition above it.
Inside Ninney Rise
The house layout includes a living room at the southern end. This room is shaded by verandahs on three sides. It has glass doors that open to the verandahs on the east and west, and a large window to the south. A hallway extends north from the living room. Off this hall, facing the sea, is a bedroom with its own bathroom, a dining room, and a kitchen. The dining room and kitchen also have doors that open to the front (east) verandah. The former northern verandah, beyond the kitchen, is now an open breezeway and storage area. A laundry room has been created on the west verandah near the northern corner.
The back (west) wing is reached through a short hall that turns at a right angle from the main hallway. Off this secondary hall, there is a small bedroom to the south. A bathroom is to the north, and a studio or bedroom is to the west. This studio/bedroom has its own bathroom, which is under the sloped-roof extension. The studio gets most of its light from the south. From the secondary hall, between the two bathrooms, you can access a small porch. Beyond this is a brick-enclosed courtyard with an arched entrance in the western wall.
Most rooms, except for the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms, have ceilings made of split bamboo. The ceiling lights and fans are set in patterned cane or bamboo panels. The decorative frames around doors and windows, and the baseboards, are also made of bamboo. The door into the studio is also bamboo. This use of split bamboo is a very noticeable and beautiful feature of the house. A long strip of what looks like batik fabric is set into the studio ceiling. The inner timber-framed floors are generally covered with timber boards.
The northern two-story part of the house has a large storage room and garage on the ground floor. The upper level has a living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom. You reach this upper level by an internal timber staircase. This section is lined throughout with plasterboard.
The John Busst Memorial
The John Busst Memorial is located on a road reserve. It is just below Ninney Point, close to the beach. This is about 200 meters north of John and Alison Busst's former home, Ninney Rise. The memorial is a small brass plaque attached to a natural rock. The plaque faces the ocean. The words on the plaque say:
IN MEMORY Of JOHN H BUSST DIED 5 – 4 – 1971 ARTIST AND LOVER OF BEAUTY WHO FOUGHT THAT MAN AND NATURE MIGHT SURVIVE
Why Ninney Rise is Important
Ninney Rise and the John Busst Memorial were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 August 2010. They meet several important criteria.
Showing Queensland's History
Ninney Rise is important because it was the main place where artist and environmentalist John Busst organized the "Save the Reef" and other key environmental campaigns. These campaigns took place during the 1960s and early 1970s. The house is located within the very landscape that Busst was fighting to protect. It became a meeting spot for the campaigners and scientists who worked with him. It was a central point for all their efforts.
These campaigns were very challenging and had strong support from scientists in Australia and around the world. Their goal was to protect the Great Barrier Reef and the area's tropical rainforests from development and mining. These campaigns were very important in creating the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. They also led to the eventual declaration of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. These efforts show the history of Queensland's environmental conservation movement. Busst's home at Bingil Bay is a key place linked to this activism.
Its Beautiful Appearance
Ninney Rise, its park-like grounds, and its location within a stunning coastal lowland rainforest have great aesthetic significance. This means they are very beautiful. The views from the property include the marine environment, which is now recognized for its amazing natural values. John Busst fought to protect these values in the 1960s, long before they were widely appreciated.
Connection to an Important Person
Ninney Rise was a home and a central point for the early environmental conservation movement in Queensland. It is strongly connected to John Busst, the artist and environmental campaigner who designed and built it around 1960. He worked closely with the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Queensland Littoral Society (now the Australian Marine Conservation Society), and the Queensland Wildlife Preservation Society in the campaign to save the Great Barrier Reef.
Busst's environmental activism shows how he changed from an artist who loved nature's beauty to a conservationist. He began promoting the scientific reasons to protect the natural environment. The words on the memorial to John Busst near Ninney Point reflect his love for art, nature, and conservation.
