Dinosaurs are coming to the Capricorn Coast!
Posted on September 1st, 2020
In exciting news for Cooberrie Park Wildlife Sanctuary and the Capricorn Coast community, a swarm of 35 life-sized Jurassic giants are set to embark on a world-class development that will attract domestic and international visitors to our destination.
Adding a new tourist attraction to the Capricorn Coast, the Capricorn Dinosaur Park will feature a three-kilometre wheelchair and stroller-friendly dinosaur walk, educational dinosaur fossil dig, mini-golf course, dinosaur-themed playground area, interactive movie theatre and more.
Spread over five acres, and complimenting the region’s Dig the Tropic geo-trail drive experience, the dinosaur park will allow visitors to step back in time to the Jurassic era and discover more about the prehistoric period.
Receiving almost $800,000 in State Government funding for the project last week, Cooberrie Park’s wildlife ranger Kieron Smedley is thrilled to deliver this unique experience that will further add to the amazing attractions already on offer in our area.
“This project has been three years in the making with many working behind the scenes to get us to this point,” Kieron said.
“Capricorn Enterprise CEO, Mary Carroll has played a key role in powering this project along, working tirelessly to ensure a positive funding result. We are also grateful for the incredible support our application received from both Livingstone Shire Council and Member for Keppel, Brittany Lauga MP.”
“Our well supported Capricorn Dinosaur Park will be the first private major tourism attraction built in Central Queensland for 30 years.”
While construction is expected to take approximately 10 months to complete, once up and running, the Capricorn Dinosaur Park will inject an extra $2.3 million per year into the local economy and boost visitor numbers for 20,000.
Member for Keppel, Brittany Lauga said that now is the time to invest in new product so when our economy has recovered, we have new attractions that will draw thousands to tourists back to the region and pump millions of dollars into our local economy.
“Tourism is vital to our plan for economic recovery in Keppel. This project won’t just boost our local tourism industry, it will also create construction jobs in coming months,” Brittany said.
With 272 Expressions of Interest for the $25 million funding for Queensland, only 52 were invited to provide a full business case in the next round, with Cooberrie Park’s Capricorn Dinosaur Park fortunately being one of those.
Capricorn Enterprise CEO, Mary Carroll extends her congratulations to Kieron and the team at Cooberrie Park for obtaining the ‘green light’ on their long-term dream.
“Capricorn Enterprise encouraged Cooberrie Park to submit an expression of interest (EOI), engaging experienced grant writer, Prue Saxby from Indigo Gold to coordinate and assist with both the EOI and business case.”
“The proactive assistance we received from Livingstone Shire Council has been extremely helpful in securing this grant and the support for the project by the Department of Tourism and our local Member for Keppel, Brittany Lauga has been most welcomed.”
“Cooberrie Park Wildlife Sanctuary has been a drawcard for our destination for many years now, and we are thrilled to see this new tourism infrastructure take another mighty step forward, particularly in these unprecedented and unpredictable times,” Mary said.
“Tourism operators on the Capricorn Coast and beyond have been hit hard in 2020, and I commend the State Government for making these funds available to our tourism industry through the Growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund.”
The Capricorn Dinosaur Park is anticipated to open its doors to the public during 2021. Budding paleontologists are invited to follow Cooberrie Park Wildlife Sanctuary’s Facebook page to stay up to date with the progress of the development.
