Collaborative vision charts new path for Mount Etna’s future

By Priscilla Roberts

A full-day stakeholder workshop at Mount Etna Caves National Park has marked the first step in a long-term, collaborative approach to restoring one of Central Queensland’s most significant landscapes.

Led by CQUniversity, the visioning workshop and field trip brought together researchers, Traditional Owners, natural resource practitioners, land managers, community groups and volunteers to co-design a shared pathway for ecological restoration and cultural renewal.

In January, project partners gathered on Country for a visioning workshop and field trip to identify shared cultural, ecological and management priorities for the landscape. 

Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with plans now underway to establish a steering group to guide the next phases of the project.

Mount Etna Caves National Park is internationally recognised for its dramatic limestone formations, important semi-evergreen vine thicket ecosystem, extraordinary fossil record and cave systems. It is also home to little bent-wing bats and endangered ghost bats, and forms part of Country that holds deep cultural significance for the Darumbal People.

Impacted by historic limestone and bat guano mining, bushfires and changing land use, the park presents complex ecological challenges, but also a powerful opportunity to trial new, collaborative models of restoration.

Native resources for food and medicine expert, Rockhampton-based Associate Professor Mani Naiker from CQUniversity said Mount Etna was uniquely suited to this way of working.

“It’s about working with a landscape rather than imposing quick fixes,” Assoc Prof Naiker said.

“At Mount Etna, that means recognising deep time, cultural knowledge, threatened species and decades of community care, and weaving them into a shared vision for the future.

“This project puts Darumbal knowledge, volunteers and community leadership at the centre."

Dr Sally Hawkins and Cassie Jones, lead investigators for the project, said the emphasis on early visioning would be critical to its long-term success.

“This project is about taking time to develop a shared vision for the landscape,” Dr Hawkins said.

“By bringing together cultural knowledge, ecological understanding and community experience, we can design restoration pathways that are adaptive, inclusive and grounded in place.”

The pilot project – Application of a rewilding ‘Theory of Change’ framework to develop a rehabilitation program for the mine-impacted Mount Etna Caves National Park – brings together researchers Sally Hawkins, Cassie Jones and Mani Naiker (CQUniversity), and Kathleen Hatfield (Darumbal Enterprises), working alongside Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Darumbal Enterprises and volunteer group Old Guys Restoring Ecosystems (OGREs).

The project applies the first two stages of a five-stage Theory of Change framework adapted from the IUCN Guidelines for Rewilding. The focus is on co-designing a shared social–ecological vision and identifying priority outcomes and monitoring approaches to guide long-term action.

“What stood out was the alignment,” Assoc Prof Naiker said. 

“People came with different roles and perspectives, but there was strong agreement on the need for long-term thinking, shared responsibility and respect for Country.”

Reflecting on the broader significance of the work, Assoc Prof Naiker said the project offered lessons well beyond Mount Etna.

“This is about shaping a shared future,” he said.

“The Theory of Change framework gives people permission to slow down, listen properly and think together before acting. That’s incredibly powerful in complex settings – not just here, but anywhere we’re trying to navigate difficult histories, competing values or uncertain futures.

“It allows us to think bigger, act collaboratively, and care for Country well beyond the lifetime of any single project.”