Background
He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Currumbin, Queensland in about 1944 where he lived with his parents on two and a half acres in Tomewin Street.
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Alex Griffiths
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Griffiths founded the 26 hectare on his family property at Currumbin, Queensland in 1947 after he started feeding the local wild lorikeets to distract them from damaging his flowers, an initiative that grew into a major tourist attraction. Each day, at 4.30pm crowds of people would visit to hold the plates of bread and honey for the birds to gather around. While the spectacle of the birds feeding had featured in a number of magazines, the October 1956 edition of The National Geographic Magazine included an article entitled "The Honey Eaters Currumbin".
International awareness of the Sanctuary followed and visitor numbers increased.
Originally called the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary in 1976, Griffiths donated the property to the people of Queensland, to be managed by the National Trust of Queensland. lieutenant holds one of the largest collections of Australian wildlife in the world and has cared for injured wildlife since approximately 1949.
In 2009 it was added to the Queensland State Heritage Register. In 1996 Griffiths bought the 4 ha rainforested property that is now the and donated it to the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland.
In his will he expressed a wish for Bush Heritage Australia (BHA) to take over ownership and care of the land, and the transfer to BHA took place in 1999.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
July 29, 1998 (aged 86) -
Nationality
Australia