About the Zoo & Wildlife

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is a heritage-listed zoological garden at 28 Tomewin Street, Currumbin, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1947 onwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 September 2009. The sanctuary is world-renowned for its feeding of huge flocks of free-flying wild rainbow lorikeets, which come to the sanctuary to feast off the special mixture which the lorikeets eat. The sanctuary was opened in 1947 by Alex Griffiths as the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary, originally intended to divert local lorikeets from damaging his flower crops. It has since become a major nature-based tourist attraction, known for daily lorikeet feeding and one of the largest collections of Australian native species in the world. The site includes a miniature railway (operating since 1964), a wildlife hospital, and newer exhibits such as the Lost Valley precinct, which opened in 2017. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is significant for its role in the evolution of nature-based tourism in Queensland, having grown from a local lorikeet-feeding attraction established by Alex Griffiths in 1947 into an internationally recognised site and one of the earliest surviving tourist facilities on the Gold Coast. It holds strong social value for generations of Queenslanders, reflected in its longstanding presence in tourism campaigns, public support against nearby development in the 1950s, and inclusion in Queensland’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The sanctuary is also closely associated with Griffiths' life work.