What a fantastic evening was had by all last night at the 2016 Tasmanian Tourism Awards held at Wrest Point Hobart!

Although Bonorong did not win the Tourism Attraction award that we were a finalist in (well done to our friends at Pennicott Wilderness Journeys for this one!), we were overjoyed that our director Greg Irons was awarded the Tourism Minister's Young Achiever Award!

Greg was left speechless (trust us, this is a very rare thing!) and we have a message from him this morning to share with you all:

"I would like to thank all of the Bonorong family. The rescuers, the supporters and of course most importantly the staff. Any award we win belongs to every one of you, as a few good ideas on paper are nothing without all of you behind it.

To the Bonorong staff, you are truly the cogs of so many incredible things that we are achieving for wildlife and conservation and you are all such an amazing bunch of people. Though we did not win our category you all know how hard you work to achieve the most incredible things on a daily basis and can relax everyday knowing that you save, educate and provide relief to so many animals in need that simply never have the voice and support they thoroughly deserve.

To my family, you have always been there with your unconditional support and believing in every single thing that we put our minds to and encouraging us so whole heartedly. Particularly my parents, who many will not even begin to know how integral they have been to everything we achieve, starting simply with the belief we could do it and getting behind us.

But my most important message today is if we look at many of the award winners last night they all rely so heavily on Tasmania being the beautiful clean and green place that it is. Tourism is surging forward while so many unsustainable industries flop. I desperately hope it is yet another obvious reminder that we need to protect our natural places and wildlife. It is what our award was given for, so let's hope to see the demise of seemingly endless and often extremely short sighted decisions being made in Tasmania. Stand up for this place and stand up for what is right. Make sure you are all a voice and a loud one at that. Thanks all - Greg Irons."

Come and Discover Tasmania :)