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Celebrating 10 years on the Cape—Bob Frazer’s story

Story | Robyn May

What an adventure it was for Bob Frazer when he stepped into the role as Cape York NRM’s inaugural CEO, and sole employee, in 2010. 

His first couple of years in the job saw Bob traversing the Cape to meet with as many people and community members as possible. Engaging with people to determine what it was that they needed to live and work effectively on the land they managed. 

People were excited to learn that the Cape finally had its own dedicated natural resource management (NRM) body, funded by both state and federal government, designed to help people work together to care for the natural environment and to promote the sustainable use of Cape York's natural resources. In fact, this purpose became the organisation’s official mission statement.

After one hundred and thirty thousand kilometres of travel across the Cape over two years, it became apparent to Bob that there were some very capable and aspiring delivery partners on Cape York who wanted to carry out the work on their country. In particular, Traditional Owner groups were keen to upskill to build the capacity to deliver their own projects.

Understanding what community priorities were, and what actually needed to be done on Cape York, helped to build the relationships needed to commence critical work. 

The Board of Directors adopted a model of project delivery through partnerships where Cape York NRM built capacity and funded groups on the Cape to carry out the work on their land. The thinking behind this approach was that there would be a legacy of capacity to deliver beyond the life of a regional body.

Cape York NRM now works alongside an amazing array of land and sea managers, supporting them to maintain and improve the land they love. 

Bob continued in his role as CEO until 2018 when he retired to relax and take life easy. Rumour has it that this might not be the case. You can’t keep a good man down! 

There is a lot happening as the organisation heads into the regional natural resource management plan for the Cape for the next 10 years, so your voice is immensely important right now. We’d love to hear from you. 

Contact us to learn more on 1300 132 262