Dave Donald

David started his working life as a Medical Laboratory Technician before deciding to move to retailing, then into tourism. He also started freelance writing, mainly about fishing, while still at the laboratory, and this pursuit prompted his first visit to the northern Cape in 1987, on assignment to write a magazine feature about the newly established Cape York Wilderness Lodge. And so his passion for Cape York Peninsula began!

After moving to the Lodge as the fishing charter contractor in 1990, he spent 7 years in the NPA at the Lodge and Punsand Bay, pioneering guided sportfishing on the Cape, before moving his operation to Weipa in 1997. Over the next 15 years, his innovation, backed by magazine articles and other promotional activities, has helped consolidate the vibrant charter fishing sector that the Western Cape now boasts.

As a concerned member of the Weipa and wider Cape community, David’s activities over the years have included involvement in the Weipa Catchment Group, Western Cape Chamber of Commerce, Weipa Marine & boating Group, Cape York Sustainable Futures and Tourism Cape York, both of the latter as a Board member. His published reports include strategies for recreational fishing tourism and indigenous business development.

As a long term ratepayer who has invested in our community and contributed significantly to local business over many years, David’s election to the Weipa Town Authority comes with a desire to work hard to reinvigorate community aspirations, ensure the security of local businesses and look positively towards our future as the town moves towards normalization and a more diverse economy.