Our History
Our Story
where it all began
From its humble beginnings to present day, learn the incredible history behind the Jackaroo Treehouse Rainforest Retreat.
The building that you now see here, this beautiful Balinese styled Treehouse, was opened in 1985 by a worldly young swashbuckling adventurer. After travelling the world and partaking in many heroic adventures, a young man by the name of Roger returned to Australia in the mid 1970’s and found himself in Mission Beach, specifically, Bingil Bay. With the intent of “settling down”, well at the very least settling down for a little while, he set out to find the perfect location to build his Treehouse. The location he found was 400 acres of pristine world heritage rainforest. On seeing the site, he fell in love with the location and incredible views and immediately set about building his Treehouse.
Now here is the twist to the story. The Jackaroo Treehouse that stands here today is not the actual building he originally built. The original building was built in the late 1970’s and stood some 300 metres from where the current Jackaroo Treehouse now stands. During it’s lifetime, the original Treehouse garnered itself somewhat a reputation as a “must stay” location when travelling the East Coast of Australia by international travelers seeking a “real rainforest experience”. Unfortunately though, with building codes as they were in Queensland in the 1970’s, after only a few years of operation mother nature had other ideas and the building was eventually taken back by the ailments of weather and the rainforest. However, if you are an avid explorer and search hard enough, you may be able to locate some old remnants of the old wooden building that still stand to this day.
After the closure of the first Treehouse, a determined Roger set about building a bigger and better Treehouse. He traveled extensively throughout Asia, gathering ideas and knowledge on how they built the different types of traditional treehouse buildings that had been lived in for thousands of years. Eventually, he returned with his design and set about determined as ever to follow his dream. Over the next 3 years he had the plans drawn up and applied for all the necessary permits to carry out the work and to also run the business. Construction of the Treehouse began in late 1984 and the build would prove very challenging at times. They were building through North Queensland’s tropical wet season and the constant rain and humidity would often prove too much and so work would often be delayed or halted. Determined as ever though, Roger pushed on through all the elements. For his Treehouse dream had started way back in the mid 1970’s and it was now so close he was not going to let it get away.
After a very long and grueling 11 months, the build was completed. Roger’s dream had now come to life after nearly a decade since he first started out on his journey to build his dream Treehouse. In October of 1985, the doors of the Treehouse swung open to it’s first guests. Since that day, it has continued to operate and provide accommodation and lasting memories to all its guests. Many have returned over the years, bringing their children and showing them why it holds such a warm place in their hearts.
