Lizzie Corke OAM

Lizzie founded the Conservation Ecology Centre with Shayne Neal based on their shared vision to support a healthy and resilient Otways landscape cared for forever. Her interests lie in creating sustainable models for conservation through building partnerships and engaging community.

Since 2000, the Conservation Ecology Centre team has restored the woodlands of Cape Otway to support koalas and other native species, undertaken landscape-scale invasive species control programs, conducted critical research in to planned burning to conserve threatened species and mitigate wildfire risk, and developed an ecological research network to share knowledge with land managers.

Lizzie has driven several innovative funding models, including establishment and operation of the Great Ocean Ecolodge, and the conception, development and operation of Wildlife Wonders, a unique ecotourism experience that operates as a social enterprise to support the CEC’s conservation efforts. In only its second year of operation, Wildlife Wonders was named by National Geographic as one of the planet’s 25 most exciting destinations for 2022.

Lizzie received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020 for service to conservation and the environment and was awarded the Banksia Foundation’s 2005 Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year. She has served as a member of the National Environmental Education Council, a Director of Ecotourism Australia, and as Chair of the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Community Advisory Group.