FROGS are the focus of a new tourism opportunity in Bonville which will leap up a level thanks to a NSW Government Experience Development Fund grant of $150,000.

The Frogarium, owned by local master frog breeder Peter Johnson, will provide an educational experience giving people an understanding of Australia’s frog population.

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People will be able to view 24 species of Australian frogs and learn about their breeding habits.

The site will have an educational room where visitors will receive a talk and view a video before they are taken through to see the frogs in their habitat enclosures.

Peter told News Of The Area the focus is on education.

“There’s going to be a lot of information in each enclosure, with pictures of tadpoles and frogs’ eggs and a description of how they breed, where they breed, that sort of thing,” he said.

“The Frogarium is not a zoo where people just walk through and look.”

Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh said the NSW Government investment, such as funding for The Frogarium, would turbocharge visitation to our region.

“The Coffs Coast visitor economy is bursting back to life and this funding will help a local tourism operator deliver the best possible visitor experiences,” Mr Singh said.

“Daily day tours will be offered plus night tours during holiday periods, as well as photographic tours for enthusiasts, together with school tours which will have a dedicated educational room.

“And it will be a good option for tourists in wet weather.”

Peter hopes the facility will be built and opened by December 2023.

“We’ve picked a nice block of swamp land, a good frog environment, where there will be plenty of space for people to view the enclosures.

“It has been very well planned out,” he said.

The Frogarium manager Jacqui Forest, who wrote the successful grant application, told NOTA, “The Experience Development Fund is for the development of new attractions and experiences in NSW that directly align with the strengths identified in state and local tourism objectives.

“The Frogarium being Australia’s, and possibly the world’s, only dedicated frog educational facility, dovetailed nicely with the nature-based tourism objectives.

“Some of the feedback received about our grant application highlighted the uniqueness of The Frogarium frog educational facility and the opportunity it presents to encourage visitation to the Coffs Harbour area.”

Jacqui and Peter are thrilled that The Frogarium will be able to share its wonderful animals with the public again in 2023.

“We have missed being able to show people our native amphibians up-close, and especially to share information about endangered frog species and how they differ from cane toads.

“The Frogarium will offer a fun and educational experience, appropriate to people of all ages,” said Jacqui.

The original Frogarium was a modest offering which opened just prior to Covid and closed during the pandemic.

“The grant funding will be used to deliver a higher quality experience and to open sooner.”

Frogs are important to the environment because they are part of a healthy ecosystem, and act as an early warning system.

“They are the first observed creature to disappear when something not good happens in the environment,” said Peter.

“Things are good here in Coffs, there’s not many houses on low land in Coffs that don’t have a green tree frog in the garden,” he said.

By Andrea FERRARI