Page 32 - Tropic Magazine Issue 32

TROPIC • COVER STORY

PROFILE
They are most well-known as the founders of
Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, but a delve
into Don and Judy Freeman’s skill sets,
life experiences and personalities proves there’s
no pigeonholing this compelling pair.

Words: Renee Cluff
Don and Judy Freeman are the definition of multifarious.
They’re Jewish Buddhists, entrepreneurs, hippies, explorers,
producers, socialists, and grandparents. Don is an accountant
from New York whose real passion is theatre, Judy a former
Montreal teacher who loves mixing it up on the DJ deck.
Together, they were involved in the birth of the Goa trance scene
and pioneered cultural tourism in Far North Queensland.
They are risk-takers, party people, storytellers, visionaries, and
simply … fascinating.
I met the couple on their 50-acre property at Russett Park, on
Kuranda’s outskirts. They built their own house there after
moving to Australia from India in the 1980s. For Don and Judy,
it was an impulsive yet calculated (again that paradox!) decision
to leave their beloved Goa community and relocate to Far North
Queensland to educate their children. After abandoning a move
to Ibiza at the last moment in favour of seeing new places and
meeting new people, they settled on Cairns – the only place that
met their criteria of being tropical, democratic and
English speaking.

32 • Tropic • Issue 32