30 Oct Outdoors Queensland Award win for QCCC’s Neil Robinson
QCCC’s Senior Supervisor of Outdoor Education, Neil Robinson, has received the recognition and accolade he’s due from his industry peers, taking home the Queensland Government Outstanding Achievement Award (Individual) from the annual Queensland Outdoor Recreation Federation (QORF) Awards on Friday night.
Queensland Conference and Camping Centres (QCCC) won the Outstanding Organisation Award in 2013 largely off the back of the successful team Neil has assembled over more than two decades of service with the organisation. Neil is a trusted pioneer of Outdoor Education in Queensland, joining the staff at QCCC Mapleton in 1994 to start a one-man operation. From humble beginnings QCCC is now one of the largest providers of Outdoor Education programming in Queensland, catering to nearly 20,000 participants annually.
Two decades after he commenced Neil trains and operates his Outdoor Education to the highest standards, never being satisfied with anything less than industry best-practice. Many instructors who work for him have been with the organisation for ten years or more, an extraordinary statistic in an industry with significant turnover. Other instructors have taken the vast wealth of knowledge and training given them by Neil to become leaders in other areas of the State.
QCCC staff are trained in all aspects of Outdoor Education so they can follow their group through all activities, maximising the relationship with students and providing consistency. This is only possible if the staff are trained to exacting standards. Staff trained by Neil Robinson are known for their excellence and attention to detail – whether this be in the QCCC workplace, or amongst staff who have been trained by Neil and gone to work in other organisations in Queensland or globally.
QCCC’s Neil Robinson in instructor mode
From the outset Neil has attempted to make Outdoor Education accessible to all. The earliest Mapleton events were camps for single mothers and their children. The vast majority of QCCC’s activities are accessible for people in wheelchairs or significant disabilities, with instructors trained above and beyond normal requirements to make sure all can participate. This has emboldened QCCC Mapleton to construct a specialist accommodation wing for camps by Special Schools.
Neil has given two decades of his life to the passionate pursuit of excellence in Outdoor Education and has mentored many more to do the same. When he commenced in the industry it was the realm of a few hardy pioneers blessed with a vision for how the Outdoor Education could enrich the lives of many. That vision has been realised and continues to grow because of the work of Neil and his peers from those pioneering times. We congratulate Neil on his personal success and are thankful he’s part of the QCCC family.