DOUBLE ISLAND TIMELINE

2012 - Benny Wu’s Fortune Island Holding Company buys lease for Double Island from former dotcom entrepreneur Sean Howard for $5.68m – its listed price was $8m.

2012 – Mr Wu buys Acacia Court Hotel on the Esplanade for $18m and promises an $80m revamp.

2013 – Mr Wu buys historic Whitfield House for $3.25m.

2014 – A deal between Mr Howard and Mr Wu to buy Kewarra Resort falls through.

2015 – Mr Wu buys the Esplanade property once home to well-known Cairns GP, the late Dr Lesley Westaway.

2017 – Cairns Regional Council conducts site inspection in response to public complaints and says “the site is in no condition to provide any sort of facility for tourism and nor is it doing so”.

2019 – Cairns Regional Council conducts another site inspection and says waste is accumulating, there is significant coastal erosion, no vegetation management and the mooring has deteriorating and cannot be used.

2020 – Cairns Regional Council writes to State Land Asset Management regarding a possible breach of the lease on Double Island.

2020 – Mr Wu buys 21-22 Knott Court, Whitfield for $5.29m.

2022 – The Department of Resources imposes a deadline of March 31, 2023, for Mr Wu to have public day use facilities at the island operating and the island caretaker says work is underway.

2022 – Tropical Palm Cove chair Tony Richards says the state of Double Island is negatively impacting Palm Cove.

2023 – The Department of Resources advises it is yet to receive a condition report on work done on Double Island as local MPs call for the lease to be forfeited.