Julian Burt said it was unusual for the couple to talk about their philanthropy and that they preferred to keep it quiet. Alexandra Burt said she hoped speaking about the gift would encourage others. “We just have a lot of passion for bark and leaves,” he said.
The donation comes through the Wright Burt Foundation, which supports arts, heritage, education, community and environmental causes. Other recipients include Great Southern Land Conservancy and BirdLife Australia, each receiving $10 million, and Aussie Ark, Conservation Partners, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Rainforest Rescue and South Endeavour Trust, which will each receive $5.33 million.
Atticus Fleming, chief executive of Great Southern Land Conservancy, said the donation could be the biggest conservation gift in Australian history. Claire O’Rourke, chief executive of the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network, said it was exciting to see, and that interest among philanthropists in environmental causes was growing.
Julian Burt said he thought the environment was “pretty critical right now” and pointed to negative publicity about wildfires, temperature rises in Europe and biodiversity loss. He said mining had done well for Alexandra’s family and used the metaphor that “[the wealth] has come out of the ground, and we’re putting it back into the ground.”