Rainbow Lorikeet | Sinoto's Lorikeet | Scaly-breasted Lorikeet |
Griffiths founded the 26 ha Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on his family property at Currumbin, Queensland in 1947 after he started feeding the local wild lorikeets to distract them from damaging his flowers, an initiative that grew into a major tourist attraction.
The Blue-crowned Lorikeet (Vini australis) is a parrot found throughout the Samoa and Tonga islands and Lau archipelago, including: ʻAlofi, Fotuhaʻa, Fulago, Futuna, Haʻafeva, Niuafoʻou, Moce, Niuē, Ofu, Olosega, Sāmoa, Savaiʻi, Tafahi, Taʻu, Tofua, Tonga, Tungua, ʻUiha, ʻUpolu, Varoa, Vavaʻu, and Voleva.
The sanctuary was opened as the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary by Alex Griffiths in 1947 as a scheme to stop the local lorikeet population destroying his flower plantations.
The Musk Lorikeet was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790 as Psittacus concinnus, from a collection in the vicinity of Port Jackson in what is now Sydney.
This lorikeet is common in most timbered areas of Eastern Australia from Bamaga, the tip of North Queensland, south to Illawarra district on the New South Wales south coast; also on some offshore islands.