The awards ceremony was held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.

It was the second year in a row that the park had won the indigenous award.

The prestigious awards recognise the park’s commitment to offering visitors the best that Jervis Bay has to offer like glorious beaches and the chance to engage with the cultural history of the region.

The park achieves all this through successful joint management between its traditional owners, the Wreck Bay Aboriginal community, and the Australian Government.

Traditional owner and botanic gardens curator Bernie McLeod accepted the awards on behalf of the Wreck Bay community and the park.

“I’m very excited, not just for myself but also for the whole community, for the whole park,” he said.

“I think the community is going to really benefit from this - Booderee has been a hidden gem and winning awards like this really puts our name out there.

“It’s just a great achievement - and everyone has been involved in what we’re doing.

“It’s the whole South Coast that has really been involved including extended family up and down the coast.

“Booderee is such a fantastic place and these awards help us to open our doors to the wider community so they see what we have here.

“A lot of people don’t know this place or have even been to Booderee. This let’s us tell them what a great place we’ve got and open it up to everyone.”

More than half of Booderee’s staff is indigenous. They manage Australia’s only Aboriginal-owned botanic gardens and work in every area of the park, from park rangers to visitor guides.

Tourism offerings range from self-guided walking tours and special sessions on the park’s indigenous history, bush tucker and medicine.

More than 400,000 people visited the park in 2009, taking advantage of its family friendly atmosphere, camping, bushwalking, bird and whale watching.

The park will now compete in the National 2009 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards to be announced in Hobart on February 26.

After attending the awards ceremony, Councillor John Fergusson said the park’s achievement was outstanding and called on Shoalhaven Mayor Paul Green to host a civic reception for the staff.