Rick Murray arrived in Darwin in 1965 and has called the Top End home ever since. He attended school and university in Darwin and Sydney and has since travelled extensively, both overseas and throughout Australia.

Rick Murray is based in Darwin where, until February this year, he was General Manager of Odyssey Tours & Safaris, which evolved from the small tour operation he established in 1988. Nowadays he runs his own consultancy, Middle Star Pty Ltd, offering Tourism Business Development Services and he serves 2 days a week as Manager of Savannah Guides.

He has been actively involved at the ‘coal face’ of nature based tourism for over 19 years and has a detailed knowledge of the interaction between tourism and our natural and cultural heritage right across the north of the continent. His experience covers lands both within Protected Areas and other lands such as Aboriginal Freehold lands and Pastoral Leases.

Over the past decade he has served on a number of tourism industry committees particularly those focussed on issues affecting our natural and cultural environment and on the continual improvement of industry standards among tour operators and guides.

Rick served as a Commissioner on the Board of the NT Tourist Commission from 1992 to 1994 and has recently been appointed to the new Advisory Board of Tourism NT.

He is Chairman of the Kakadu Tourism Consultative Committee and a member of the Kakadu National Park Board of Management.  He currently represents the industry as a member of an advisory group for the CRC for Tropical Savannas which is encouraging environmental and socio-economic research and development for tourism across Northern Australia. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Katherine Region Tourist Association and a Director of Aboriginal Tourism Australia.