Former Lawrence Chinese Camp Charitable Trust chairwoman Adrienne Shaw said this week she had left the trust as she felt fellow board members lacked the "time, energy and passion" to move the heritage site's ambitions forward.
Her resignation called into question plans announced last year to develop the 150-year-old gold-rush camp into a multipurpose visitor complex, for an estimated $4.5million.
In a July 27 email to friends and associates, she said she had resigned "due to ongoing differences in opinion and styles".
However, Ms Shaw said she felt she had been "ambushed" by other trustees during a recent annual meeting.
"I'm a positive, solution-focused person and, stepping away as I now have, I can see that perhaps clashed with entrenched dysfunctional elements of the board.
"Things came to a head on July 22 when they tried to claim a technicality meant I wasn't elected properly last year. Rather than trying to look forward and work through things, there was a lot of clinging on to negativity. So, eventually, I walked out, and resigned soon after."
She said short-term plans for smaller fundraising events she had organised were now likely to lapse, but she hoped the longer-term project could be salvaged.
"I'd like to think it will continue, but I believe the trust and its membership need to be significantly restructured for that to happen successfully."
Newly elected chairman Geoff Blackmore said Ms Shaw did not resign as chairwoman, but had later resigned "voluntarily" as a trustee.
"Adrienne was not reappointed as chairwoman, as members of the trust were having difficulties with her leadership, and with the direction the trust was going.
"Trust members felt they were not being recognised within some decisions."
A recent failed application to the Lottery Grants Board to fund a project feasibility study had precipitated a change of focus for the trust, Mr Blackmore said.
"It's become apparent the original project remit may be too broad, so we've had a re-evaluation and decided to split the project into smaller parts. But the overall concept plans remain the same at this stage."
Mr Blackmore rejected claims of "dysfunctionality" within the trust.
"Following some robust discussions, we're united in our determination to move the trust and camp forward successfully."
