How we began

Our mission 

Our ethos has always been to do what is important for conservation that, for whatever reason, is not being done.  We have always sought to work with others, whether government or private, to strengthen conservation outcomes and to complement both the public and private reserve systems.

We see ourselves as investing in irreplaceable and highly valuable conservation assets for the lasting benefit of the Australian community. 

Early Growth

Building a Legacy

Over the past twenty years we have built our portfolio of reserves carefully and deliberately.  We have worked hard to seek out really important properties with exceptionally high conservation values and then to build strategies to enable their purchase.  The majority of the properties we now protect were not for sale when we first identified them. Rather, we approached the owners and sought to seek solutions to protecting the conservation values of the land.  In some instances it took many years from first approach to final purchase.  But when your time horizon is centuries, waiting a few years is soon forgotten.  Building our reserve portfolio remains unfinished business.  There is still so much more that we need to do.  But buying land is far from the end of the story.  Protecting, researching, restoring and deeply caring for that land is the real focus of our ongoing efforts.

Expanding Our Impact

From Small Beginnings to Protecting the Irreplaceable.

Our story is one of careful measured growth always being mindful of our long term financial sustainability and our capacity to care for our reserves as they need to be cared for.

2007 

South Endeavour Station, 7000ha northwest of Cooktown. Rugged escarpments, the Endeavour River, lowland tropical rainforests, savanna.

2009

Carabean Creek, 132ha of endangered high altitude tropical rainforest on the Atherton Tablelands.  Tree kangaroos and cassowaries.

Kewilpa, 842ha of swamp forest, rainforest and lagoons.  Floodplains on the NSW north coast.  Gliders, bettongs, the endangered North Coast emu population.

Rockview, 1957ha of rugged granite country on the western edge of the New England Tableland in NSW.  Granite shrublands, intact waterways, and a significant area of endangered Box Gum Grassy Woodland. Threatened microbats, regent honeyeater habitat, woodland birds.

2011 

Bezzants Lease, 2535ha of high altitude forests, woodlands and peat swamps near the top of the Great Dividing Range in northern NSW.  Spotted-tail quoll, greater glider, yellow-bellied glider, glossy black cockatoo. 

2013

Lemuroid Leap, 90ha of endangered high altitude rainforest. Key location in a very high priority wildlife corridor for the endangered lemuroid ringtail possum and other endemic arboreal mammals.

Kings Plains, 68,000ha of rivers, savanna, wetlands and rainforests on Cape York Peninsula. Limestone caves and spectacular granite boulderfields. A haven for a vast array of plants, vegetation communities and animals.  Protects two of the largest colonies of the endangered ghost bat in Queensland.

2014 

Dirrans End 80ha. High altitude endangered rainforest on basalt. Key location in a very high priority wildlife corridor. Cassowaries and Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo.

Alkoomie 18,000ha. Limestone caves, towering sandstone cliffs, groundwater dependent rainforests and swathes of tropical savanna. Large population of the endangered northern quoll.

Cassowary Crossing 79ha. Endangered high altitude cloud forest on the Atherton Tablelands. Occupies a critical location in the very high priority wildlife corridor joining the world heritage listed Maalan and Herberton Range National Parks. 

2015

Yantabulla 17,000ha. A vast area of mulga lands and lignum swamp northwest of Bourke. Protects a large section of Yantabulla Swamp, one of the most important waterbird breeding locations in the Murray Darling Basin. 

Cloudland 80ha. An iconic Atherton Tablelands rainforest property originally purchased with National Reserve System funding. Protects endangered rainforest featuring many threatened species including Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo, lemuroid ringtail possum and golden bowerbird.

2016 

Motherumbah 1150ha. Protects a large remnant of endangered semi evergreen vine thicket. Habitat for a host of woodland birds, the endangered black striped wallaby and the endangered Nandewar population of brush turkeys.

Freemans Forest 20ha. Our smallest reserve but occupies a critical location in the Peterson Creek Wildlife Corridor joining Lake Eacham to Curtain Fig National Park. Habitat for Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo, green ringtail possum and the musky rat-kangaroo.

2017 

Misty Mountain 120ha. Twice extended since our initial purchase to incorporate additional remnant rainforest. Misty Mountain occupies a key position in the wildlife corridor joining world heritage listed Maalan and Herberton Range National Parks. Protects endangered high altitude rainforest and a host of related species. Funding support for its purchase came from the Rainforest Trust and Gondwana Rainforest Trust.

Caloola 18,000ha. Where the wet tropics rainforest meets the Cape York savanna. Caloola forms a vital part of a landscape scale linkage joining the Wet Tropics with Cape York. The Caloola purchase was part funded by the Rainforest Trust.

2019

The Springs 350ha. Very rugged granite country on the far western edge of the New England Tablelands. Features endangered sedgelands and Box Gum Grassy Woodland. Regent honeyeater habitat.

Myrtle Creek 150ha. Coastal swamp forest and freshwater lagoons in the Bungawalbin area on the NSW North Coast.  Features a range of endangered ecosystems and the endangered North Coast emu population.

Crooks Racecourse 558ha. A highly strategic property which sits in the snow country on the top of the Great Dividing Range and is surrounded by Kosciusko National Park on three sides. The Alpine Walking Track runs alongside the property. Crooks features a wide range of threatened fauna and flora including the Broad-toothed Rat and the Alpine She-oak Skink. 

2021 

Mt Gibson 34,500ha. Incredibly rugged country 50km west of Cape Tribulation. Mt Gibson includes the northwestern section of the Windsor Tableland which is one of the most important climate change refugia in the Wet Tropics. The property is the northern limit for over 70 species, many of which are threatened.  These include the northern greater glider, the northern yellow-bellied glider and the highly endangered northern subspecies of the spotted-tail quoll. The purchase of Mt Gibson was funded by the Wyss Foundation.

Oakey Scrub 65ha A small but very important area of endangered lowland tropical rainforest on the Annan River on Cape York. Northern Quoll and occasionally used by Bennett’s tree-kangaroo and cassowaries. It’s purchase was part funded by Gondwana Rainforest Trust.

2024 

Maroobi 20ha. Maroobi forms an critical part of the Lakes Wildlife Corridor joining world heritage listed Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham.

Maalan Cloud Forest 80ha. Sits in a vital wildlife corridor joining world heritage listed Maalan and Wooroonoran National Parks. Features two endangered rainforest ecosystems, a high density of cassowaries and a wide range of endemic mammals.  Maalan was purchased with the support of the Wright Burt Foundation and Gondwana Rainforest Trust.