From little things... 25 Years of Bush Heritage Australia 25 years Front cover: Laila and Skye Palmer, daughters of Scottsdale Reserve Manager Phil Palmer, with volunteer Will Douglas at Scottsdale Reserve, NSW. See inside back cover for their story. Photo by Anna Carlile. This page: Numerous Bush Heritage reserves across Australia protect the habitat of the Sugar Glider, shown here nesting in a tree hollow. Photo by Steve Parish. From little things... Contents 2 18 1 Bob Brown Rod and Annette PROFILE PROFILE Founder Donors 4 20 Gerard O’Neil Sydney University PROFILE at Ethabuka CEO CASE STUDY Research partnership 6 A Giant Leap 26 CASE STUDY Heike Eberhard Red-tailed Phascogale PROFILE Volunteer 8 Partners in 28 conservation Olivia Barratt CASE STUDY PROFILE Indigenous partnership Young Advocate 12 30 Timeline Cover story 25 YEARS PROFILE 14 Contributing writers Leigh Johnstone Boolcoomatta is like Kate Cranney a homecoming CASE STUDY Boolcoomatta 25 years 2 From little things... Bob Brown A true success story PROFILE In the very early days of Bush Heritage Over the years, as I moved from the tiller 3 Founder Australia, I remember buying a black and to become its patron, Bush Heritage has white strip advertisement in the Business been blessed with talented Directors, Review Weekly. I had just bought the CEOs and staff, a committed Board and an two properties in the Liffey Valley and army of volunteers and donors who have our very small team was helping me raise put us at the forefront of environmental money to meet the loan repayments. science and practical conservation. The advertisement didn’t generate a Buying and protecting private single response. Meanwhile, our official launch in the forest at the picturesque land of high conservation “I was in Parliament Liffey Valley properties attracted a value and collaborating with solitary ABC journalist. To say that when I got the call. paying back that debt sent a few jitters Traditional Owners is the My friend and agent through our small yet committed trademark of our successful group would be an understatement. conservation model. Alan Cordell was on Thankfully however, people’s love for Yet some of our benefits have been the line and he said the Australian bush came to the fore. unintended. As our population swells, Word about our mission slowly spread it will become harder for people to find ‘you’ve got the two and people offered anything they could natural experiences. For some, the simple spare to help get Bush Heritage Australia act of being in nature will become foreign. blocks for $250,000’. off the ground. Donations and interest- Our work will find even greater value, and free loans of just a few tens or hundreds will allow future generations to experience The rest is history.” of dollars helped us make ends meet the plants, animals and intact ecosystems in those precarious early years. of our island home. By 1993 we appointed a part-time Bush Heritage Australia is a wonderful fundraising coordinator and, soon success story built on the blood, sweat, after, purchased the Fan Palm Reserve occasional tear – and great generosity – in Queensland – a tiny eight-hectare of innovative professionals along with property next to the Wet Tropic World thousands of people who have become Heritage Area. The feeling that we involved in our work. To them all I were a true national organisation say congratulations and a heartfelt was gradually building. thank you. This success is yours. From those humble beginnings I could Here’s to the next 25 years. only dream that Bush Heritage Australia would grow to the scale we know today. Bush Heritage currently owns more than 1.2 million hectares of lands and is contracted to help in the protection of another 5.6 million hectares of Aboriginal lands and seas. Photo by Annette Ruzicka. 25 years 4 From little things... Gerard O’Neill The best job in Australia PROFILE In the late 1990s I was working in the The success has been built on 5 CEO conservation policy field and I received a brochure from an environmental the hard work of thousands organisation called Bush Heritage Australia of people. Yet, in a way, the that caught my eye. It simply read: ‘We work is just beginning. don’t beat around the bush. We buy it.’ Our job is to continue the journey The approach piqued my interest, and so those that come after us inherit an I was prompted to find out more. As I organisation that is well placed to meet learned about Bush Heritage Australia’s the challenges of the next 25 years projects and its philosophy I recall and beyond. "I had the privilege, thinking what an energetic and effective group this was. As I continued my career And when I think about the work a few years ago, of I kept an eye on Bush Heritage and its happening at places like Carnarvon and work, and was increasingly impressed Naree, the protection of the Night Parrot speaking with a man with its commitment to private at Pullen Pullen, our collaboration with named Peter Edwards conservation, indigenous collaboration the Central Desert Native Title Services and its science-backed approach. team and the Birriliburu partnership and our plans for Hamelin Station Reserve, about what motivated As fate would have it, by 2011 Bush I can’t help but be encouraged about Heritage Australia was looking for a new the future. him to donate for so CEO. By then, I knew the organisation long. He simply said well. I could see a well-run operation, In achieving this milestone I want to say outstanding governance, a strong board thank you for your support, your tireless "I wanted to be part and a great team of people who were efforts, your intellect and your passion. looking to further the conservation Without you, we could not have weathered of creating something cause in Australia. I applied, and I was the growing pains of an organisation in appointed to what I firmly believe is its infancy to become the highly effective, much bigger than I the best job in Australia, and I’m lucky internationally recognised organisation enough to be here as we mark our we are today. could do by myself". 25th anniversary. It’s something for which we can all be I’ll never forget that This is a celebration of Bush Heritage immensely proud. Australia’s growth from adolescence conversation." to maturity. From those early days in the Liffey Valley of Tasmania to achieving our millionth protected hectare, Bush Heritage Australia has continued to evolve and inspire people to support its cause. Photo by Bec Walton. 25 years 6 CASE STUDY Red-tailed Phascogale The 2010 translocation of 30 Red-tailed Phascogales to Kojonup Reserve in A giant Western Australia signalled a maturing leap of approach for Bush Heritage Australia. From little things... Thanks to your support, Kojonup Reserve is a magical oasis in ideal habitat, benefitting from almost Western Australia’s wheat belt, a chaotic 15 years of Bush Heritage’s careful Bush Heritage has taken bushland known for its thriving birdlife. management. steps to not only protect Golden Whistlers flash through the canopy, But a potential translocation was new habitat of native creatures, feasting on insects. Rufous Treecreepers territory for Bush Heritage. Protecting but reintroduce creatures nest in hollows and White-browed habitat had long been part of Bush Babblers forage amongst fallen logs. Heritage’s work – but intense species-level onto potential new habitat. management like this was new. By day, Kojonup roars with the chatter of birdlife. But the best show comes at night. “Translocation wasn’t a strategy we’d been involved in,” recalls Science and Research 7 As the birds roost, a tiny marsupial Manager Dr Jim Radford. “But this was ventures into the evening and starts a great opportunity to explore ways we foraging amongst the wandoo woodlands could increase the conservation values of that sprawl across the 389-hectare properties that we already owned. It was a property. Measuring 10cms in the real maturing of approach for us.” body and weighing just 60g (about the weight of a chicken egg), the Red-tailed Between 2010 and 2011, thirty Phascogale moves at blink-and-you- Phascogales were released onto Kojonup miss-it speeds, leaping up to two metres Reserve just before their mating season. in a single bound. Trees on the property were fitted with wool-lined boxes to allow safe nesting Only a few years ago you wouldn’t and to increase their chances of survival. have found a Red-tailed Phascogale on The results have been astounding. Kojonup. Once widespread across the southern half of Australia, land clearing “We’ve been seeing more individuals and predation had cornered these animals every year since 2011,” Bush Heritage into a small section of WA’s southern Ecologist Angela Sanders said. “This wheat belt. In 2010 the WA Department year we recorded 25 altogether. Since of Parks and Wildlife contacted Bush these critters are short-lived, all of these Heritage with a bold proposal: a ‘wild-to- would have been born at Kojonup, which wild’ translocation. indicates the Phascogales are breeding – a wonderful sign.” Opposite: The Red-tailed The idea was simple – moving a small Phascogale weighs just 60 grams. proportion of a Phascogale population “We can safely say the Photo by Annette Ruzicka. from elsewhere in the wheat belt and Below: Bush Heritage establishing a new, self-sustaining translocation was a success ecologist Angela Sanders population amongst Kojonup’s intact befriends a Phascogale and we now have the basis at Kojonup Reserve.