Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / NSW / Mandy and Scott’s Refuge

Mandy Martin and Scott Meier are the owners of a property located approximately 100km northeast of Newcastle, New South Wales. The property is a home (with small permaculture zone surrounding), wildlife sanctuary and is dedicated to conservation. Mandy and Scott are also considering furthering the protection of their property’s conservation values by entering into an in-perpetuity Voluntary Conservation Agreement with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

The sanctuary covers 45.78 hectares, 44 hectares of which is wet sclerophyll forest featuring rose gum (Eucalyptus grandis) and grey gum (E. propinqua) across undulating slopes, with pockets of subtropical rainforest.  The tall-open forest is dominated by rose gum, grey gum, tallowood (E. microcorys) and turpentine tree (Syncarpia glomulifera), while the subtropical rainforest features grey myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia), Cryptocarya spp., Schizomeria spp., cabbage palms (Livistona australis), and bungalow palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) in creeks.

Known wildlife inhabitants of the sanctuary include glossy black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami), sooty owls (Tyto tenebricosa), eastern chestnut mice (Pseudomys gracilicaudatus), brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), dusky antechinus (Antechinus swainsonii), northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus), sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), red-necked pademelons (Thylogale thetis) and yellow-bellied gliders (Petaurus australis).