Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / NSW / Casper’s Hideaway

Lorraine Blyth are the owners of Casper’s Hideaway, located in Upper Mongogarie, NSW. The property is covered by a Voluntary Conservation Agreement with NSW National Parks, and an agreement with the Northern Rivers Catchment Authority. Lorraine is managing the property purely for the protection of Australian bush habitats and wildlife.

The sanctuary covers 745 hectares of rugged Australian bushland, with cliff faces, ravines and small creeks. Three small permanent creeks run through the property, and four small dams provide water for wildlife. Apart from 12 hectares of creek flats, the land is totally forested and contains some old growth trees. Dominated by blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis), spotted gum (Corymbia maculata) and stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua) along the ridge tops, the property also contains a small number of tallowwood trees (Eucalyptus microcorys) and an abundance of banksia and she-oaks (Casuarina spp.) that provide food for glossy black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami). There are also some brush box (Lophostemon confertus) and wattles (Acacia spp.), and flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis) near the main creek.

The property adjoins the Royal Camp State Forest on one side and provides habitat for a diversity of fauna species, including brush-tailed rock wallabies (Petrogale penicillata), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), red-necked wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus), common wallaroos (Macropus robustus), mountain brushtail possums (Trichosurus cunninghami), common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), squirrel gliders (Petaurus norfolcensis), sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), greater gliders (Petauroides volans), brush-tailed phascogales (Phascogale tapoatafa), long-nosed bandicoots (Perameles nasuta), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), and over 100 species of birds.