Around 10 years ago, former Melbourne schoolteacher Stuart Inchley and policymaker Victoria Johnson stumbled across a 300+ acre property for sale in the hills of South Gippsland, historically known as the Land of the Lyrebird.
With a passion for conservation, sustainability and climate justice, the couple made the life-changing decision to purchase the property, place a conservation covenant on it, and act on its behalf as land stewards.
It took several years for Stuart and Victoria to properly survey the property, which is characterised by dense bush, cool temperate rainforest and steep terrain. Over time, they began to learn more about its local species and appreciate just how unique it is.
While traversing one of the steepest gullies in 2024, Stuart — who is BioDiversity Legacy’s South Gippsland Biolink Coordinator — stumbled across a population of Critically Endangered Slender Tree-ferns (Cyathea cunninghamii).
At first, he thought there may have been a few dozen. But with support from local ecologists from Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group and elsewhere, Stuart and Victoria have now counted hundreds of individual plants. Given estimates suggesting that just 1,000 Slender Tree-ferns are left in Victoria, this is a major find that is attracting interest nationally and internationally.
Listen to leading Victorian ecologist Karl Just describe South Gippsland’s rainforests and the species found within the Tarwin River Forest.
Back to reality
Unfortunately, Stuart and Victoria’s elation at finding so many Slender Tree-ferns was short-lived. Within just a few weeks, they heard chainsaws and logging activity on the property next door.
These actions, by HVP Plantations — the largest private plantation company in Australia — came within a few metres of the couple’s fenceline, too close for comfort for the ferns, which can easily be damaged by exposure to wind, rain and other elements.
Stuart and Victoria felt they had no choice but to launch a campaign to stop the activity, garnering huge community support through their Gippsland Forest Guardians website. The campaign was ultimately successful.
Partnerships for protection
With Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group (GTSAG) and other groups, Stuart and Victoria are also running campaigns to protect the last remnants of Cool Temperate Rainforest in South Gippsland — home to unique native species such as Gang-gangs, Powerful Owls, Pilotbirds, the rare and endangered Strzelecki Burrowing Crayfish and Strzelecki Koala.
These rainforests, which are dominated by Myrtle Beech, Southern Sassafras, Blackwood and eucalypts, with a thick understorey of tree and ground ferns, exist in high-rainfall, higher-altitude, fertile environments. While they can still be found across Victoria, land clearing, fire and logging have reduced the amount of these forests to a mere 0.08% of the state’s total area. Cool Temperate Rainforest is now listed as a threatened community under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.
In partnership with Prom Coast Ecolink and local landholders, GTSAG received a generous grant from the Wettenhall Environment Trust in 2024 to undertake a mapping survey of Cool Temperate Rainforest on Stuart and Victoria’s property and three adjoining Trust for Nature properties, totalling more than 850 acres. The project is helping map the distribution of Slender Tree-ferns across this important landscape. See the related video below.
We’re all behind Stuart and Victoria, and the commitment they have made to protecting the environment, building connections with the local community, raising awareness of BioDiversity Legacy, and strengthening local biolinks.
