Quite the story, this
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 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, characterised by dense bush, cool temperate rainforest and steep terrain, learn about local species and appreciate just how unique it is.
While traversing one of 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 were maybe a few dozen, but with local ecologists from Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group and elsewhere, Stuart and Victoria have now counted over 260 individual plants. Given estimates suggesting that just 1,000 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 species found within the Tarwin River Forest.
Back to reality
Unfortunately, Stuart and Victoria’s elation and finding so many Slender Tree-ferns was short-lived. Within just a few weeks they heard chainsaws and logging activities in the property next door.
These actions, by HPV 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 being exposed to wind, rain and other elements.
Stuart and Victoria felt they had no choice but to launch a campaign to stop these actions, garnering huge community support through their Gippsland Forest Guardians website.
As at October 2024, Gippsland Forest Guardians, supported by Friends of the Earth, are currently embroiled in a court action relating to a Freedom of Information request, blocked by HPV, to review harvesting plans for the Turton’s Creek area.
Partnerships for protection
With Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group 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.
Typically dominated by Myrtle Beech, Southern Sassafras, Blackwood and eucalypts with a thick understorey of tree and ground ferns, these rainforests 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 in Victoria to a mere 0.08% of the state’s total area and are now listed as a threatened community under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988).
In partnership with Prom Coast Ecolink and local landholders, in 2024 the Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group received a generous grant from the Wettenhall Environment Trust to undertake a mapping survey of Cool Temperate Rainforest on Stuart and Victoria’s property and three adjoining Trust for Nature properties (totalling 850 over acres) to map the distribution of Slender Tree-ferns.
We’re all behind Stuart and Victoria and the commitment they have made to protecting the environment and building connections with the local community to raise awareness of BDL and the need to strengthen local biolinks.