Stewarding a Vital Biolink to the Avon Wilderness

‘North Paddock’ Gift Signals the Beginning of a Bold Conservation Legacy

Purchased in 2019 and donated to BioDiversity Legacy in 2025 by the Phillipson family from Central Gippsland, North Paddock is a 105-hectare (259-acre) property embedded within a sweeping expanse of bushland connecting the Avon Wilderness to the Victorian Alps.

Managed by the family-run stewardship group, EcoGipps, North Paddock is one of three ecologically significant properties the Phillipsons – an admired local family with long-standing ties to the region – have been working to protect and restore.

The family plans to gift all three properties to BioDiversity Legacy in the coming years (read more about their remarkable journey HERE).

Historical and Regional Context

Situated at the southern edge of the Avon Wilderness in Maffra West Upper, within the Gippsland Plains Bioregion, North Paddock has been shaped – like many other properties in the area – by a history of land clearing, erosion, fire and drought.

For thousands of years, the Gunaikurnai people hunted and travelled across the Gippsland Plains before pastoral runs were established by squatters in the 1800s. The rich grasslands became winter grazing country, with cattle driven up to the high country for summer grazing – an activity now being phased out due to its ecological impacts. Today, North Paddock plays a vital role in rebuilding habitat connections (biolinks) between adjacent properties, the Gippsland Plains and Avon Wilderness.

Improving links to the Alpine Wilderness and Victorian High Country to enhance biodiversity. Photo: Swee Oon via Flickr

State Library of Victoria record of cattle being driven up to the High Country for summer grazing

View from the Macalister River to the EcoGipps home base. Photo: Dan Brown

The Avon River stretching up to the Alpine Wilderness

ECOLOGICAL VALUE 

North Paddock’s ecological importance is exceptional. The property meets four objectives of the Trust for Nature Statewide Conservation Plan and is rated ‘Very High’ for its conservation significance. Several habitat types have also been identified as depleted or endangered by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (EVC benchmarks). Its ecosystems include: 

  • Lowland Forest – least concern
  • Lowland Herb-rich Forest (eucalypts with a large shrub layer and ground layer rich in herbs, grasses and orchids) – depleted.
  • Swamp Scrub (dense shrubby sedgeland on swampy ground) – endangered.
  • A canopy of White and Red Stringybark and Blue/Red Box eucalypts.
  • A rare tea-tree soak, part of a remnant swampy lowland system that may support uncommon grasses.

Additionally, stands of the critically endangered Avon Peppermint (Eucalyptus ornans) are being established to support recovery efforts. 

Bushlands surrounding the EcoGipps properties. River systems include the Avon and Wirn wirndook Yeerung (Macalister). Photo with thanks to Dan Brown.

RARE AND THREATENED FLORA

  • Avon Tussock-grass (Poa orthoclada) – newly described and rare
  • Bushy Hedgehog Grass (Echinopogon caespitosus var. caespitosus) – endangered
  • Rough-grain Love-grass (Eragrostis trachycarpa) – endangered
  • Heath Platysace (Platysace ericoides) – endangered
  • Muttonwood (Myrsine howittiana) – endangered
  • Purple Beard Orchid (Calochilus robertsonii) – vulnerable

Additionally, stands of the critically endangered Avon Peppermint (Eucalyptus ornans) are being established to support recovery efforts.

WILDLIFE RECORDED OR EXPECTED TO RETURN TO NORTH PADDOCK

  • Dingoes
  • Microbats
  • Emus
  • Goannas
  • Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies
  • Eastern Grey Kangaroos
  • Wombats

North Paddock also hosts seasonal Birds on Farms surveys, with more than 140 species recorded. Highlights include the critically endangered Swift Parrot, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Painted Button-quail, Bassian Thrush, Leaden Flycatcher and Spotted Quail-thrush, along with out-of-range visitors such as the Channel-billed Cuckoo.

Purple Beard Orchid (Calochilus-robertsonii) recorded on North Paddock

Endangered Heath Platysace. Photo: Arthur Chapman via Flickr

Gang-gang Cockatoo on EcoGipps by Dean Wheeler

The Lace Monitor (goanna) is found throughout Gippsland but is becoming increasingly rare

Flock of critically endangered Swift-Parrots recorded at EcoGiplps. Photo by Dan Brown

The head of the endangered Bushy Hedgehog. Photo: Harry Rose via Flickr

Native grasslands on the main EcoGipps property

Dingoes inhabit the Avon Wilderness, but face threats from habitat loss. Photo: Alex Gisby via Unsplash

STEWARDSHIP

With the support of volunteers, ecologists, landscape specialists and local community members, North Paddock will continue to be managed by EcoGipps.

Heather Phillipson, who also cares for the family’s neighbouring home site on the Wirn wirndook Yeerung (Macalister River), continues to play an active role in stewardship alongside Stewardship Coordinator, Caroline Trevorrow. Restoration and management priorities will include:

  • Strengthening biolinks and habitat corridors.
  • Enhancing the condition of endangered and depleted vegetation types.
  • Ongoing weed, pest and erosion management.
  • Supporting threatened species recovery.
  • Expanding monitoring, community involvement and citizen science.

NEXT STEPS

With North Paddock now protected for future generations, through a Trust for Nature Covenant on Title and BioDiversity Legacy’s safe ownership structure, the Phillipsons have turned their attention to stewardship (through active involvement in EcoGipps) and to donating two further properties – together totalling 253 hectares – to BioDiveristy Legacy in the coming years.

This extraordinary act of generosity serves as a powerful example for landholders and communities seeking to safeguard the landscapes they love and leave a living legacy for future generations.

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