Wildlife Unlimited, in partnership with local landholders and mentored by BioDiversity Legacy, is leading the Helping Hands for the Sheoak project – an ambitious effort to restore stands of Sheoaks (Allocasuarina littoralis) on private land across East Gippsland.
These plantings aim to increase the availability of feed trees for the nationally endangered Glossy Black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), a species that depends almost exclusively on Sheoak seeds for food.
Supported by the Natural Resource Conservation Trust (NRCT) and the Rendere Environmental Trust, the project brings together an active network of collaborators, including local landholders, the Far East Victoria Landcare Group (FEVL), Moogji Aboriginal Council and the Friends of Mallacoota.
A closer look at the project
In May 2025, BioDiversity Legacy’s Community & Stewardship Manager, Robyn Edwards, visited two participating properties and toured the Moogji Aboriginal Council Nursery, where Sheoaks destined for future Glossy Black-cockatoo habitat are being carefully propagated.
Sheoaks are remarkable, drought-tolerant trees with fine, needle-like foliage and distinctive woody cones. But they are also slow to mature; trees can take up to 10 years to produce cones containing the seeds that Glossy Black-cockatoos extract and even longer before their branches are sturdy enough to support feeding birds. Glossies are highly selective, returning year after year to particular female feed trees within a stand.
At the Moogji Nursery, Misty Anderson has been collecting seed from Sheoaks where Glossies have been observed feeding. By propagating seedlings from known feed trees, the team hopes to better understand potential genetic traits that may improve long-term revegetation success.
Building on earlier recovery work
This project builds on extensive Sheoak regeneration and Glossy Black-cockatoo recovery efforts undertaken by Landcare, BirdLife and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action following the 2019–20 Black Summer Bushfires. New project sites now stretch from Lakes Entrance and Marlo, across to Wangarabell and Genoa in the far east.
Community conservation in action
The project is also creating opportunities for the community to get involved. At a recent planting day on Ted Dexter’s farm in Genoa, young conservationists Freddie and Amelia – and their parents – spent the day planting and guarding Sheoaks alongside other volunteers.
“It is very inspiring when the younger generation turns up to help at a planting day,” said BioDiversity Legacy’s Head of Conservation Engagement & Partnerships, Dixie Fitzclarence. “It provides a measure of hope for the future.”
