In our element, experiencing the joy and adventure of a wild ecosystem

Visiting Bullock Island on a gusty high tide is not for the faint-hearted. But for a small group of committed volunteers, the challenge is more than worth it. A bit of cold, wet and mud is a small price to pay for an up-close encounter with one of Victoria’s most remarkable saltmarsh environments.

Getting there is part of the adventure. Bullock Island sits within the iconic Corner Inlet in South Gippsland, a site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Reaching it requires a capable 4WD and a 30-minute drive along sandy, rutted tracks flanked by Manna Gums, Stringybarks, Grass trees and century-old Banksias. Wet weather gear, food, water and a good camera are essential - especially if you’re lucky enough to spot one of the inlet’s rare birds along the way.

Jewels in the landscape

Once on the island, you’re rewarded with a sweeping ecological tapestry. Beaded and Shrubby Glassworts, Pigface, Austral Seablite, Swamp Paperbark, Austral Brooklime, native grasses and White Mangrove forests paint the landscape in shifting tones of green, red, silver and gold.

On this particular visit, the volunteers have a mission - to retrieve remote-sensing cameras placed around a freshwater hole on the 72-hectare island to monitor fauna. As they cross the long causeway, a mob of kangaroos bounds across the tidal flats - a fitting welcome to this wild and beautiful place framed by the dramatic hills of Wilsons Promontory to the south.

Protecting Nooramunga Land & Sea

Bullock Island is the second island to be secured by Nooramunga Land & Sea (NL&S), a not-for-profit Local Landholding Entity supported by BioDiversity Legacy and dedicated to protecting and restoring these fragile coastal landscapes for future generations.

Along with neighbouring 60-hectare Little Dog Island, Bullock Island bears the scars of past farming and recreational use. Now, however, these islands are being carefully managed to heal. Rising sea levels due to climate change pose a challenge - but also an unexpected opportunity. Storm surges bring salty water that can kill off invasive weeds such as pasture grasses, helping native saltmarsh species reclaim their ground.

The islands are also blue carbon powerhouses. Their muddy soils lock away vast amounts of carbon, making them critical allies in the fight against climate change while nurturing biodiversity.

Watching Over a Global Bird Haven

Remote cameras are one of the tools that the NL&S stewardship team uses to watch over Bullock and Little Dog Islands. Carefully placed in the landscape, they support the detection of native fauna and help to identify potential threats - such as feral deer and foxes - to these internationally significant places.

Bullock Island is a vital stopover for migratory shorebirds and local beach-nesting birds alike. Visitors include the Critically Endangered Far Eastern Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Great Knot, Endangered Lesser Sand Plover, Red Knot and the Vulnerable Hooded Plover.

The island may even provide habitat for Australia’s most threatened bird, the Orange-bellied Parrot, which travels from Tasmania each year to feed on Victoria’s saltmarshes. With historic sightings in South Gippsland, the NL&S team remains hopeful of a future encounter.

A Wild Place Worth Protecting

Despite the long day, wet clothes and muddy boots, the volunteers leave Bullock Island with hearts full. They speak of the thrill of standing in a landscape where tidal creeks carve graphic patterns through the saltmarsh, where the texture of grasses and rushes shifts with the light and where each visit reveals something new.

They also carry with them a renewed commitment to the NL&S stewardship plan - a long-term vision to protect these living carbon sinks, strengthen habitat for endangered species and give the next generation the chance to witness the magic of this wild place.