Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / NSW / Patricia and John’s Refuge

Patricia and John Edwards are the owners of a rural property located in Shannondale, approximately 20km South-West of Grafton, New South Wales.  The property was purchased 32 year ago and is now a dedicated native wildlife sanctuary used for wildlife rehabilitation. The property is registered with the Land for Wildlife program, as well as being regularly used by Clarence Valley WIRES as a release site for rehabilitated native animals. The property is additionally protected in-perpetuity with a Voluntary Conservation Agreement.

The sanctuary covers approximately 41 hectares of which approximately 60% is natural bushland, predominantly dry sclerophyll forest on slopes.  Swamp sclerophyll forest on coastal floodplains of the NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East Corner bioregions – listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act), borders the properties drainage line.  A coastal heath strip occurs across the center of the property, which adjoins approximately 4,000 acres of council-owned VCA lands and the Chambigne Nature Reserve.

Threatened wildlife known to be present on the property includes the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), rufous bettong (Aepyprymnus rufescens), hooded robin (Melanodryas cucullata), grey-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis), brown treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus), glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis), squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) and the black-chinned honeyeater (Melithreptus gularis), all of which are listed as Vulnerable under the TSC Act.