Anne and Phil Mouton are the owners of Bopple Tree, a property located approximately 10km north of Nambucca Heads. The property is a dedicated wildlife sanctuary with a small section used as a macadamia farm. It is Anne and Phil’s intent to continue to utilise the property for conservation purposes and to ensure remnant vegetation adjacent to operational areas remains in good condition.
Bopple Tree covers approximately 17 hectares of remnant bushland with 5 hectares used as a macadamia farm and 0.3 hectares set aside for the owners’ residence. The property sits in the shadow of Picket Hill (Nunguu Mirral Aboriginal Area), which lies directly to the east, and is part of a large corridor of vegetation connected to Newry State Forest and other Nature Reserves.
The property consists of a low rocky ridge of dry sclerophyll forest including grey gums (Eucalyptus punctata), grey ironbarks (Eucalyptus paniculata) and blackbutts (Eucalyptus pilularis). There is wet sclerophyll forest on the creek flat dominated by flooded gums (Eucalyptus grandis), tallowwoods (Eucalyptus microcorys), turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera) and brushboxes (Lophostemon confertus). Pockets of riparian rainforest can be found in gullies and along the creek line and include sandpaper figs (Ficus coronata) red ashes (Alphitonia excelsa) and weeping lilli pillis (Waterhousea floribunda).
Wildlife species known to inhabit the area include swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), lace monitors (Varanus varius) and bandy bandy snakes (Vermicella annulata).
