Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / NSW / The Thinking Tree

Nicholas Everingham and Ashleigh Barnes are the owners of Thinking Tree Farm, a property situated in Brogo, approximately 40km north of Bega, New South Wales. The property is a wildlife sanctuary and recreational site. Nicholas and Ashleigh are planning to establish a permaculture farm around the house, while managing the land as a wildlife sanctuary and wildlife rehabilitation site. They are also working towards establishing an eco-tourism business, with opportunities for bushwalking and education for visitors.

The property spans 40 hectares of hilly land interspersed with gullies, with around 60% comprised of recovering bushland. Vegetation consists of mixed eucalypt woodland, native grasslands and Brogo Wet Vine Forest, an Endangered Ecological Community.

A wide range of wildlife is present on the property including red kangaroos (Macropus rufus), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), lace monitors (Varanus varius), red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus), eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) and a diversity of frogs, skinks and insects.

Birdlife is also diverse and includes wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), Australian ravens (Corvus coronoides), magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen), gang-gang (Callocephalon fimbriatum) and yellow-tailed black cockatoos (Zanda funerea), galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla), eastern (Platycercus eximius) and crimson (Platycercus elegans) rosellas, eastern whipbirds (Psophodes olivaceus) and willie wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys).