Margrett Barry and Col Counsell are the owners of Aroona, a property located north of Sale. The property is a dedicated wildlife sanctuary and it is Margrett and Barry’s intent for it to continue to be used for habitat and wildlife protection. The property is also a member of the Land for Wildlife program.
Aroona covers 4.45 hectares of undulating grassland with around fifty per cent natural bushland with a dry creek, except in periods of high rainfall when it becomes fast and high flooding, and a wetland area on a shared boundary. The property formed part of a larger farm until Margrett and Barry purchased it approximately thirty years ago and, under their stewardship, the land was given time to recover and restore to its natural state. Vegetation is dominated by native grasslands and eucalypt woodlands with understories featuring wattles (Acacia spp.) and coastal tea-trees (Leptospermum laevigatum).
Wildlife species known to inhabit the sanctuary include short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), bare nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) and a variety of snakes, lizards, frogs and turtle. The property also supports an abundance of bird life including gang-gang (Callocephalon fimbriatum) Sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), firetail finches (Emblema spp.), superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), eastern whipbirds (Psophodes olivaceus), laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), Australian king parrots (Alisterus scapularis), crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans), sacred kingfishers (Todiramphus sanctus), Australian magpies (Cracticus tibicen), thrushes, honeyeaters and many more.
