Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / QLD / Ballow View

Hugh Wackwitz and Philip and Mary Rowland are the owners of Ballow View, a property located approximately 40km southwest of Boonah. Ballow View is a dedicated nature refuge, and it is the owners’ intention to continue managing the property for its native vegetation and habitat values primarily by controlling pest flora species on the property, particularly lantana.  Furthermore, they intend to continue collating a species list and conducting annual enhancement revegetation plantings in a 5 hectare paddock that protects a number of springs and riparian areas in a sub-catchment of Burnett Creek.  Ballow View is protected by a Conservation Agreement with the Queensland Government and is recognised as a Nature Refuge in perpetuity.

The sanctuary covers 51.86 hectares and lies in the foothills of the Main Range adjacent to the Queensland-New South Wales border in southern Queensland.  Approximately 30% of the property was cleared over 50 years ago for grazing, and currently the block is lightly grazed by cattle-partly for fire management purposes.  The rest of the sanctuary consists of intact open forest with significant stands of Allocasuarina torulosa.

Remnant vegetation of significant conservation value includes Regional Ecosystems Of Concern 12.8.9 (Lophostemon confertus tall open forest on Cainozoic igneous rocks) and 12.8.20 (Shrubby woodland with Eucalyptus racemosa or E. dura on Cainozoic igneous rocks).  Riparian vegetation includes rainforest species, and a fauna survey conducted by Jesse Rowland of the Queensland Herbarium detailed 112 native wildlife species known to occur on Ballow View, including the rufuous bettong (Aepyprymnus rufescens), glossy (Calyptorhynchus lathami) and yellow-tailed (Calyptorhynchus funereus) black cockatoos, koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), great barred frogs (Mixophyes fasciolatus), yellow-faced whipsnakes (Demansia psammophis) and little red flying-foxes (Pteropus scapulata).