Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / NSW / Buninj

Dot and Glen Moller are the owners of Buninj, a property situated in Boat Harbour, approximately 10km east of Lismore, New South Wales. The property is a wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation site also used for education. The owners host regular Landcare workshops and meetings for the Boat Harbour region on the property, and supply eucalypt leaves for koalas in care on a semi-regular basis. The property is additionally registered with Land For Wildlife, and the lower 6 hectares of the block has been a Greenfleet Carbon Credit planting site since 2011, with a covenant on the planted trees. Dot and Glen wish to improve the land’s environmental values through regeneration and host conservation-based educational activities for the general public. They also plan to establish a bird hide, bush food garden and an outdoor education area in the future.

Buninj spans 8.2 hectares of revegetated land on the Wilson River floodplain. Vegetation is a mix of scrubland, subtropical dry rainforest, wetland on the floodplains and replanted rainforest.

Wildlife is abundant and includes short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus), swamp rats (Rattus lutreolus), water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii), red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus), eastern brown snakes (Pseudonaja textilis) and green tree snakes (Dendrelaphis punctulatus). The property is also home to over 60 species of native birds including wetland and rainforest species.

Some feral species are also present including red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), European hares (Lepus europaeus) and the occasional feral cat (Felis catus).