Mark and Susie Rowe are the owners of Narimba, a property located west of Wagga Wagga. The property was purchased as a dedicated wildlife sanctuary and is used for agriculture (cropping in limited areas), education and wildlife rehabilitation. Formerly a grazing and cropping property, it has been organically certified since 2006. It is Mark and Susie’s intent to keep Narimba as a sanctuary for wildlife, particularly kangaroos, as there are few areas of safe refuge in the region due to a heavy farming focus. Mark and Susie additionally plan to see Narimba’s biodiversity values protected in-perpetuity, potentially through a Voluntary Conservation Agreement.
The property covers 1,200 hectares, approximately 500 hectares of which is ephemeral wetland featuring a creek and lake bed kept as a conservation area. Dominant vegetation species present include grey box (Eucalyptus microcarpa), black box (Eucalyptus largiflorens), yellow box (Eucalyptus melliodora), white cypress pine (Callitris columellaris), river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), bull oak (Allocasuarina luehmannii), lignum (Muehlenbeckia florulenta), native grasses and shrub species.
Wildlife is abundant on Narimba, and examples of species known to occur on the sanctuary include red kangaroos (Macropus rufus), eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), limited numbers of western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) and swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae), brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), brown (Pseudonaja textilis) and red-bellied black (Pseudechis porphyriacus) snakes, freshwater turtles, several species of lizards, eight recorded species of frogs and 55 recorded bird species.