Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / SA / Sampson Flat Wildlife Sanctuary

Nat Maiolo is the owner of Sampson Flat Wildlife Sanctuary, a property situated in Sampson’s Flat, approximately 30km northeast of Adelaide, South Australia. The property is utilized mainly as a wildlife sanctuary and wildlife rehabilitation site, as well as a sanctuary for domestic animals such as sheep and goats. Nat plans to revegetate the sanctuary with native species to improve the habitat for wildlife such as koalas. In the long term, Nat intends to establish a complete wildlife sanctuary, which will be open to the public for educational purposes.

The refuge covers 80.9 hectares on rolling hills bounded on one side by the Mount Crawford Native Forest. The property features one seasonal and two permanent dams. Dominant vegetation on the property includes various eucalypts, yakkas (Xanthorrhoea spp.) and native orchids (Dendrobium spp.).

Wildlife found throughout the property includes western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus), koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) and short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus). The property is also home to a range of reptiles including eastern blue tongue (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides), frilled-neck (Chlamydosaurus kingie) and shingleback lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), as well as eastern brown (Pseudonaja textilis) and red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus).

The property is also home to a vast array of birdlife, including emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae), red-rumped parrots (Psephotus haematonotus), superb fairy wrens (Malurus cyaneus), eastern (Platycercus eximius) and crimson (Platycercus elegans) rosellas, laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus), tawny frogmouths (Podargus strigoides), sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), red-browed finches (Neochmia temporalis), galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla), magpies (Cracticus tibicen), crows (Corvus orru), white-winged choughs (Corcorax melanorhamphos) and various honeyeaters. Black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus spp.) also frequent the sanctuary from time to time, as well as a pair of wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax). Mistletoe birds (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) were present in the forests of the sanctuary prior to the 2015 Sampson Flat bushfires.