Sharon Murray is the owner of Yarrabee, a property situated in Hoddles Creek, approximately 55km east of Melbourne, Victoria. The property is used for recreation as well as for a dedicated wildlife sanctuary, and it is Sharon’s intent to regenerate half of the property to provide improved habitat for local wildlife. Sharon wishes to maintain the conservation values of the property to supplement habitat provided by the adjoining state park.
The property covers approximately 4.05 hectares of paddocks as well as three areas of bushland adjoining the Kurth Kiln Regional Park. Native trees are planted along the fence lines and a creek intersects part of the property. A large pond and a converted swimming pool provide habitat and breeding grounds for a range of native frog species. The dominant vegetation types present are eucalypts, wattles (Acacia spp.) and tea trees (Leptospemum spp.).
Wildlife present includes bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) and a wide range of native birds including superb lyrebirds (Menura novaehollandiae) and satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus).