Webinar: Restoring bush in the Fitz-Stirling
Join our staff as they chat about revegetation efforts underway to protect habitat critically important to native species in south-west WA.
Eddy and Donna Wajon aren’t the only ones who fell in love with Chingarrup Sanctuary.
Honey Possums and Western Whip-birds have also found a home there since the two dedicated supporters began working with Bush Heritage in partnership.
The first time Perth couple Eddy and Donna Wajon explored Chingarrup Sanctuary they walked away with a checklist of 150 flower species for later identification and a desire to become the property’s owners.
– Eddie Wajon,“I thought, 'Wouldn’t it be great to own and look after this place?' How great to say we own this patch of bush and are responsible for looking after it.”
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Honey Possum at Chingarrup. Photo Annette Ruzicka.
Many years later and Chingarrup Sanctuary, a five-hour drive southeast of Perth and now managed under a Bush Heritage partnership model, is well and truly Eddy and Donna’s patch.
Since buying the 576 hectare bush block in 2002 they’ve poured their heart and soul into it, replanting native woodlands, weeding, restoring buildings, and documenting the extraordinary biodiversity of the area.
During that time Eddy has come to know the property intimately, and has photographed at least half of Chingarrup’s estimated 500 plant species, many of which appear in his self-published books on Western Australia’s wildflowers.
He’s particularly taken by the colour, detail and delicately feathered flowers of the Verticordia genus, which he fondly calls the turner of hearts.
He’s also fascinated by the more than 150 species of mammals, birds, reptiles and moths still found on the property, despite it being almost completely cleared during the 1960s and 70s.
Bush Heritage ecologist Angela Sanders started working with Eddy and Donna just after they bought Chingarrup and has said it was one of the most important properties in the Gondwana Link project, a plan to restore a 1000km swathe of remnant bushland from WA’s South West to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain.
– Angela Sanders, Ecologist“It’s connected to large areas of Crown land and links up really well with a lot of large bush areas, including the Bush Heritage reserves, Chereninup Creek and Monjebup."
“It also contains four very important conservation targets for the area: yate woodland; proteaceous-rich heath; black-gloved wallabies and an important creekline.”
Angela has helped Eddy and Donna set up species monitoring sites and Bush Heritage staff visit to carry out bird and plant surveys.
This partnership benefits all involved. Eddy and Donna receive expert help managing their land, which is in a high priority area for Bush Heritage.
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Chingarrup woodlands. Photo Simon Smale.
And because we know Chingarrup is in good hands, more of your generous donations can be used to buy and protect areas elsewhere. And the Honey Possums and Black-gloved Wallabies now have a safe home.
Angela said watching the bush come back to life under Eddy and Donna’s guardianship gave her great hope for the future.
– Angela Sanders,“Some of the wildlife coming back to Chingarrup is very exciting. We’ve seen Honey Possums returning to the revegetated area, and even some of the fussier birds such as Western Whipbirds.”
