Latest News
Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy AGM 2024: President’s Report
For the first time, our Annual General Meeting was held at the new home of the Conservancy – and the site of our flagship program Science Saving Rainforests. It was also the first President’s Report given by Mark Dunphy, after our Co-Founder and President of over 30 years, Tony Parkes, stepped down last year. Mark’s first call of order was to acknowledge Tony’s continual work driving many...
SSR Update: Making a Home for Science Saving Rainforests
Earlier this year, we took possession of 38-acres in McLeans Ridges which will become the home of Science Saving Rainforests and the Conservancy. Since then we’ve launched into action, starting to prepare the site for the plantation of genetically-diverse rainforest trees and working on a master plan for the landscaping and educational facilities that will also occupy the land. Early site...
Ecologists of the Big Scrub: David Milledge
As a schoolboy in Tasmania, David had an early introduction to Australian rainforests and its wildlife with Tasmanian Field Naturalist Club trips to the foothills of Mt Wellington behind Hobart and occasional excursions to Mt Field National Park in the Derwent Valley. But these were cool temperate rainforests and although visually stunning – with cathedral-like stands of Antarctic Beech,...
Uncovering Our Past: An Exhibition Honoring the Big Scrub and Bundjalung Country
By Babette Weatherell Tucked away on the fringe of the lush Picabeen Park is the Bangalow Heritage House Museum, an inviting trove of memories and stories for anyone seeking to step back in time. What better place to host, Uncovering Our Past, an exhibition which invited the public to step out of the daily hustle and bustle, and take a moment to delve into the rich history of the Big Scrub...
Rainforest Warriors: New book recounts social and environmental history of the Big Scrub
Editor’s note: The words below by Stephen Wyatt provide an insight into his book ‘Rainforest Warriors’ and the history of the Big Scrub. When the Northern Rivers went from rural to radical in the 1970s, the scene was set for a stoush with loggers and government to save the region’s rare and valuable rainforest. And what a stoush it was. The forest wars broke out at Terania Creek in 1979 and Mt...
The Booyong Reserve story: 25 years of restoring a unique riverine remnant
By Darren Bailey. The Booyong Flora Reserve is a unique rainforest remnant of the former Big Scrub. The rainforest occupies 13ha of low lying flats located at the junction of the Wilsons River and Pearces Creek. It is the only true riverine rainforest remnant on crown land outside the public reserve system and is managed by the Booyong Reserve Trust. The site escaped the clear felling that saw...
Rainforest Connections 2024 Recap: Long overdue rainforest conference united conservationists in Ballina
We had the pleasure of being a major sponsor and presenter at Rainforest Connections 2024 a few months back – the first conference in over twenty years dedicated to rainforest conservation, an event which gave rainforest practitioners a much needed chance to unite in person and galvanize our resolve. It was a wonderful event bringing so many from our industry together. For those that couldn’t...
Major Big Scrub bird monitoring project gets underway
Our exciting new project to systematically monitor Big Scrub bird species is officially underway with the deployment of bioacoustic recording devices and cutting-edge bird call analysis software at sites across the Big Scrub. With funding support from Rekindle Foundation, Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy is undertaking the project to help us understand how bird species assemblages are...
Announcement: Science Saving Rainforests, our world-first Australian science project, to save precious rainforests
The future of Australian rainforests is at a crossroads. Research has shown that what’s left of the once mighty rainforests of Northern New South Wales are now critically endangered and could face extinction because of a serious lack of genetic diversity. A world first Australian project, Science Saving Rainforests, will be an important key to stop this decline. The concept was the brainchild of...
Mark Dunphy announced as Big Scrub RC’s new President
Our Co-Founder and Vice President, Mark Dunphy, has assumed the position of President of Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy following our annual general meeting in December. Mark was voted in by members at the AGM, which was the last presided over by Dr Tony Parkes, our President of 30 years. Tony will continue to be a guiding force for Big Scrub RC as President Emeritus. Read our...