Latest News

Uncovering Our Past: An Exhibition Honoring the Big Scrub and Bundjalung Country

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

President’s Report: 2022-23 Annual Report to members

President’s Report: 2022-23 Annual Report to members

BSRC had another great year in 2022-23. Our long-term, world-leading Science Saving Rainforests Program continued to make steady progress. To date, leaf samples have been collected from 12,352 individual trees. Collections have been completed across the range of 23 key structural species and 9 threatened species in NSW and Qld. Good progress has also been made in leaf sample collections for the...

Rainforest Connections 2024 conference to connect scientists and practitioners

Rainforest Connections 2024 conference to connect scientists and practitioners

Rainforest Connections 2024, which Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy is proud to support, is an exciting new conference that will be held on 4-7 June 2024 in Ballina. The conference, which is brought to you by the NSW Government in partnership with Saving our Species, will highlight the significance of rainforest ecosystems by connecting the audience with up to date information on Australian...

Thank you, Tony: Reflecting on 30 years at the helm of Big Scrub RC

Thank you, Tony: Reflecting on 30 years at the helm of Big Scrub RC

As our President of 30 years steps down we want to thank a man who devoted three decades of unwavering service to the rainforest. Dr Tony Parkes AO was a co-founder of the Big Scrub Rainforest Landcare Group when we first formed in 1993. He was instrumental in unifying the first group of concerned community members – a gathering of over 100 land owners and conservationists – after a meeting in...