The Friends of Oolong (FOO) have established a partnership with the owners of the Eaglehawk Holiday Park, Canberra. The FOO will design and manage a Native Park, which will include a display of indigenous animals and plants. The native park will be located adjacent to the Eaglehawk Holiday Park near the NSW/ACT border. We need volunteers.

All activities, programs and initiatives reported on this web site are carried out and managed solely by volunteers of the Friends of Oolong. The Oolong Sanctuary is our volunteer-run wildlife refuge in remnant bushland on private land in southern NSW, Australia.

The Friends of Oolong is registered on the NSW Landcare Online database and is part of the NSW landcare network.

Oolong Sanctuary has 38 Projects that need your support!

A beautiful naturally developed hollow. Unfortunately there are not many left!

There are no natural hollows on young trees! They have to be at least 100 years old to have natural hollows for wildlife to nest in.

The Friends of Oolong have temporarily resolved this problem by stacking branches of woody weeds in small heaps. Birds, insects and other species nest and breed in them! See Project 31 on the Projects page.

A nocturnal bird peeks out of its hollow.
We are trying our best to restore the birds' habitat through the construction, setting and monitoring of artificial nests. They are coming back but we need more volunteers to continue this program.See Project 13 on the Projects page.

Information for schools
Our fully illustrated inventory on Fauna and Flora is a major environmental educational tool.

Teachers and students in south-east NSW and the ACT can participate in the development of our program and a syllabus on education in the environment. This involves putting students in direct contact with our bush to develop awareness and concern for the environment. For details go to Education IN The Environment.

A Campus at Oolong!
We are planning a campus with three portable rooms: 1) toilet and shower facilities 2) lecture room/office and 3) kitchenette and sleeping quarters for four people. This will accommodate overseas, interstate and local volunteers; Green Corp teams; specialist groups involved in our projects; and volunteers being trained by our specialists. It will also provide space for community lectures.

Schools from SE NSW and the ACT will work on projects in the field and on assignments in the premises. We are seeking funds to cover costs of this very important part of the whole program for schools and volunteers.

How valuable is our bushland?

Dragon Fly and Pollution
"The most advanced flying machine, a masterpiece of nature, the dragonfly, but if water is polluted it is the first to disappear" G.W.D'Addario
(photo: M.Hines, Oolong)

The Oolong Challenge
The Oolong Challenge with the native seed bank is under the patronage of the Hon Katrina Hodgkinson MP State Member for Burrinjuck, Shadow Minister for Community Services.
To see how the Challenge is progressing go to Project 16 on the Projects page.

Establishing Wildlife Corridors
The Friends of Oolong support the following plans with contributions to communities to reforest private land, and incentives to landholders.

• The Southern Wilderness Protection Plan 2005
  
• The Lachlan Action Plan of the Lachlan Catchment Management Authority
  
• The Grassy Box Woodlands as Bush Heritage Anchor Region
  
• The Grassy Box Woodlands Conservation Management Network
  
• The State and Federal plan for a 2800 km coastal wildlife corridor.
• The recognition of native vegetation remnants as nature reserves

Habitat/remnants as nature reserves and crown roads as links on private land
To read more about this development click here and browse to "Developing wildlife corridors within private properties".

"All over the world, human activity is destroying irreplaceable habitats and causing a major crisis of species extinction. Human beings remain dependent on nature to cleanse, create and replenish air, water and soil and to capture sunlight. We are biological creatures whose need for these services of nature cannot be replaced by economic or technological activity. Therefore, at this critical stage in human development, we have to protect every ecosystem and species we possibly can if our children and their children are to have the richness of health and opportunity their forebearers had. Australia's unique landscape is under heavy attack and it's fragile ecosystems threatened as never before. Will Australians think beyond the deadlines dictated by economic and political pressures and opt for action that will sustain future generations? I believe they will. I acknowledge the need for research towards the understanding of habitat/remnants linked by corridors and support the Oolong Sanctuary programs and Friends of Oolong long-term committment to conservation."
David Suzuki
(The transcript of the latest interview (october 18 2006) by Dr Suzuki in Australia is in: http://news.sbs.com.au )