Australian Billionaires Donate $10 Million For Wildlife Sanctuary
Australian technology investor Mike Gregg and his wife Sue have donated $10 million to purchase six adjoining properties in the Great Dividing Range near Port Macquarie in New South Wales, protecting approximately 17,000 acres of towering forests, rainforest gorges, rivers, and grassy woodlands from farming and logging and permanently dedicating the land to conservation. The decision came during the final inspections of the properties, when logging trucks were reportedly still hauling giant trees away from parts of the land, and the Greggs moved quickly to ensure no more would be lost. The couple, who made their fortune through early investment in software company WiseTech Global, said they felt a responsibility to do something meaningful with that wealth rather than accumulate possessions. When asked to reflect on the choice, Mike Gregg put it simply: we had to think about how we were going to use this, and it was not going to be buying a big yacht.
The reserve is already home to koalas, greater gliders, spotted-tail quolls, glossy black cockatoos, frogs, wallabies, and turtles, many of which are threatened by the habitat loss that had been ongoing across the region. Conservation teams will now work to restore damaged sections of the property while protecting the forests from weeds, feral animals, and future development, and the land will be managed through the Great Southern Land Conservancy, a nonprofit the couple helped establish specifically for this kind of private conservation work. Sue Gregg told The Sydney Morning Herald that they found themselves in the fortunate position to do some good, and that preserving and restoring land was simply the best thing they could think of to do with their money. Conservation leaders in Australia said the gift is believed to be one of the largest private donations ever made for land conservation in New South Wales, and that the speed with which the purchase was finalized, before more of the forest could be felled, made the timing just as significant as the scale.
