Nurcoung: what seventeen years of restoration looks like

We bought 187 hectares of worn-out Wimmera farmland in 2008. We’ve direct-seeded, planted and managed the property ever since, and it’s now for sale.

Thriving bushland after 17 years of restoration

In 2008 this block was mostly paddock. Around 130 hectares had been cropped and grazed for decades, and another 40 hectares was cleared in the 1950s and left to regenerate on its own. The Little Desert is just to the north, and the country here is dry and mostly farmed, with very little native vegetation left. 

Soil samples and surveys of nearby bush informed our plans for restoration. Seed was collected locally, from roadside reserves and the Nurcoung Flora and Fauna Reserve, and direct seeding and hand planting started in 2009. 

What’s there now

Today the property is a stunning example of biodiverse restoration. Broombush is recruiting by itself, Golden Wattle has moved into the gaps between the old rip lines, and Slender Cypress-pine is coming up in a range of ages, from seedlings to established trees 

Trust for Nature’s ecologists have recorded 75 native plant species here, along with 39 species of bird and a handful of mammals and reptiles. Shinglebacks are common, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos can be found feeding on the property, and to the South is the Nurcoung Bushland Reserve, where the highest density of Malleefowl are known to occur.  

Wildflowers are all throughout the property

“Nurcoung is a beautiful pocket of the Wimmera, and more diverse than people expect. You’ve got the Little Desert National Park on one side and Mount Arapiles-Dyurrite on the other, and from the rises here the views go a long way. It surprises people.” – Jess Gardner, Restoration Program Specialist  

Two of the plants are listed as critically endangered under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. The Thorny Bitter-pea grows in only a small part of the state, around the Little Desert and Horsham, and there’s a healthy population here. The other is the Forked Spyridium, a small shrub found nowhere else in the world but north-west Victoria, and down to a few surviving populations. In 2017 we worked with the Royal Botanic Gardens to translocate 174 of them onto the property, and the plants that took are now flowering and setting seed.

The property also sits in the gap between the Nurcoung Flora and Fauna Reserve to the south and Little Desert National Park to the north, giving wildlife a way through country that’s otherwise cleared. 

Rufous Whistler

The covenant

The property is protected by a conservation covenant with Trust for Nature. It sits on the title permanently and passes to every future owner, so the bush can’t be cleared and the land can’t be subdivided.  

Nobody has built here yet, and the covenant includes a floating two hectare parcel, so the site is yours to choose: your outlook, your access, your aspect. It allows one house, a garden and the usual outbuildings, and it’s the only part of the property where fertiliser and non-indigenous garden plants are permitted. Trust for Nature conditions and council planning requirements apply.

Property access track

Why it’s for sale

We restore land in a few different ways. Most of our work happens on land other people own, but now and then we buy a property outright, bring it back, and protect it permanently before passing it on. Nurcoung is one of those. Selling it releases the funds to start again somewhere that needs it, and the covenant means everything achieved here is safe regardless of who holds the title. What we’re hoping for is someone who wants to live among it, keep it in good condition, and enjoy what seventeen years of work has produced. 

Dense native bushland

Details

187 hectares at Lot 2 Mitre Road, Nurcoung, roughly X kilometres from Horsham. Road frontage, internal vehicle tracks, one dam on the western boundary, and a shallow seasonal waterhole in the south-east corner. Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park and Little Desert National Park are both close by. 

The property is protected by a conservation covenant with Trust for Nature, which stays on the title permanently. The bush can’t be cleared and the land can’t be subdivided. No livestock, cats or dogs. Timber stays where it falls. No trail bikes or recreational vehicle use. 

This is the country of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk Peoples of the Wotjobaluk Nations. 

All enquiries, please click here

Drone image of the property

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