Conservation
Our Dunkeld Conservation team currently manages 12% of our Dunkeld properties, with the aim of reaching 20%. We are engaged in a diverse range of activities including threatened species programs, revegetation, and weed and pest management across all properties.
We trade native vegetation offsets from the Victorian Volcanic Plains and Greater Grampians Bioregions.
Current Projects
Eastern Quoll Captive Breeding Program
Dunkeld Pastoral Co. have been breeding Eastern Quolls as part of a captive breeding program for over 20 years. We collaborate with the Tasmanian Quoll Conservation Program (TQCP), the South West Victorian Eastern Quoll Hub (SWVEQH), and the Eastern Quoll Conservation Coalition (EQCC), working to develop a healthy population of quolls on mainland Australia, captively and within large free ranging enclosures.
Find out more about the SWVEQH here.
Educational Wildlife Tours
We run educational tours of our wildlife enclosures for Royal Mail Hotel guests, as well as private groups, businesses, schools, TAFEs and universities.
Contact relax@royalmail.com.au for more information.
Revegetation
We undertake large scale revegetation projects every year, aiming to create habitat corridors to help wildlife movement in and out of the Grampians NP, and throughout the district. These plantings in turn improve the biodiversity values, production, and stock survival rates on our farms. Recently, 200ha at both our Devon Park and Blackwood properties have been revegetated as Carbon Registered plantations.
Grassland Restoration
We are working to restore and reinvigorate a Victorian Volcanic Plains grassland area outside of Dunkeld. This critically endangered vegetation community provides vital habitat for threatened grassland fauna that are hanging on by a thread. This project involves the reintroduction of native grassland vegetation, as well as the careful use of weed control, grazing and burning to encourage remnant species to flourish again.
Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands
We provide sites for seed orchard plantings for woodland species of the Victorian Volcanic Plains – Banksia, Bursaria and Allocasuarina.
We have created four 500 tree seed orchards in partnership with FotFW.
Find out more about their work here.
Kai Dailey - Conservation Manager
Kai followed his childhood passion for wildlife and the environment, studying a Bachelor of Science Majoring in Zoology at the University of New England, Armidale NSW.
Kai has worked extensively with captive breeding and wildlife husbandry specialising in Australian natives, particularly Dasyuridae (Tasmanian Devils, Spotted-tailed Quolls and Eastern Quolls). Kai also has extensive knowledge and experience in vertebrate pest control, habitat restoration and project management.
He has overseen multiple projects, including the planting of over 100,000 native trees, installation of stock exclusion fencing around dams, habitat restoration for the endangered Growling Grass Frog, installation of a 5km predator proof fence for Eastern Quolls, and kangaroo exclusion fences to protect native grasslands. He has also played a pivotal role in the expansion of our captive breeding programs for Eastern Quolls and Southern Brown Bandicoots.
