It is a
delight to meet Anne-Marie. We came to visit, interested in learning about her wildlife
land trust property, but left having learnt much more. Over tea and an amazing
vegan passionfruit cheesecake we connect with Anne-Marie who invites us to camp
overnight on her property. As the sun sets, we settle into her comfy chairs and
over a few glasses of red wine, she tells us her story.
Anne-Marie
first settled in Western Australia when she migrated to Australia in the early
1980’s from Southern Ireland. She now lives on a Wildlife Land Trust property
in Oakview, Queensland with her partner; nestled in the hills along an amazing
creek, surrounded by bushland and wildlife.
Anne-Marie
is passionate about Australian wildlife and devotes her life to caring for
injured and orphaned wallabies, kangaroos, flying foxes and many other animals.
She works from her beautiful mud brick home
running an online business as a naturopath and herbalist. Money raised from
selling wildlife supplies goes toward caring for the little joeys and other
animals she rescues. It costs about a thousand dollars and about 2 years to
raise a joey and release it back to the wild, so the work of carers like
Anne-Marie (many of whom are migrants to this country) is a wonderful contribution
to conservation.
In 2005,
Anne-Marie was diagnosed with Stage 4 terminal cancer. The doctors gave her 3 months to live and
said she would have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Instead,
Anne-Marie used her skills as a naturopath and herbalist, and found her own
solutions.
Today, she
is a committed vegan and says she is healthier than she has ever been and is
also free of many of the other ailments that she used to suffer from such as allergies,
arthritis, asthma and a poor immune system.
In between being a substitute mum to rescued wildlife, she runs vegan-cooking
classes, to share her passion for eating healthy, delicious food with no animal
products.
In the
morning we go for a walk on the beautiful property. Besides the vegie patch,
and the numerous sheds surrounding the house, there are 270 acres of habitat
and many farm dams on the land. Incredible to realise that places such as this
are more affordable than your average house on a half-acre block in a Sydney
suburb.
During
our walk, we see first hand the contribution of Wildlife Land Trust properties
to both wildlife and habitat. While Australia is fortunate to have one of
richest collection of endemic species on the planet, only 11.5% of our landmass
has some form of protection as a protected area. We have one of
Our walk
has ended and it is time to leave. We say our goodbyes and leave, feeling
inspired by Anne-Marie’s story and glad to have learnt a little more about the
concept of the Wildlife Land Trust properties, a concept that is spreading
worldwide.
