The sanctuary is on 250 acres at the top of the Toorloo Arm of Lake Tyers, and includes the morass into which the feeder creeks Swamp and Mundic run. The land south of the morass is hilly and near the shelter close to the carpark was an overstorey of Gippsland Blue Gum (Eucalyptus pseudoglobulus) and Coast Grey Box (E.bosistoana). Our guide and owner of the property, Philip Rickards, estimated that the largest Blue Gum nearby was 6-700 years old. Previous owners of the property had removed much of the timber that was useful and accessible, so many of the trees are quite young. However there are still many trees with hollows and Greater, Yellow-bellied and Sugar Gliders, and Brushtail and Ringtail Possums are seen on spotlight walks. Owls also found are Powerful Owl, Masked Owl and Boobook. We were shown the velvety skin of a Greater Glider which had died from natural causes. Spotlighting tours are available to the public. A Brown Goshawks’ nest was seen in the huge Blue Gum. There were Bandicoot feeding holes, although Foxes are seen about the property. One of the grass layer was Variable Sword-sedge (Lepidosperma laterale) which has very long thin leaves. Birds seen here were the very inquisitive Yellow Robin, Crested Shrike-tit and White-throated Treecreeper.

As we took the track downhill, two Black Wallabies broke cover and bounded away. We searched for Koalas which here prefer particularly Blue Box (E. bauerana), but also Blue Gum, Coast Grey Box and Manna Gum (E. viminalis), and found one sleeping in a Blue Box. Growing on a limestone outcrop was Derwentia derwentiana (Derwent Speedwell) which also grows near the summit of Mt Kosciusko. The Derwent Speedwell is named after the Derwent River in Tasmania and is usually found in montane or subalpine rocky areas. It is a woody perennial up to 140cm high with large inflorescences with up to 100 tiny flowers. There were Wolf Spider tunnels in the ground and we were shown a specimen of a Spider Wasp. The female wasp paralyses the spider with its sting and then lays eggs on or in its body. The emergent larvae then feed on the body of the spider. A leathery bracket fungus with concentric rings and a white edge called Turkey’s Tail, was breaking down some dead wood on the ground. The limestone in the area is Tertiary Miocene (about 20 million years old) and in some places was completely filled with shells. Some of the fossils were a sea urchin, bivalves (like mussels), a single shell like an abalone about 15cm across, tube worms and bryozoans (which somewhat resemble corals, being colonies made up of many individuals). The trunk of a Blue Box was covered with white fungal threads which are apparently eaten by the possums. All during our visit, male Lyrebirds were loudly singing their own song and imitating other birds. Calls we recognised were those of Pied Currawong, Crimson Rosella, Eastern Whipbird, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Red Wattlebird, White-browed Scrubwren, Magpie, Grey Butcherbird, Kookaburra, Grey Shrike-thrush and Satin Bowerbird. We saw a Blue Box with scars made by Yellow-bellied Gliders to tap the nutrient-rich sap. Greater Gliders like Blue Box and Narrow-leaved Peppermint (E. croajingolensis).

On a ridge on the eastern side of the property, the major trees were Mountain Grey Gum (E. cypellocarpa), White Stringybark (E. globoidea) and Blue Box, with Narrow-leaved Peppermint and Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata) down in the gully. Some of the Grey Gums were magnificent with fresh yellow bark. This apparently was good Greater Glider habitat. On the south facing slope the soil was rich and red with a mass of bright green Calochlaena dubia (Common Ground-fern). The north facing slope and the gully bottom was sandy. We followed the gully down through Saw Banksia (Banksia serrata) to the morass.

The morass is a peat morass, which is quite rare and has been dated as 6080 years old. The plants within the peat have been identified by their pollen and found to be the same species which still grow above the peat. The overstorey plants are Swamp Gum (E. ovata), Scented Paperbark (Melaleuca squarrosa), Swamp Paperbark (M. ericifolia) and Woolly Tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum). The lower storey was dense with Scrambling Coral-fern (Gleichenia microphylla), Tall Saw-sedge (Gahnia clarkei), Tasman Flax-lily (Dianella tasmanica) and Narrow-leaf Geebung (Persoonia linearis). In the morass the Victorian Smooth Froglet is found, and the Swordgrass Brown Butterfly (in summer), whose life cycle revolves around Tall Saw-sedge (Gahnia clarkei) and Red-fruit Saw-sedge (G. sieberiana). A small boardwalk leads into the morass through Soft Treeferns (Dicksonia antarctica) and the slender twiner Bearded Tylophora (Tylophora barbata). In a small pool was Water Ribbons (Triglochin procerum) whose bulbs were an important source of food for Aboriginals, whilst around the edge was Cumbungi (Typha angustifolia) and Common Reed (Phragmites communis).

On the way home from the sanctuary we stopped along Bruce’s Track in the Colquhoun Forest to look for Cobra Greenhoods (Pterostylis grandiflora), and found with them Trim (P. concinna) and Nodding (P. nutans) Greenhoods, Mosquito Orchids (Acianthus exsertus) and Cranberry Heath (Astroloma humifusum) all in flower