Sandstone escarpment

Busy sedges

Take a closer look at the area’s vegetation, and you’ll see gahnia (puwini) (Gahnia grandis) growing in the wettest spots, surrounded by lomandra (traywuna) (Lomandra longifolia). Both of these sedges work tirelessly to store carbon in the surrounding soil and manage water levels and quality. 

Lomandra in particular dominates this ecosystem, and its density signifies when it's time to bring ecological fire back into a grassland to ensure there's plenty of food for The Quoin’s marsupials.

Hoppin’ through

Forester kangaroo (tara) (Macropus giganteus) mobs are often seen hopping through the area.  Foresters are picky, grass-only grazers, but this is a boon for the ecosystem because they spread native grass seeds and fertilise nutrient-deficient soils. 

The sandstone escarpment

When the grassland is too exposed, native marsupials take advantage of the nearby sandstone escarpment, using it for shelter, breeding, and everything in between. 

In the last six months alone, we’ve seen a variety of animals here: Tasmanian devils (purinina) (Sarcophilus harrisii) and their joeys, a southern brown bandicoot (linira) (Isoodon obesulus), spotted-tailed quolls (luwayina) (Dasyurus maculatus) and a mother wombat (prupilathina) (Vombatus ursinus) with her joey. 

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Soil engineers

Speaking of the southern brown bandicoot, they play a special role in this ecosystem. 

Bandicoots are soil engineers, turning over up to 13kg of soil every night as they dig for juicy insects.

This has the effect of increasing soil moisture and nutrient content, decreasing soil compaction and erosion, and decreasing fire risk by burying flammable fuel loads a little bit at a time.