Ross Trust and Trust for Nature: working together to conserve Victorian land

For almost 50 years, Trust for Nature and the Ross Trust have worked together to help protect and conserve land where Victorian wildlife and native plants can thrive.

Since 1974, the Ross Trust has made 49 grants totalling more than $4 million to Trust for Nature, with almost $3 million of that helping Trust for Nature buy land that is rich in native habitat.

Trust for Nature is one of Australia’s oldest conservation organisations and was founded in 1972 through the Victorian Conservation Trust Act. 

The organisation marks 50 years of operation in 2022 and in that time has helped protect and conserve more than 100,000 hectares of land across Victoria. The Ross Trust has been an integral part of that journey.

In August 1972, Mr Hamer (the then Victorian Premier) instigated the establishment of the Victorian Conservation Trust. This body – which later became Trust for Nature – could accept gifts, devises and bequests for land conservation.

“Our partnership with Trust for Nature has allowed the Ross Trust to have a real impact on the protection and preservation of Victoria’s native flora and fauna,” Ms Hardy said.

The Ross Trust made its first grant to Trust for Nature in 1974, with funding that helped to buy 7.6 hectares of land at Mallacoota to be included in the Mallacoota Inlet National Park, which later became part of the Croajingalong National Park.

In the mid-1980s, the Ross Trust gave 126 hectares of land on the Mornington Peninsula to Trust for Nature. That land now makes up part of Arthur’s Seat State Park.

And in 2002, the Ross Trust helped Trust for Nature buy Ned’s Corner, a 30,000-hectare property that had been cleared and degraded as farmland for 100 years and is now Victoria’s biggest privately held conservation property.

The Ross Trust made a cash contribution of $225,000 to help with the deposit for the land and also made a three-year interest repayment commitment on the Trust for Nature loan on the property, bringing the Ross Trust’s overall commitment to $1million.