Rainforest Cocktail Party raises more than 45,000 dollars

The Washpool National Park is a World Heritage ark of rare rainforest

Lady Gorton with Ann Sanders

Channel Seven newsreader Ann Sanders and naturalist and author John Dengate hosted the Foundation's Rainforest Cocktail Party at Vaucluse’s Greycliffe House in February. Their 173 guests enjoyed a night by the water under the stars with tropical cocktails and fine food.

It was our major fundraiser for the year and raised over $45,000 to purchase and protect rainforest in Washpool Wilderness.

Washpool is an area in the sub-tropical North of NSW between Grafton and Tenterfield. Most of Washpool Wilderness (total 53,000 hectares) is protected within Washpool National Park. There are however a further 3,000 hectares that are privately owned and are without protection.

World Heritage

Washpool National Park and the adjoining Gibraltar Range National Park are part of the World Heritage listed Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia (CERRA).Its ancient and isolated rainforests are home to a great variety of plants and animals, including koalas, parma wallabies, rufous bettongs and more than 140 bird species.

Washpool contains the largest remaining stand of coachwood-dominated warm temperate rainforest and a unique mosaic of eucalypt and rainforest communities. Patches of lowland subtropical, cool subtropical and dry rainforests also occur in isolated pockets.

Washpool Wilderness is home to many threatened animals including koala, spotted-tailed quoll (a beautiful cat-like marsupial), parma wallaby and rufous bettong. The endangered Hastings River mouse is known to inhabit open eucalypt forest in Washpool National Park.

The local powerful owl, which is considered at possible risk of extinction, requires a large territory and the extensive areas of tall open forest with their abundance of hollow-bearing trees.

See our home page for links to more photos from the function