It was 10 years ago that George Cullinan first noticed an odd-looking bird on his farm in the Victorian Mallee.
“The first one I found was dead in a water trough,” he said.
Intrigued by his morbid find, Mr Cullinan reached out to his friend and conservationist Greg Ogle, and described to him in detail the peculiar bird’s yellow beak and yellow legs.
The bird turned out to be a plains-wanderer, one of Australia’s rarest birds, with an estimated population of between just 250 and 1,000.
Sadly, Mr Cullinan died three weeks ago, aged 98, but not before he created a lasting legacy that echoes out across the Mallee’s Birchip plains as birdsong.
It is estimated there are fewer than 1,000 plains-wanderers left in the wild. (Supplied: Peter Tuohey)
Critically endangered
The plains-wanderer is a small, shy bird with a distinct call, that is described as similar to that of the moo of a cow.
It represents an ancient lineage of birds that evolved in Gondwana more than 100 million years ago.
The habitat of the plains-wanderer has shrunk. Once stretching as far north as western Queensland, the birds are now so rare that only occasional sightings are made in Victoria and southern New South Wales.
It is so critically endangered and taxonomically unique that it has been ranked by the Zoological Society of London as the number-one priority for conservation action among birds of the world.
Mr Cullinan was a respected figure in the Birchip community. (ABC Wimmera: Rebekah Lowe)
In his quest to learn more about the bird, Mr Cullinan worked with Trust for Nature and the Birchip Landcare Group to install song meters on his farm.
The devices, fitted with microphones and SD cards, are attached to trees to record the sounds of wildlife such as frogs and birds.
In just three weeks the meters on Mr Cullinan’s property recorded a staggering 110 sounds of the rare bird.
“There’d be more than one bird there for that many calls,” said Birchip Landcare Group member Brian Lea.
‘Supermarket’ for a Goldilocks bird
With growing excitement, and in an effort to protect the bird from the effects of intensive farming, Mr Cullinan then set about establishing a 91-hectare covenant on his 2,000-hectare property where the plains-wanderer population could flourish.
“It’s got a 20-acre, shallow lake and it’s surrounded by box trees. I’d say the estimated age of [them] is 500 years,” he said.
The covenant, put in place in 2023, sits on a land title held by Trust for Nature and exists regardless of who owns the property, and prevents the block from ever being cultivated.
The plains-wanderer is nicknamed Goldilocks for its need for ideal conditions: ground cover that is sparse, but not too sparse.
The plains-wanderer is a shy native bird on the brink of extinction. (Flickr: Nik Borrow, Plains-wanderer Pedionomus torquatus, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Trust for Nature manager David Dore said Mr Cullinan’s property provided ideal habitat for the plains-wanderer to live and breed.
“Paddocks that are still intact and have things like spear grasses and wallaby grasses and lilies and daisies, these sorts of plants make that paddock like a supermarket for plains-wanderers where they can find food all year round.”
The Victorian Mallee is a major broadacre cropping district. (ABC Wimmera: Rebekah Lowe)
Mr Dore said the plains-wanderer was a fascinating species.
“It’s an extraordinary long-lived species that we’re almost on the brink of losing,” he said.
“If we lost it, it would be like losing the Tasmanian tiger.”
A song meter that records the sound of birds. (ABC Wimmera: Rebekah Lowe)
‘Monumental’ work for environment
Mr Cullinan’s lifetime of conservation efforts were acknowledged at his graveside service at the Birchip Lawn Cemetery last month.
“From what I’ve heard he was a great contributor in the district all of his life,” Mr Dore said.
“This last gift to the birds is really something that will keep him in many people’s memories for a long, long time.
“We talk about environmental activism and George in his quiet way has done a monumental piece of environmental activism.”
Birchip Landcare Group member Brian Lea agreed that Mr Cullinan’s work to protect habitat for the plains-wanderer would be enduring.
Brian Lea says work continues to monitor the plains-wanderer population. (ABC Wimmera: Rebekah Lowe)
“I thank George wholeheartedly for the fact that he’s allowed this paddock to be locked up with a covenant on it, and that’s going to last forever,” he said.
