NATURAL VALUES AND CONTEXT
The Tom Hay Reserve is a 0.3 hectare parcel that acts as a pocket of protection on north Bruny Island, and a place of tribute to Tom Hay whose passion for life and nature is reflected in his gift of land to the TLC. Gifted in 2015, this reserve is a small protected area that functions as a refuge and corridor in its island context.
The vegetation is healthy and diverse. There are numerous large mature canopy trees with hollows; white gums provide foraging habitat for the forty-spotted pardalote, which has been seen on the reserve. No weeds were located in this area and the native vegetation is in excellent condition.
Open forest dominated by black peppermint Eucalyptus amygdalina occupies the property, with emergent white gum Eucalyptus viminalis and white peppermint Eucalyptus pulchella. Understorey trees include black sheoak Allocasuarina littoralis, banksia Banksia marginata, native currant Leptomeria drupacea, native cherry Exocarpos cupressiformis and tea-tree Leptospermum scoparium. The ground layer is diverse and dominated by shrubs and sedges, including Pultenaea pedunculata, Lissanthe strigosa, Leucopogon spp., Gonocarpus tetragynus, Acacia gunnii, Xanthorrhoea australis, Pteridium esculentum, Lomandra longifolia and Lepidosperma longitudinale.
Tom Hay Reserve is home to the exquisite endangered forty spotted pardalote and a host of other woodland birds and native creatures. Fauna cameras have detected small mammals including critical weight range species such as the eastern quoll and long-nosed potoroo. It functions as a wildlife corridor and a safe haven for all we hold dear. A Conservation Statement has been prepared for the Reserve and this is updated annually as part of TLC’s reserve assessment process.
THE TOM HAY RESERVE STORY
The Tom Hay Reserve is part of the very special bequest left to the TLC. In the words of father Pete, and described beautifully on the Tom Hay Bequest page, Tom was a brilliant young economist at the time of his death in 2007 at the age of 27. His interest in the TLC was energized by the campaign to purchase Recherche Bay, thereby preserving it as a natural landscape in perpetuity, and in his will he bequeathed the bulk of his estate to the TLC – a most humbling and moving gesture.
