Friends of Maatsuyker Island - Wildcare Inc.

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Friends of Maatsuyker Island - Wildcare Inc. FOMI works with Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service to maintain the historic, cultural and natural he

Is it Madagascar? Is it the Maldives? No, it's Maatsuyker in May! Caretakers Rob & Cath are enjoying the unseasonably mi...
03/05/2026

Is it Madagascar? Is it the Maldives? No, it's Maatsuyker in May! Caretakers Rob & Cath are enjoying the unseasonably mild, record breaking temperatures that kicked off the start of the month.

A busy day for FOMI members at the Tasmanian Herbarium to start mounting plant specimens collected, under permit, during...
30/04/2026

A busy day for FOMI members at the Tasmanian Herbarium to start mounting plant specimens collected, under permit, during our recent working bees. The collection is the start of a reference set of higher plants from Maatsuyker. A huge shout out to Matt Baker and the Herbarium for hosting us.

01/04/2026

The Wildcare Tasmania community is deeply saddened by the recent passing of Penny Tyson, who was a long-time contributor to conservation in Tasmania. Our thoughts are her husband, Bob, and their entire family. We also extend our condolences to all those who knew and worked with Penny.

Friends and family are organising a wake in Penny’s honour, to be held on Wednesday, April 1st, at 3.30pm at Ferntree Community Hall. Wildcare members are welcome, just bring some food and stories to share.

Penny, along with her husband, Bob, was very active in Wildcare. For 17 years, the couple volunteered for the Friends of Deal Island. Penny and Bob first volunteered as caretakers back in 2004 on the rugged red granite island, which rises nearly 300 meters out of the Bass Strait. Their expertise in the natural environment raised the bar for natural resource management on the island. Penny’s volunteer experience at the Herbarium was invaluable for their work on Deal Island. She collected specimens for study and gained extensive knowledge of plant classification. Penny was instrumental in developing w**d management for Deal Island.

Friends of Deal Island is just one of the many groups Penny and Bob volunteered with over the years. They have been involved in a number of Wildcare groups, including the Friends of Cockle Creek, Friends of SPRATS, Friends of Wellington Park, Friends of Maria Island, Friends of Melaleuca, Friends of Tasman Island, and Friends of Maatsuyker Island, to name a few. Their contributions to these areas have been vital to the continued success of the groups. We are beyond grateful to Penny for her contributions to Deal Island and the broader Wildcare community.

That’s a wrap for FOMI’s March working bee!The shearwater team surveyed 820 burrows 👏 and the w**ding team covered ~14 h...
20/03/2026

That’s a wrap for FOMI’s March working bee!

The shearwater team surveyed 820 burrows 👏 and the w**ding team covered ~14 ha of the island finding just 1 Blackberry, 2 H**e and 46 Montbretia 👏

📣 Huge shout‑out to the volunteers who pushed on through sun ☀️, wind 💨, rain 🌧️ and leeches 🩸to make the working bee a success.

Special thanks to the caretakers, Duncan and Michelle, for their generous hospitality — and for setting a new benchmark with a seemingly endless supply of afternoon teas 🍪🍰🧁!

FOMI is also incredibly grateful to the supporters who make our working bees possible:
Landcare Tasmania

Helicopter Resources
Wildcare Tasmania
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
💚💚💚💚💚

A bonus for the working bee w**ders. Weather has delayed our departure so we used the extra time to start a survey of Eu...
19/03/2026

A bonus for the working bee w**ders. Weather has delayed our departure so we used the extra time to start a survey of Eucalyptus on the island's summit. The summit is also notorious for its leech population. The intrepid team spent as much time looking down at the army of leeches inchworming their way upwards as they did looking in the tree canopy. Thanks Teresa for being the leech photographer who captured the action.

Calling all children of Maatsuyker Island, is this your Ray-gun?
15/03/2026

Calling all children of Maatsuyker Island, is this your Ray-gun?

The shearwater team continue their amazing work during our working bee. The monitoring program now has 13 years data, co...
14/03/2026

The shearwater team continue their amazing work during our working bee. The monitoring program now has 13 years data, collected twice annually, about the health, population numbers and breeding success of the Maatsuyker shearwater colony. Here Sheryl and Andrew measure and weigh one of this season's chicks. Hard to believe in a few weeks time this little one will be fully fledged and fly half way around the world to the birds' summer feeding grounds in the Arctic.

Weeding on the edge - a day on Macquarie Slopes. It's not every day we have such a spectacular location on the search fo...
13/03/2026

Weeding on the edge - a day on Macquarie Slopes. It's not every day we have such a spectacular location on the search for H**e.

12/03/2026

The lens turning!

More Dads Army updates!Clockwork weights removed sheave inspection and lubrication.Chariot Wheels removed inspection mea...
12/03/2026

More Dads Army updates!

Clockwork weights removed sheave inspection and lubrication.

Chariot Wheels removed inspection measured and returned to service.

Quarters Two doors repaired, freed up, hardware replaced and painted.

Dads Army returned to Maatsuyker Island for the battle with the Chance Brothers Clockwork mechanism in the Lighthouse La...
11/03/2026

Dads Army returned to Maatsuyker Island for the battle with the Chance Brothers Clockwork mechanism in the Lighthouse Lantern Room.

The mechanism was overdue for the 130 year log book service grease and oil change.
The Dads army team / commando unit consisted of.
Two Dads Army Maatsuyker Regulars.
One Friends of Tasman Engineering Cor specialist on secondment.
One Retired HQ Intelligence officer recalled for this mission.

Objectives of works. Service clockwork, adjust turntable Chariot wheel runout, reduce pedestal wobble.
Replace Balcony door seal, Repair timber Heritage Equipment Display bench.
Repair / Free up all internal doors, latches and hardware in quarters two & three.

The Short Campaign was a complete success, with the unit retiring from Maatsuyker, no injuries to personnel or equipment reported.

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