Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary

Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the oldest private conservation areas in Tasmania. Most of the reserve was gazetted on 23 July 1946 as a private wildlife sanctuary under The Animals and Birds Protections Act 1928 following application by the owners, Nan and Anton Chauncy.

Location

Chauncy Vale is located 40 km north of Hobart and 4 km east of the township of Bagdad. It is the top end of a narrow valley running east-west between the Midland Highway and the Coal River Valley.

Origins

The sanctuary was bequeathed to the local council by Anton Chauncy in 1988. A later gift of the house and home paddocks was made by his and Nan's daughter, Heather.

Visiting Chauncy Vale

A sub-committee of the Southern Midlands Council manages the sanctuary under a gazetted Management Plan (1994) and a Business Plan endorsed by Council and the support group, Friends of Chauncy Vale Inc. Under these plans there is an entrance fee of $2 per adult, but school groups visit free of charge. A fee of $2 per person is charged for entry to the house. The house is open on the first Saturday of the month from 2 pm to 4 pm. The sanctuary gates are locked at sunset.

Friends of Chauncy Vale Inc organises and annual Open Day on a Sunday late in January with exhibitions, stalls, afternoon teas and guided walks.

Facilities

The caves that Nan Chauncy wrote about in the children's book The Cave

The Vale is visited by bushwalkers, bird watchers, field naturalist groups, picnicking family groups and school parties. There is a carpark with bus turning circle plus several areas suitable for picnics and gatherings. Rudimentary facilities include pit toilets, barbecues and a day shelter hut with wide verandas. Some formed tracks lead to points of interest such as Secret Cave, Browns Caves Creek and Guvys Lagoon. Near the main car park is an information shelter from where a path leads up and through the garden to the house where Nan Chauncy's work and items of interest are displayed.

A site for study

The whole sanctuary is a valuable heritage and natural environment study site. It forms part of a complex environment with a rich diversity of ecosystems, varying from dry sclerophyll vegetation on sandstone to wet forest on dolerite clay. It is home to a considerable variety of native fauna and was used by Tasmanian Aboriginal tribes before European settlement and as a refuge by early bushrangers.