Chakola, Kangaroo Valley

01/04/2026

01/04/2026

Kangaroo Valley has some interesting environmental activities coming up... see attached

23/07/2025

National Tree Day

On Sunday 27th July Landcare is organizing a morning of native tree planting from 10am to midday at Chakola in Kangaroo Valley for keen and occasional volunteers and local residents. This is one of the last planting programs of the local Landcare yearly tree planting commitment. Planting in autumn and winter allows the young seedlings to get their roots established in moist soil, prior to hot weather hitting.

This year, Landcare has had funding support for trees and guards from NSW Government Environmental Trust, CHEP, the pallet people through Landcare Australia and Endeavour Energy through Landcare NSW. To date this year, community efforts through Landcare have put 1270 trees and shrubs in the Kangaroo Valley ground at 13 different sites, with (so far) very few losses.

Please come and join us at Chakola, a Nature Reserve at 230B Mt Scanzi Road. Here, we will be restoring habitat for endangered species, including the Brush Tailed Rock Wallaby by widening the native vegetation corridor along the escarpment.

WE have an organized tree planting procedure: drilling holes with battery powered drills and augers, water crystals and fertilizer, planting, watering and tree guards. There's a variety of jobs to suit everyone's abilities. They're always fun, and generally with drinks and cakes at the end. Love to see you there.

Please RSVP to Nick Deacock at [email protected]

11/01/2025

In 1963 Warwick Deacock was involved in the introduction of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme in Australia. In 1965 he established Chakola. Recently a group of Duke of Edinburgh students, working towards their Gold Medal award, participated in a 'habitat enhancement' project at Chakola in support of the endangered broad-headed snake. The photo shows some of the handmade cement & fibre habitat 'rocks' being placed along the escarpment.

14/09/2024

Recently NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) held a workshop at Chakola. Attendees included Conservation Agreement property landowners and others interested to participate in a three-month pilot project called Land Libraries.

Environmental Scientist Alice McGrath (from Canberra), Senior Ecologist Joel Stibbard (Newcastle), Contract Ecologist James Lidsey, (a local now living in Melbourne) and representatives from NatureMapr introduced the program which will provide landowners with information to support land management decisions and identify the amazing (and mostly unseen) biodiversity on their property, while expanding and improving the existing biodiversity database via NatureMapr - a virtual platform built to Australian government standards to provide robust sensitive data handling controls, with all information hosted in Australia on government certified infrastructure.

Attendees were issued with Reconyx cameras and a Song Meter Mini Bat2 sound recorder to capture visual and audio recordings over the next three months. Using the NatureMapr app and website, land owners are encouraged to upload any images or sound recordings captured by camera/phone at the same time, with uploads verified by both wildlife moderators and scientists.

This data, plus the accumulation of images and sound recordings at the conclusion of the pilot, will be added to the BCT Land Libraries database for future reference and use by appropriate organisations and departments

Cameras and recording devices will be collected at a follow up workshop in early December, with data obtained during the project being shared with participants, once collated and scientifically assessed.

Some early camera captures at Chakola are shown here.

11/06/2024

The premiere screening of The Great White Whale on 14th June sold out, so a second screening will be shown next Wednesday June 19th at 6:30pm.

Tickets can be accessed through the Mt Vic Flicks website: https://mountvicflicks.com.au/sessions/the-great-white-whale/

01/06/2024

THE GREAT WHITE WHALE to breach in Melbourne

Dear Friends,

The Great White Whale has been selected for the Melbourne Documentary Film festival, and is screening at Cinema Nova in Carlton on Saturday July 20th at 3.20pm

Ticketing has only just opened, and I advise getting in quick, as this festival has an active public following.
Seats can be booked via this link. https://www.cinemanova.com.au/films/mdff-the-great-white-whale

We have just finalised the sound mix and are creating the surround sound cinema version for this screening. Encouragingly, the evolving versions of the film, dating from last December, have had major successes at International Mountain Film Festivals. The film won the Grand Prize and Best Directors award in Mendi Spain, and just recently the Gold Gentian for best Expedition Film at Trento, Italy.

I would love you to see it, or more accurately, to see and to hear it, for the music in this film is absolutely wonderful. You will love the story too, and love the storytellers and their scary,astonishing and side-splitting tales of derring-do.

If you have any family or friends who might be interested please forward this post to them.

I will be introducing the film and doing a Q&A after the film.

Very best wishes,
Michael
--
Michael Dillon AM, ACS, FRGS. Producer / Director
The Great White Whale
Hillary-Ocean to Sky
www.michaeldillonfilms.com.au

PS from Nick : if you can recognise us, Kate and I (aged 6 and 4!) make cameo appearances at the end of the film 😀

03/05/2023

Included in the many varieties of wallaby species found in Kangaroo Valley is the endangered Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby.

Chakola supports Friends of the Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby (see https://www.rockwallaby.org.au/) and the Saving our Species (SoS) team (see https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/conservation-and-heritage/saving-our-species-conservation-program) who regularly visit Chakola to monitor these resident macropods.

Pictured is a Spotted-Tailed Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) which was caught on one of the wallaby monitor cameras set up in the escarpment that runs through the property.

Listed as vulnerable, I am pleased and excited to see this living proof of another rare native animal that calls Chakola home!

02/05/2023

Over the last few days we've seen so much at Chakola, including Kookaburras swooping, lyrebirds strutting, lace monitors mooching, many echidnas, wombats and possum.