Land conservation is usually the job of governments or organisations. But today we hear about people doing the job of conserving bushland on their own, as individuals.


KATHY McLEISH: Nancy Crammond and her dad Eric Vickerman live the quiet life on a property that's been in the family since the 1860s. But this isn't the bush. Eric Vickerman moved to the Belmont Hill property in Brisbane in the early 1950s.

ERIC VICKERMAN, LANDOWNER: It was very run down, moth eaten, dry and had been continually swept by bush fires.

KATHY McLEISH: So, at a time when land clearing was encouraged, Eric Vickerman did something extremely unusual for a Queenslander.

He decided to replant and restore the land. People thought he was crazy.

ERIC VICKERMAN: Well, I just had visions of the hill, it looks like a good backdrop for the city, because at the time they were destroying Pine Mountain and it was a frightful scar on the landscape, this huge quarry, just a frightful scar on the landscape and I was determined that this place shouldn't be it.

KATHY McLEISH: After nearly 60 years it's become more than a backdrop to Brisbane, it's now a 42 acre oasis in a sea of development, located in the busy city suburb of Carindale.

MICHAEL CALTABIANO, BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL: This is a jewel in the crown of some of Brisbane's best bushland.
Eleven and a half kilometres from the CBD, Belmont Hill is one of the seven hills of Brisbane that was seen by our forefathers.

NANCY CRAMMOND, LANDOWNER: In the last few years it's been really good because the Council's actually become interested whereas once upon a time we were sort of a bit crackpot because we didn't sell it and move away and make millions.

KATHY McLEISH: About five years ago, land conservation attitudes caught up with the family and the Brisbane City Council partnered them in a voluntary conservation scheme. That's brought a team of volunteers who help maintain the vision.

ERIC VICKERMAN: There was no way I could ever make any money out of the place. As a matter of fact it cost me everything I ever earned and ever had, to keep it this way, but it turned out how I visualised and it's amazing how many people are interested in it now. I can't believe it, it's just something, a dream come true.

KATHY McLEISH: Under the local council agreement, the land has been rezoned, so the otherwise crippling rates have been lowered and controlled. Only a quarter of Queensland Councils offer some form of conservation agreement to ratepayers. But then there's state government land tax for which the councils can offer no assistance
The Australian Bush Heritage Fund is trying to increase voluntary conservation.

DOUG HUMANN, AUSTRALIA BUSH HERITAGE FUND: People that go into voluntary conservation today are doing it pretty much for altruistic reasons.

KATHY McLEISH: The publicly funded organisation has 17 properties like this one in western Queensland, under protection across Australia. It's joined forces with other environment groups to encourage governments to give more financial relief to landholders entering into conservation deals.

DOUG HUMANN: This recognition that people that are owning and managing land for conservation deserve to be acknowledged for the contribution they're providing to the local community. We're looking at ways of increasing opportunities for people to get a tax advantage by undertaking conservation activities.