Since 2014, the team from G.J. Gardner Homes East Gippsland have been supporting our tree planting projects by purchasing 15 trees for every new build. Over that time, they have generously purchased 6,000 native trees and shrubs for local revegetation projects. Over a decade of support!
Michael Ellett is a generous supporter of local community groups, and their tree planting projects. This year, his office purchased 450 native trees for revegetation projects in the Gippsland district of Victoria.
Tambo Bluff Landcare Coastcare Inc. recently welcomed extra sets of hands to their planting day when the team from G.J. Gardner Homes joined the local Landcare group to help plant native trees and shrubs at a site adjacent to Dolphin Lagoon. It’s one thing to purchase trees for a community project. It’s another thing entirely to show up on the day and get your boots muddy alongside the people doing the work. The G.J. Gardner team did both!
The species were carefully chosen by the Landcare group to suit the coastal conditions of the site and included Coastal Banksia, Melaleuca ericifolia, Tree Violet, Hardenbergia, Lomandra, Kangaroo Apple, Snowy Daisy Bush, Sweet Bursaria, Hazel Pomaderris and Bootlace Bush. All local plants and all suited to the conditions in which they’ll grow. This is community tree planting done with real ecological intent.
We would like to thank GJ Gardner Homes, East Gippsland for the ongoing funding provided for revegetation and restoration of the environs surrounding Dolphin Lagoon on Tambo Bluff, Metung. This wetland is part of the Gippsland Lakes nominated under the RAMSAR Convention and is therefore of international significance. The current and future plantings will be of great benefit to the community and the region’s biodiversity. We were delighted to have some of the senior staff on site to assist with the ‘heavy work’ planting and watering the new plants.
Alan Maloney | Committee Member | Tambo Bluff Landcare Coastcare Inc.
As these plants establish and mature along the lagoon’s edge, they will create vital native habitat, drawing in more wildlife, providing shelter and food, and strengthening the biodiversity corridor. Camera surveys conducted during Autumn 2025, captured an extraordinary snapshot of the local wildlife. The endangered Southern Horseshoe Bat was recorded here, along with a Bush Rat which was filmed for the very first time at this site. Common Brush-tailed Possums, Black-tailed Wallabies and Bare-nosed Wombats move through the area regularly. Eastern Yellow Robins, Superb Fairy-wrens, Eastern Whipbirds, White-browed Scrubwrens, Common Bronzewings and Kookaburras all inhabit the surrounding bushland.
In and on the adjacent water body, the biodiversity is equally impressive. Long and short-finned eels, Bluespot Gobies, Flathead Gudgeons, sea spiders and shrimp share the lagoon with pelicans, cormorants, egrets and herons. A rich and layered aquatic ecosystem that the new plantings along the bank will help protect and sustain for years to come.
Writer: Colleen Filippa
With a background in Environmental Science, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, schools and environmental networks.
