About Us South Endeavour Trust was established in 2007 as an independent, not for profit, charitable trust with the sole purpose of contributing to nature conservation in Australia. South Endeavour currently owns and manages 18 conservation reserves. To date we have focused on three areas of great conservation need, each of which has extraordinarily diverse biodiversity values. These are: Northeastern New South Wales; the endangered rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands; and the intersection of the Wet Tropics and Cape York bioregions in Far North Queensland. At South Endeavour we believe that private individuals and private sector organisations can make a very major contribution to nature conservation in Australia, both supplementing and complementing the public reserve system. We have great admiration for the committed efforts of the national parks services throughout Australia and for organisations such as the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Bush Heritage as well as for the myriad of smaller organisations and individuals who are doing so much to care for our precious environment. We believe that there is no single right model for conservation. Rather, there are many right models that, working together, can make a very real difference to protecting the truly unique flora and fauna of this great and ancient continent. Our primary objectives are three fold: - To make the greatest possible contribution to nature conservation that we can, which often means doing things that others cannot or will not do. For example, we have recently purchased two small areas of very expensive farming land on the Atherton Tablelands for revegetation to complete a essential wildlife corridor that the local community has been working on for many years. This corridor is vital in enabling a range of endemic small mammals the greatest possible chance of survival in the face of the threats of climate change.
- To manage our conservation reserves as well as we practically can. This means making good management decisions based on sound science and then carrying those decisions through into on ground actions that make a real difference. Our major management focuses are on: seeking to control and reduce the extent and number of weeds; reducing feral animal populations to as low a level as commercially viable; and to use fire as a tool to ensure appropriate diversity and resilience.
- To ensure that we build and maintain a sufficient capital base such the annual income from that capital is sufficient to meet our management costs in perpetuity. This means that we are very focused on knowing and controlling our costs and that we have great regard for future management expenses in considering properties for purchase. As a consequence, we tend to cluster our reserves within specific geographic areas to encourage efficiency in management and that we try to buy properties where the management requirements are known and, preferably, are limited.
Who Are We? South Endeavour Pty Limited is the trustee company for South Endeavour Trust. | 
| | Corena Marais Corena is the wife of the late Simon Marais - Founder of Allan Gray Australia and previous Chairman of Allan Gray South Africa. Together they have been involved in nature conservation for many years, creating private conservation reserves in South Africa and Australia. | | 
| | Tim Hughes, B.Sc.(Hons) B.A.(Hons) M.Nat.Res. Tim is an economist, writer and company director. He has had over thirty years of experience in senior roles in the Australian investment management industry and wrote a weekly economics and finance column for the Courier-Mail from 1995 to 2013. He started his working career with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and has had a lifetime interest in conservation. He was on the Board of the NSW Nature Conservation Trust from 2003 to 2011 and was Chair from 2006 to 2011. | | 
| | André Brink, Chartered Accountant (SA) André is the Financial Director of the Trust. He has extensive experience in advising international corporations and many years' experience dealing with charitable organisations. | | 
| | Ben Marais, MD. PhD Ben is a paediatrician and infectious diseases expert. He is Deputy Director of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at the University of Sydney. As a paediatrician he has had a long standing interest in our environmental legacy, particularly the need to preserve ecosystem resilience and to value the essential services that healthy ecosystems provide. | |
