I only had the privilege of meeting Martin Copley in the last couple of years -
although I have known of his baby - the Australian Wildlife Conservancy - for
many more. Not all visionaries are effective builders. But, like Sir Peter
Scott of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and WWF, Martin Copley AM was that
comparatively rare combination of those two talents. The vision was enormous
and the building immense.
An extremely successful first career as an insurance underwriter in London, was
followed by the outstanding second career as a conservationist in Australia.
It has been reported that he used more than ten million dollars of his own
money to acquire and develop the pioneering properties of the AWC (the first
being a Western Australian property that was part of a bigger property that had
been owned by his grandfather). The AWC's Business Plan - simple - the saving
of Australian native fauna species from extinction. (Birds include the Purple
-crowned Fairy Wren, Gouldian Finch and Princess Parrot.) The methodology:
intense research, particularly into feral cats, feral grazing animals and
aboriginal type fire regimes. His personal commitment, and the businessman's
discipline of keeping administration costs down (below 20%), with the rest
devoted to conservation productivity, has attracted unprecedented levels of
private donations to conservation in Australia. Private donations include
ordinary folk as well as other philantrophic businessmen.
23 stunning properties across the continent, containing 3 million acres, owned
and managed by AWC - what a monument!
We have lost a great Australian,
Angus Innes
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