The Briars conservation

• The Heritage Seed Garden forms part of The Briars Heritage Homestead – one of the first houses built by European settlers of the Mornington Peninsula.
• Volunteers attend The Briars on a Tuesday morning for approximately two hours and they aim to keep the garden beds well maintained and planted with heritage and heirloom vegetable and companion plant species, that were traditionally grown in the 20th century. Volunteers grow heritage plants to then obtain seeds, which the seeds are then sold through The Briars Visitor Centre. Volunteers benefit from the companionship, working towards a common goal and all vegetables produced are shared among the volunteer group.
• Alexander Balcombe settled at The Briars in 1846 with his wife Emma and their baby daughter. Alexander’s descendants, the Murphy and a’Beckett families, remained at The Briars until 1976, when Richard a’Beckett sold the remaining property to the Shire of Mornington and gifted
• The Briars Homestead and surrounding eight hectares of lawns, trees, gardens and outbuildings jointly to the Shire and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). One of our Heritage Seed Garden volunteers recently celebrated their 25 year of volunteering!

• The Heritage Seed Garden helps the community to connect with each other, share their love of gardening and helps to share knowledge between volunteers. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, if you have a willingness to learn and be part of a terrific volunteer group, we love to welcome you.
• Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has more than 500 volunteers across many, many different areas of The Shire and our volunteer program makes a positive impact on the community, helping to build connections and form new relationships. Volunteers develop new skills and gain valuable experience through these programs. They also have a benefit to mental health and physical well-being.

• The Heritage Seed Garden volunteer program makes a positive impact on the community, helping to build connections and form new relationships. Volunteers develop new skills and gain valuable experience through these programs. They also have a benefit to mental health and physical well-being.
• Heritage Seed Garden volunteers share and get to take home all the beautiful produce grown in the gardens.
• We welcome all levels of experience, whether you’re a novice gardener or fully qualified horticulturalist. Even our most experienced volunteers can and do learn new skills.

We are not recruiting volunteers at this time.
If you’d like to express your interest, please email the.briars@mornpen.vic.gov.au and we will contact you when recruitment reopens.

• The Wildlife Sanctuary forms an important part of The Briars and is also a unique conservation sanctuary in Victoria more broadly. It is 90 hectares in size and is currently undergoing an expansion of an additional 40 hectares, which we hope to open to the public in late 2025.
• Volunteers currently attend The Briars on a fortnightly or monthly basis for approximately four hours and they aim to keep the Sanctuary well maintained. There are various activities the conservation volunteers attend to, from planting indigenous plants, to camera monitoring for endangered animals (also checking for pest animals such as foxes and rabbits), to weed monitoring, water and wetland management and track safety checking and minor repairs (if needed).
• The Briars Wildlife Sanctuary was first established back in 1985 and were officially named the Ken McArthur Wetlands in 1991. There are two bird hides (Boonoorong and Chechingurk) within the wetlands as well as a 600m long boardwalk. The Wetland walking track extends for a two kilometre circuit and the Woodland Walk is a four kilometre trail, through a variety of vegetation including dense scrub and woodland, high quality Manna and Swamp Gum woodland and more open country where cattle once grazed. There are a number of endangered species which have been released within the Wildlife Sanctuary, which are monitored and managed by The Briars Rangers. One of which is the Southern Brown Bandicoot.

• The Conservation volunteers help the community to connect, sharing their love of flora and fauna and helping to bring further knowledge of the important works at The Briars to the wider community.
• Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has more than 500 volunteers across many, many different areas of The Shire and our volunteer program makes a positive impact on the community, helping to build connections and form new relationships. Volunteers develop new skills and gain valuable experience through these programs. They also have a benefit to mental health and physical well-being.

• The Conservation volunteer program makes a positive impact on the community, helping to build connections and form new relationships. Volunteers develop new skills and gain valuable experience through these programs. They also have a benefit to mental health and physical well-being.
• Conservation volunteers share their knowledge and experiences. They can learn valuable lessons for conservation management, whether they work in a related field or if they are seeking to work within this area in the near future.
• We welcome all levels of experience, whether you’re currently employed in a conservation role or not. You may simply be passionate about our environment and would like to make a difference or a contribution.

We are not recruiting volunteers at this time.
If you’d like to express your interest, please email the.briars@mornpen.vic.gov.au and we will contact you when recruitment reopens.