Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the visit.
A wildlife park founded in 1981, a keeper who became its owner and a rescue service for the island’s animals offer several ways into the story of Bonorong.
On this page
A wildlife park in Brighton
Bonorong was established in 1981 on Briggs Road in Brighton, about 30 minutes north of Hobart. The sanctuary covers some 9.7 hectares.
Bonorong acknowledges that it stands on unceded Mumirimina land, and pays its respects to the palawa/pakana people, the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.
From park to sanctuary
Greg Irons joined Bonorong as a young keeper and took over the business at the age of 25. Under him, the sanctuary says, it changed from a traditional wildlife park into an active sanctuary focused on giving back to the Tasmanian environment.
Bonorong describes itself as not a zoo: its aim is to return healthy animals to the wild. It runs what it calls Tasmania’s largest 24/7 wildlife rescue service, and a wildlife hospital that opened in 2018. This page reports the sanctuary’s own account; it does not add claims of its own.
Bonorong today
Visitors meet Tasmanian devils, wombats, quolls, native birds, reptiles and a mob of Forester kangaroos that can be fed by hand.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
- Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary: About
- Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary: Plan your visit
- Wikipedia: Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
Links lead to the original publishers.
