From Wonga Beach to the World: NightWings Makes International News
Sometimes a local story travels a very long way. For more than a decade, Rainforest Rescue has worked alongside NightWings landholder Annie Schoenberger, volunteers, supporters and partners to help transform former sugarcane fields near Wonga Beach into thriving young rainforest.
Now that remarkable story has reached an international audience, with The Times of India sharing the transformation of NightWings — from cleared agricultural land to a growing forest of more than 119,000 planted trees, alive once again with native wildlife and now recognised for its high conservation value.
We’re delighted to see this story of persistence, partnership and possibility travelling around the world.
Annie Schoenberger at the NightWings Annual Community Tree Planting in 2019 © Silvia Di Domenicantonio
An Australian woman bought cleared sugarcane land and planted trees; 10 years later, 119,000 trees transformed it into a rainforest home to flying-foxes
Annie Schoenberger bought cleared land near Wonga Beach in Queensland with a simple goal: bring rainforest back to a former sugarcane property. Over the following decade, her NightWings Rainforest Centre became the focus of a major restoration effort, supported by Rainforest Rescue, volunteers and local supporters. More than 119,000 native trees have been planted across 18 hectares, creating young rainforest habitat while restoring wetlands and improving water quality.
Wildlife has begun returning to the recovering landscape. In May 2026, the Queensland Government recognised the site as having high nature conservation value, granting its vegetation Category A protection under Queensland’s vegetation management framework. The project demonstrates how long-term community action can transform damaged farmland into valuable habitat. As the restored forest matures, it is expected to provide greater shelter and food for native species while helping reconnect fragmented rainforest across the wider region. For Schoenberger, the recognition marks a milestone in a personal project that has steadily grown into a model for community-driven land restoration.
The protected vegetation also strengthens the project’s long-term prospects, ensuring the recovering forest is not simply a temporary planting. Its expanding canopy can gradually create cooler, more complex habitat, while established roots help stabilise soil and support healthier wetland systems nearby. Her remarkable dedication demonstrates how one person’s vision, combined with community support, can transform degraded farmland into thriving, protected rainforest habitat.
From cleared sugarcane land to a young rainforest
Schoenberger purchased the property in 2014 after much of the land had been cleared for sugarcane farming. She wanted to restore the landscape to lowland Daintree rainforest and create habitat for native wildlife. Restoration work began in 2015, followed by the first community tree-planting event in 2016. Rainforest Rescue became a major partner in the effort, helping organise planting events, supply rainforest seedlings and bring volunteers together to restore the former agricultural land.
The original restoration target was around 15 hectares, but the area eventually expanded to 18 hectares. Instead of establishing a conventional plantation, the project focused on planting a diverse selection of native rainforest species that could gradually recreate the structure and ecological functions of the original forest.
NightWings over the years, 2016-2018 © Martin Stringer
More than 119,000 trees planted over a decade
The transformation was built through repeated planting efforts rather than a single large-scale operation. Over 10 years, volunteers, conservation workers and supporters returned to NightWings to put thousands of native seedlings into the ground. Rainforest Rescue’s latest 2026 update says more than 119,000 trees had been planted at NightWings, with the final planting completed in 2025. The organisation says the decade-long effort involved hundreds of people who helped Schoenberger turn the cleared property into a growing rainforest landscape. The planting has also focused on species diversity. At a 2023 community planting day, more than 140 people planted 3,300 trees representing about 90 rainforest species. Such diversity is important because rainforest restoration is intended to recreate a functioning ecosystem rather than simply increase the number of trees.
Wildlife began using the recovering habitat
As vegetation grew, the restored property began providing habitat and food resources for wildlife. NightWings is particularly connected to the spectacled flying-fox, a species Schoenberger has cared for through her wildlife rehabilitation work.Southern cassowaries have also been recorded at the property. A juvenile cassowary was photographed at NightWings in 2018, with Rainforest Rescue describing the sighting as particularly significant because it was the first recorded sighting south of the Daintree River in more than four decades. Later observations have continued to demonstrate that native wildlife is using the recovering landscape.
Other fauna recorded around the property include various birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs and bats. Surveys have recorded more than 75 fauna species, including several species listed as endangered, vulnerable or near threatened. The wildlife records do not mean that every species returned solely because of the restoration, but they provide evidence that the recovering vegetation is being used as habitat.
NightWings over the years, 2019-2024 © Martin Stringer
The restoration helped rebuild wetland habitat
Tree planting was only one part of the restoration. Wetland habitat at NightWings has also been restored, adding another type of ecosystem to the property. Rainforest Rescue has reported improvements in water quality associated with the restoration, including reduced sediment and turbidity entering nearby waterways. Re-establishing vegetation can help stabilise soil, slow runoff and create conditions that support healthier waterways. The location is also important because the property sits within the Wet Tropics region of Queensland, an area known for its exceptional rainforest biodiversity and its ecological connection to surrounding coastal environments.
A former farm became a wildlife corridor
The restoration was intended to do more than improve a single property. Re-establishing rainforest on cleared land can help reconnect fragmented habitat, giving wildlife additional areas through which to move, feed and shelter. NightWings forms part of the broader effort to restore lowland rainforest in the Daintree region, where agricultural and other development have historically removed or fragmented sections of native vegetation. For Schoenberger, the project also had a personal connection. Her work caring for flying-foxes helped shape her desire to create a landscape where native fruiting trees could provide food and habitat for wildlife rather than leaving the animals dependent entirely on fragmented natural areas.
Annie Schoenberger with flying fox pup, Pixel © Jamie Jansen
The 18 hectares gained conservation protection
The biggest development came in May 2026, when the Queensland Government formally recognised the restored NightWings vegetation as an area of high nature conservation value under the Vegetation Management Act 1999. The 18 hectares are now mapped as Category A vegetation on Queensland’s regulated vegetation management map. This gives the restored vegetation a higher level of protection against clearing and formally recognises the conservation importance of the recovering forest. The designation is particularly notable because the land was once used for agriculture. A landscape that had been cleared for sugarcane is now recognised by the state for its conservation value after a decade of restoration.
A decade turned a cleared landscape into a restoration success
NightWings shows how long-term restoration can gradually change land that had been cleared for agriculture. Schoenberger bought the former sugarcane property, began restoring it with conservation partners and continued the effort for a decade as volunteers planted tens of thousands of native trees. By the completion of planting in 2025, Rainforest Rescue reported more than 119,000 trees planted across the restoration area. In 2026, the 18 hectares of restored vegetation gained recognition as an area of high nature conservation value and Category A protection.
The forest is still young and its ecological development will continue for decades, but the transformation is already substantial. What began as cleared sugarcane land is now a growing rainforest landscape providing habitat for native wildlife and carrying formal recognition for its conservation value.
From Little Things, Big Things Grow
NightWings is a reminder of what restoration really asks of us: patience, persistence and the willingness to believe in what a damaged landscape can become.
Ten years ago, there were open cane fields. Today, a young rainforest is growing, wildlife is returning, and 18 hectares of restored vegetation have received some of Queensland’s strongest protection from clearing.
The forest is still young. Its story will continue long after the last seedling was planted.
Perhaps that’s why we’re especially pleased to see NightWings reaching people far beyond the Daintree. It shows that landscapes can recover—and that when one person’s vision is embraced by a community, remarkable things can grow.
Source: The Times of India, TOI World Desk, Sep 15, 2026
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