In Australia’s West Wimmera region, against a backdrop of increasing global threats to biodiversity and forest habitats, over 2,000 hectares of remnant and cleared agricultural land is being purchased, protected and restored to its former glory. The culprit behind this flagrant act of regeneration? A customer-owned bank.
“I was always that feral little kid,” says Camille Goldstone-Henry as she treads through the bush, careful not to disturb any saplings, searching for a baby Buloke tree among the shrubs and dappled sunlight. “I spent a lot of time out running barefoot in nature, on the beach, in the bush. Whenever I was asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I always said I wanted to save animals.”
Camille, a proud Kamilaroi woman, inherited a passion for nature from her parents. The family grew a lot of their own food, and even had solar panels installed on their house back in the ‘90s—”way before it was cool”. Camille went on to study animal and veterinary bioscience at university, and focused her thesis on the Greater Bilby (‘Australia’s Easter bunny’), which had experienced an 80 percent decline in population at the time.
Today, Camille and I are in Victoria’s West Wimmera region, on the traditional lands of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk people—collectively known as the Wotjobaluk Nations—about a five-hour drive from Melbourne. And I’m on the receiving end of a masterclass in Buloke biology.
Camille plants herself beside a skinny-limbed shrub, no more than two feet tall. This is a baby Buloke tree, she explains, around five years old, give or take. She points to another, taller plant a few feet away—another Buloke, this one a teenager. Walking further into the bush, she rests her hand on the trunk of a fully-grown Buloke. “They take over 100 years to grow this big,” she says. “If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound the Buloke makes when the wind rustles its leaves—that’s why they call them ‘wind harp trees’.”
A large chunk of Camille’s thesis involved looking into conservation strategies and how to make them more effective. She went on to found a nature technology company, Xylo Systems, that worked with corporations to help them understand exactly what impact they were having on the environment, and how to stop it. “We realized then that if we really want to turn the tide on biodiversity loss, we need our businesses and economies to become nature positive,” she says.
“It shows you the shift that’s happening around the world… and how corporations are increasingly stepping in to protect what governments and policymakers aren’t.”
- Camille Goldstone-Henry, Bank Australia
The Buloke tree is a keystone species in southeastern Australia, meaning it’s a vital hub for biodiversity and an essential lifeline for creatures (and plants) big and small. The tree is the primary food source for birds such as the endangered regent honeyeater and the southeastern red-tailed black cockatoo, and its hollows—which take centuries to form—are home to a huge range of birds, bats and mammals. A long list of plants, insects, fungi, invertebrates and ground-dwelling mammals also depend on the Buloke for their survival, and have done so for millennia. Less than three percent of Buloke woodlands remain in Victoria’s West Wimmera region.
Camille, who grew up in Newcastle, a harbor city in New South Wales, and now lives in Sydney, never expected to find herself in the West Wimmera doing this work. She also never expected to be doing some of the most impactful conservation work of her careerfor a bank. Eight months ago, she accepted a role at Bank Australia as its Manager of Nature and Biodiversity.
“As a conservation biologist, working for a bank wasn’t in my career plan,” she says, laughing. “But it shows you the shift that’s happening around the world, the recognition of the unprecedented biodiversity loss we’re seeing, and how corporations are increasingly stepping in to protect what governments and policymakers aren’t.”
Speaking of around the world: Globally, gross forest loss equates to around 10.9 million hectares annually (4.1 million hectares net), primarily in the tropics, which means habitats for around 80 percent of terrestrial species are being systematically destroyed each and every year. Tropical forests contain over 50 percent of all known vertebrate species on earth, and the global rate of species extinction is estimated to be somewhere between 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the natural rate.
Australia holds the unfortunate honor of being a biodiversity loss and deforestation hotspot, with Queensland holding the highest deforestation rate, and iconic animals such as the koala and the Greater Glider currently under threat. While all this is happening, research from the Australian National University and the Biodiversity Council points to the Australian government providing somewhere in the region of AUD$26 billion (roughly USD$18 billion) in subsidies and tax concessions to industries such as fossil fuels, mining and intensive agriculture. All of this in light of extensive research that underlines the importance of maintaining ecosystems and preserving biodiversity to help with carbon capture in the fight against climate change.
Being a customer-owned bank means Bank Australia’s customers have a say in what the bank does (and doesn’t) do. A 2023 survey of customers revealed that 87 percent of them want the bank to take more action to protect nature and biodiversity. “Every customer holds a single vote in the bank,” says Camille. “We aren’t beholden to external investors, and we can act on what our customers care about.”
A B Corp since 2020, Bank Australia has developed a number of policies and initiatives to this end, including not funding harmful industries (like fossil fuels, tobacco and live animal exports) and actively funding things like its own customers, the clean energy transition, and affordable and accessible housing.
“We do ecological monitoring which involves mapping and monitoring the species here; ecological restoration, or planting of species and removing invasive species; and we do cultural connection, so working with the land council to foster cultural connection across the reserves.”
- Camille Goldstone-Henry, Bank Australia
Arguably the most impressive piece of the bank’s nature and biodiversity portfolio is its Conservation Reserve, a small section of which Camille and I are exploring today. The bank purchased its first property, Minimay, back in 2008, and has since expanded the reserve to cover 2,117 hectares across four properties: Minimay, Salvana, Ozenkadanook and Booroopki.
“Before Bank Australia got involved at Minimay, it looked like any old farm,” Camille, who is tasked with managing the Conservation Reserve (as well as the rest of the bank’s nature and biodiversity portfolio), tells me. “A lot of the Buloke, stringybark and yellow gum ecosystems were stripped for livestock. Today, Minimay looks like any old Australian bush—which is exactly what you want it to look like.”
An increasing number of corporations globally are exploring nature protection and restoration in different ways. Patagonia, with its funding model directing millions of dollars annually to grassroots climate and environmental organizations, being an obvious example. In the UK, multinational insurance company Aviva has embarked on a ‘100-year’ journey with The Wildlife Trusts to restore and reconnect what remains of the British Isles’ temperate rainforest to the tune of a £38.9m donation. And in 2025, Air New Zealand—its own carbon emissions notwithstanding—committed NZD$1 million (USD$586,000) to supporting nature restoration projects across Aotearoa New Zealand through its ‘Every Corner Project’.
Bank Australia’s approach is unique: they’re not just paying a partner to continue the work they’re already doing. They’re purchasing the land, developing the strategy, and executing these regeneration projects end-to-end, in the field, and in close concert with local partners.
Working closely with the likes of Trust For Nature and the Barengi Gadjin Land Council, the bank is taking a hands-on approach to regeneration. “Our work across the reserves spans a wide range,” says Camille. “We do ecological monitoring which involves mapping and monitoring the species here; ecological restoration, or planting of species and removing invasive species; and we do cultural connection, so working with the land council to foster cultural connection across the reserves, and undertake traditional practices like cultural burns.”
We meet with Laura Mclean, Project Manager at Trust for Nature, who takes us on a whistlestop tour of the Ozenkadanook property. Softly spoken and deeply knowledgeable, Laura has worked with Bank Australia on the Conservation Reserve since 2024. “You should come here in spring,” she says, beaming, as she leads me through a particularly scruffy patch of knee-high bush. “This whole area flowers in spring. It’s beautiful.”
Laura’s work runs the full gamut of conservation. On any given day, she’ll be liaising with contractors on essential works, like maintaining track systems for fire protection, repairing fences, removing weeds, monitoring flora and fauna populations and much more besides. Right now, she’s mapping the Buloke mistletoe—a species that only grows on the Buloke tree (an epiphytic hemiparasite, for those in the know) and is critically endangered.
“You don’t hear of any other banks having a conservation reserve and doing on-ground management for species protection in the way that Bank Australia is doing,” says Laura. “The reserves are a great example for how other businesses might take on this model and look at protecting these habitats permanently.”
The permanence is important. A conservation covenant has been placed on all of these properties, which means they are protected in perpetuity, even if they are sold. Which should be just enough time for those Bulokes to reach their loftiest heights. “Our global economic systems have been set up as very extractive,” says Camille. “They don’t value nature on the balance sheet. With the increasing recognition of how much we rely on nature for our economy, our wellbeing and our climate stability, it’s now more widely accepted that we need to move to more regenerative economic systems. We’re doing that here in a really, really big way. That’s why I love this work so much, because it’s so, so deep, and it’s really making a difference.”
Join the bank helping to protect nature and biodiversity here.
****
A note on partnership content:
Adventure.com acknowledges the complexity and challenges of travel in the context of our global climate crisis. This article is part of Adventure.com’s paid partnerships program, which enables us to continue publishing stories about a more regenerative and sustainable future of travel by helping to make out platform commercially viable. Adventure.com only partners with brands and products that align with our ethical and editorial standards, and our vision for a future of travel built around lower emissions, deeper connection and more resilient communities.
Oliver is Adventure.com's Editor-in-Chief.
