The Tatachilla EcoSanctuary offers holistic enviromental learning

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Contact Us

× +61 8 8323 9588 +61 8 8329 4444 (Absentees) tlc@tatachilla.sa.edu.au 211 Tatachilla Road
McLaren Vale South Australia 5171

Enrolments

+61 8 7333 4763

Student services (junior years)

+61 8 8329 4422

Student services (middle and senior years)

+61 8 8329 4433

Uniform shop

+61 8 8329 4488

ICT service desk

+61 8 8329 4466

The acclaimed Tatachilla Ecosanctuary comprises 3.4-hectares of beautiful native wilderness on the Tatachilla Lutheran College campus.

The sanctuary has been modelled on the natural ecosystems that once existed in the McLaren Vale region.

It provides all Tatachilla students with the opportunity to spend intentional time in the natural world and increase their knowledge of sustainability principles and the processes that underpin our natural ecosystems.

The sanctuary is home to a range of native fauna including native brush-tailed bettongs (critically endangered), long-nosed potoroos (near threatened) and tammar wallabies (non-endangered) which thrive in the habitat that was restored by the college more than 20 years ago.

Students in the junior years attend timetabled lessons in sustainability and biodiversity with a qualified Environmental Education Officer at the Tatachilla EcoSantuary and participate in annual planting days. In 2024 alone, the college’s students in Reception to Year 6 were responsible for planting 450 native grasses, shrubs, climbers and herbs at the sanctuary.

Once students enter their middle years (Years 7-9), they have the opportunity to become Tatachilla EcoRangers and participate in a weekly, co-curricular program of animal care and habitat preservation at the Tatachilla EcoSantuary.

This program equips students with the skills to trap and monitor the sanctuary’s resident mammals and check them for overall health, weight and gender. It also gives them the chance to play a hands-on role in the sanctuary’s breeding programs and undertake seed propagation.

Environmental partnerships

The Tatachilla EcoSantuary has partnered with Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills to support the health of Cleland’s koala population.

Environmental officers from Cleland visit the Tatachilla EcoSantuary once a week to harvest branches from the college’s own eucalypts to feed the koalas and ensure that their diet remains fresh, balanced and nutritious.

The Tatachilla EcoSantuary also works with the Softfoot Marsupial Sanctuary in Hindmarsh Valley to maintain the genetic diversity of endangered and threatened native marsupials, specifically brush-tailed bettongs and long-nosed potoroos.

This is achieved by rotating the college’s animals with the animals from Softfoot, and thus avoiding inbreeding. Maintaining genetic variation among these populations is critical if they are to survive, reproduce and adapt to future environmental changes.

Community participation

The Tatachilla EcoSantuary is open to the public at numerous times throughout the year for guided night walks; animal feeding; and workshops on a range of nature-inspired activities.

Community groups, government agencies and non-government organisations are invited to utilise the Tatachilla EcoSantuary as a site for conferences and forums and the college regularly welcomes students from other schools to the sanctuary for excursions and tailored events.

Tatachilla Lutheran College is built on Kaurna Country. We acknowledge the Kaurna peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live and learn. We respect and support their spiritual relationship with Country and connection to their land, waters and community. Through openness and truth-telling we seek to celebrate the traditions, memories, histories and contributions of all First Nations peoples and work together to establish a shared national identity and uphold the oldest continuing living culture in the world.