Newholme is unique among UNE’s rural property estate in having large tracts of natural forest cover (with several forest types) giving it an overall high conservation value. Part of what makes Newholme so valuable to research is the partitioning of the property into grazed and ungrazed components, in both woodland and pasture. Approximately one third is forested; a third is woodland, and the remainder native pasture, and samples of the forest and woodland types and riparian zones have been de-stocked (since 1982) to provide contrasting land management treatments. Most of the property is managed in an agriculturally un-manipulated manner other than grazing, to maintain research and teaching options (e.g. imposition of particular land and water treatments) as well as land and water uses representative of the surrounding region. Embedded in the property is Mt Duval Nature Reserve, supporting old-growth native forest and surrounded by Newholme’s main conservation zone, the 300 ha Mountain Paddock.
Newholme has a strong tradition as an outdoor classroom for the teaching of undergraduate students in theoretical and practical methods related to natural resource management, zoology, botany, ecology and agricultural sciences. One of the great practical strengths of Newholme as a field laboratory is it’s proximity to the UNE campus, thereby making field demonstrations of theory learned in the lecture theatre highly achievable. Few other universities can have their environmental classes in the field within 15 minutes of leaving the classroom, and at a research site that is rich with long-term research data, and the support of laboratory and other research facilities.
Many students within the School of Environmental and Rural Science at UNE will visit Newholme for academic activities such as weekend camp-overs, afternoon practicals and residential schools. Some of these students go on to undertake research in their final years at Newholme, or go onto higher degree research that draws on the research value of the property. The property is ideal for long-term research, and has many innovative and informative research sites to learn from.
The lab at Newholme includes seating for about 30 students, and has a fully equipped kitchen for overnight stays. The lab can be adapted as workstations for student projects, or as a 'lecture theatre' for student presentations and lectures. The 'shearers quarters' consists of four rooms, each with 4-6 beds, and there is ample grassy lawns surrounding the buildings for camping out.
