By Jesse Graham
After more than three decades at Parks Victoria and DELWP, moving to Healesville Sanctuary was a natural step for Ross Williamson.
Mr Williamson started as the sanctuary’s new Director on Monday, 9 January, replacing Glen Holland who was in the post from 2010-2016.
After studying science with a major in botany and zoology at Melbourne University “back in the dim, dark ages”, Mr Williamson worked for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Parks Victoria for 31 years, based in the South Gippsland area.
Last year, he became Zoos Victoria’s General Manager of Threatened Species, and at the end of the year, made the jump over to director.
Speaking to the Mail on his second day on the job, on Tuesday, 10 January, Mr Williamson said that although it was too soon to set big goals, he wanted to continue the sanctuary’s focus of fighting extinction.
“It’s really too early for me to have big goals, but the Sanctuary has come a long way in the last four, five years – I think it’s just transformed itself,” he said.
“Glen Holland and the team have done a sensational job of getting the place looking the way it’s looking and on the right path.”
He said the work being done to breed, train and release Helmeted Honeyeaters from the sanctuary, in conjunction with the work of the Friends of Helmeted Honeyeater, was a “classic example” of that work.
“A fundamental part of fighting extinction or saving the species is understanding how its ecology works, how it fits into an ecosystem and what’s going wrong to cause it to be under threat,” Mr Williamson said.
“So if you don’t have a fundamental understanding of how that species fits into the system and how those dynamics work, then all you’re doing is keeping an animal in a cage – that’s pointless.
“The whole thing for us is not keeping things safe in a zoo – the whole thing for us is ‘let’s make them safe in the wild’, and the zoo is just part of that process.”
During the year, Mr Williamson said the sanctuary would undergo a renovation, as the Kangaroo Country enclosure is developed from February to December – with a new Nocturnal House to follow.
He said his role, as director, was to “steer the ship”, keep the sanctuary running smoothly all through the year.
“It’s a 365-day-a-year operation, and I’ve just got to make sure that it happens – I’ve got to look out for the staff, make sure they go home at night safely and they’re enjoying themselves, they feel like they’re making a contribution and they’re happy at work,” Mr Williamson said.
“Animal welfare is huge accountability for me – Zoos Victoria has got a really strong push to make sure the animals that we have are in what we call a ‘positive welfare state’ – it’s not just good enough to have an animal in a cage, these animals have to have happy and meaningful lives.
“We can talk in those terms with animals – animals are thinking, feeling, sentient beings, so I’ve got a big task to make sure that, through the staff, we’re providing really good, meaningful, happy lives for our animals.”
Though he said he loved koalas, Mr Williamson said he couldn’t choose a favourite Australian animal, likening it to choosing a favourite child.
“You can’t do that,” he said.
Swapping jobs came up after his wife showed him the advertisement for Zoos Victoria’s General Manager of Threatened Species role.
He said that, after three decades, it was time to move.
“I think I was attracted away by one of the few jobs in Victoria better than the job I was doing at Parks Vic,” he said.
“Conservation is what drives me – I’m passionate about conservation, the Australian bush, Australian animals and getting people out to enjoy those things, to understand and appreciate the superb bushland and wildlife we’ve got.
“Working for Zoos Vic and coming here to Healesville is a natural extension of that.”
Mr Holland has taken up a role as director of Werribee Open Range Zoo, another Zoos Victoria venue.
