good relationships with the Kombumerri. The animals were fed partly from donations from local bakers and butchers, with local residents donating dead animals to feed the owls (or the goannas if no longer fresh); mice and rats were collected frequently from the McKerras Research Institute behind the hospital; worms were collected fresh daily for the platypuses; eels, pigeons and flying foxes were also killed to provide food for the owls, snakes and crocodiles. Injured or sick animals from as far away as New Guinea and Central Queensland were accommodated at the sanctuary. Those that lived were kept for research or breeding; native animals, when recovered, were released into the wild; deceased animals were fed to the survivors. In 1982, 37 acres (150,000 m²) of the land owned by David and Sigrid Fleay was sold to the Queensland Government and became a Conservation Park. The following year, the 20 acre (81,000 m²) main Fauna Reserve with its animal enclosures was also sold to the Government. The remainder of the site 7.5 acres (30,000 m²) was transferred in 1985. Under the terms of this arrangement, David and Sigrid Fleay continued to live and work at the park: In 1983 it closed for five years for redevelopment and re-opened in 1988. The government retains the property as the David Fleay Wildlife Park. Achievements First captive breeding of the platypus (1943), mulgara (1955), planigale (midget marsupial) (1958), taipan (snake) (1960), powerful owl Ninox strenua (1968), greater sooty owl Tyto tenebricosa (1969), grey goshawk (1971), Australian masked owl Tyto novaehollandiae (1971), Australasian grass owl Tyto longimembris (1972), crested hawk (1975), wedge-tailed eagle Aquila audax (1977), and fluffy glider Petaurus australis (1988). Extensive snake venom production, including death adders, brown snakes, mulga snakes and tiger snakes for Dr C.H. Kellaway of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. Honours Australian Natural History Medallion for 1940, inaugural awardee elected as a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London in 1945 elected as a Corresponding Member (Life) of the New York Zoological Society in 1947 Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1960 Associate of the Queensland Museum in 1978 Fellow of the Explorers Club in New York in 1979 Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1980 Advance Australia Award in 1980 honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Queensland in 1984 appointed a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow