Globally, women make up less than 11 per cent of the ranger workforce. World Female Ranger Week (23-30 June) is an opportunity to recognise, celebrate, and amplify the voices of women working on the frontlines of conservation.

In 1952, Kara Moana Healy made history when she took up her late husband’s role as a park ranger at Tarra-Bulga National Park, becoming Victoria’s first female park ranger. Over 70 years on, there are women working in parks and waterways across the state, in diverse and impactful roles. 

To celebrate World Female Ranger Week, we are taking a moment to spotlight some of these incredible women who work on the ground protecting Victoria's natural environment.

Nartika Taylor - Taungurung Ranger

For Taungurung Ranger Nartika Taylor, caring for Country is more than a job – it’s a journey of cultural reconnection. 
 
Working alongside Parks Victoria, Nartika helps care for campsites, lagoons and parklands, contributes to revegetation projects and supports ranger teams across the region. While she’s still relatively new to the role, she has embraced every opportunity to learn, from practical land management skills and machinery operation to environmental stewardship and cultural knowledge. 
 
Raised in Geelong on the lands of the Wadawurrung peoples, Nartika grew up without knowing she was Taungurung. That changed after a conversation with her cousin, a former ranger, who encouraged her to explore her heritage and connect with the Taungurung community. Not long afterwards, an opportunity arose to join the ranger team. Looking back, Nartika sees the experience as life changing. 
 
“It was the best decision I’ve ever made.” 

The most interesting part of the job

For Nartika, the most rewarding part of the role has been the chance to learn about her culture while caring for Country. 

Every day brings something new, whether it’s learning the stories and significance of places on Country, discovering native plants and animals, or gaining practical conservation skills. She’s particularly passionate about understanding how Traditional Owners cared for the landscape and the ways plants were used for food, medicine and cultural practices. 

 
The role has given Nartika a strong sense of purpose and belonging. 
 
“I’ve never been so excited to do something meaningful. It feels like I have a purpose.”  

Nartika's favourite place to work

Nartika’s favourite place is Horseshoe Lagoon, where she is helping deliver a revegetation project. The site has become special to her because it represents just how much she’s learned in a short time. 

From planning works and sourcing materials to helping improve the area for future generations, the project has challenged her to step outside her comfort zone. One highlight was visiting a quarry and ordering rocks for the first time – something she laughs about now, but which felt like a major milestone when the materials finally arrived exactly as she’d envisioned. 
 
“I’m learning everything every day, all day. It’s like being a blank canvas.” 

Leah Dixon, Marine Diving and Monitoring officer

Leah worked alongside Parks Victoria as a licensed tour operator for almost a decade before selling her marine tourism business to try something new. While considering her next steps, she came across the Dive Officer role at Parks Victoria and has been working in Victoria’s marine-protected areas ever since.

Leah is responsible for ensuring the safety of Parks Victoria’s Marine Protected Area Dive Team during critical monitoring and research. She oversees dive plans, manages the dive vessel Ecklonia, maintains diver qualifications and training, and supports fieldwork. She also works with the team to plan monitoring programs and deliver specialist projects with partners including Agriculture Victoria, IMAS and Reef Life Survey.

“The establishment of Marine Protected Areas in the early 2000s, combined with clear and effective "no-take" protections, has played a significant role in supporting the health and resilience of these ecosystems. However, they are not without threats, and understanding and monitoring those threats is a key part of our team’s work.”

The most interesting part of the job

For Leah, it's the people, the places and the problem solving that keep things interesting. No two days are the same, and there is always something new to learn, discover or solve.

She’s also grateful to work in some of Victoria's most spectacular coastal and marine locations.

“Victoria is home to so many remarkable marine environments. The diversity, productivity and overall health of our Marine Protected Areas are, in my opinion, second to none and one of Australia's best-kept secrets. The cold water can put some people off, but beneath the surface there is an extraordinary world that rivals many tropical locations.”

Leah's favourite critter

The Goblinfish is Leah’s favourite resident of Victoria’s ocean. This distant relative of the scorpionfish rarely gets much publicity, but it's one of the most wonderfully bizarre fish found in Victoria's waters.

Jasmine Mace, Ranger - Wimmera

Jasmine is a Parks Victoria Ranger based out of Wail. Her journey to the role has been a long one.

With a lifelong passion for nature, she developed a deep respect for the environment and land management through her experiences volunteering with the CFA. During this time, she was also working as a livestock contractor, often finding herself walking through the scrub in Gippsland and being struck by its stark beauty. This passion led Jasmine to join Parks Victoria as a Project Firefighter in Mornington Peninsula National Park and on French Island.

She later secured a role as a Forest Fire Operations Officer based in Edenhope, in the West Wimmera, where she spent five years working in one of the most beautiful parts of Victoria. When an opportunity to join the ranger team came up, she applied.

“I am so stoked that I did. I think this is the best job in the world. My team and the broader team are legends.”

The most interesting part of the job

Jasmine says she’s never bored working on such diverse country and seeing the landscape, vegetation and animal activities change throughout the seasons.

“From the desert bordering South Australia, to the lake systems and forests in the east, Dyurrite in all its awesomeness, and all the creeks and rivers that flow between - each place is special. Every day I learn something new, and that is pretty grouse.”

Jasmine's favourite place to work

For Jasmine, nothing beats spending time out in the Western Block of the Little Desert National park after an early spring rain.

“The desert is alive with beautiful orchids, the Red-tailed black cockatoos sing in choir with all the other birds, the insects hum through the bulk shrubs that are in flower. It smells amazing too.”

Hailey Braggins, Ranger – Yarra Ranges National Park 

Growing up in far East Gippsland, Hailey always had a love for fishing, camping, bush walking and all things nature.  

“My Nan used to take me to the Junior Ranger spotlighting activity in Bemm River as a kid, it’s an experience that has stuck with me ever since.” 

After 20 years in the tourism and education industry, she lost her teaching role during covid and had a “crazy idea to become a Ranger”.  

Her dream to work in nature led to studying conservation and land management, and eventually  to apply for a seasonal ranger role with Parks Victoria. The application landed her role at Kinglake National Park.

“I have now been with Parks Victoria for four years as a ranger based in the Yarra Ranges National Park. I have had such an amazing experience supporting pest programs, doing track works, and delivering bush kinder and junior ranger programs. I have also just completed my first season as a general fire fighter, which was amazing.”

The most interesting part of the job

Hailey embraces the daily learning opportunities that come with work as a Ranger. One of her favourite parts of the role is setting up a trail camera. There is a particular excitement that comes from the unpredictable nature of wildlife photography.

“Cameras tell us a lot about what’s happening in the park. We may capture a pest animal we weren’t aware of in that area, which can then lead to running a control program.  Or you might see a threatened species, which is always super exciting!”

Hailey's favourite place to work

Head to Mt Donna Buang early in the morning and you might come across Hailey.

“Watching the lyrebirds and fire robins in the fresh sweet-smelling breeze is always something special.  And I love orchids, so when the park comes alive in orchid season, there’s so much to see!”