This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

David Thomas, who became wealthy by pioneering mail-order wine, has become Australia’s biggest philanthropist to the environment, announcing a bequest that takes his donations to about $60m.

“Barbara, my late wife, and I – it was always our intention that we’d give about 50% of our wealth away during our lifetime and then we’d give the other 50% away when we died,” Thomas told Guardian Australia.

The $30m bequest was announced at a dinner in Sydney on Thursday night, hosted by Pew Charitable Trusts, the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network and the Nature Conservancy. The dinner was a celebration of conservation philanthropy in Australia and Thomas was held up as an example of what could be done.

“With this bequest, he would be, without a doubt, the largest donor by quite a long shot,” Amanda Martin, chief executive of the grantmakers network, told Guardian Australia.

If one person gives a substantial amount of money, it inspires others to give Amanda Martin, Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network

Over the years, Thomas has contributed to groups including the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Bush Heritage Australia and the Nature Conservancy.

Since selling his wine business, Cellarmasters, in 1997, Thomas and his wife created 6m hectares of land under private conservation or Indigenous protection.

He has expanded to invest in marine conservation, helping create the Great Kimberley marine park and funding the Fight for the Reef campaign – a collaboration between WWF and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, which has fought to stop dredging at Abbot Point and the dumping of dredge spoil on the Great Barrier Reef.

The money has been donated through the Thomas Foundation, which was set up to run for 20 years, ending in 2018.

Thomas said he was looking forward to enjoying Australia’s environment in retirement after that.

Besides his direct philanthropy, Thomas has encouraged other wealthy Australians to give money to environmental causes.

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“What often happens in philanthropy, if one person gives a substantial amount of money, it inspires others to give,” Martin said. She said Thomas’s public giving had leveraged a lot more money than he could give on his own.

“Many of our members have been inspired by what David has done. He’s really raised the bar on philanthropy in Australia.”

Barry Traill, Australian director of Pew Charitable Trusts, told Guardian Australia Thomas’s donations and his work in getting others to donate had had a direct impact on the survival of species.

“We have tens of thousands of species found nowhere else on the planet,” Traill said. “So that means that your dollars, your giving, does literally save species from extinction.”