There are some of the largest huntsman spiders seen in Australia, including females measuring up to 20 centimetres wide - nearly half the width of a broadsheet newspaper page.

As environmental comebacks go, it is a particularly strong one. For these are just some of the highlights of an intensive biodiversity census conducted recently on one of the biggest privately owned properties in Victoria, Neds Corner, a 30,000-hectare property about an hour west of Mildura on the Murray River.

The property was a sheep station until 2002, when it was bought by the conservation organisation Trust for Nature. The two-week audit, which finished early this month, is the most comprehensive flora and fauna census there since it was bought by the trust.

The census was conducted as part of the ''bush blitz'' program, half paid for by the federal government's Caring For Our Country program and half by mining company BHP Billiton. A team of about 40, including 30 scientists, found many species new to science, including 17 new species of spider, many new moths and a new desert truffle.

The spider finds include new wolf, ant and wishbone spiders. Four new burrowing wolf spiders, which like to burrow into the soft sandy soil of Neds Corner, were discovered. One of them - Tasmanicosa bushblitz - has been named after the ''bush blitz'' project.

A black seeded daisy was discovered, the first time the plant has been seen in Victoria. About 150 plant species were recorded on the property for the first time.

Jo Harding, from the federal Environment Department, said the survey exceeded her expectations.

''I think what the scientists found most exciting was the fact that it had been so dry for so long and then we'd had that really great wet season last year,'' she said. ''And that was followed up by a pretty good winter. And so I think that's why they found they were getting so many records of plants, because everything was just bursting with life.