Charles Darwin Reserve, otherwise known as White Wells Station, is a 68,600 hectare former sheep station located four hours north-east of Perth, Western Australia. Charles Darwin Reserve is situated on the traditional lands of the Badimia, Widi and Binyardi peoples and represents a precious remnant of vegetation that once covered thousands of square kilometres.
White Wells lies on the edge of the Avon Wheatbelt region and within the Southwest Botanical Province, recognised internationally as a 'hotspot' for biodiversity and in need of urgent conservation action. Plant species diversity in this region is higher than in Australian tropical rainforests.
The Southwest Botanical Province covers only 4 per cent of Australia but, amazingly, 52 per cent of the nation's rare and threatened plant species occur in the region. On a global scale, the Province accounts for only 0.23 per cent of the earth's land surface but it supports 12.6 per cent of the world's rare and threatened flora.
Chris Darwin, the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, was instrumental in helping Bush Heritage acquire Charles Darwin Reserve in 2003. Chris has inherited from his famous relative a strong commitment to ending the alarming rate of species decline on our planet and explains his vision for the reserve: 'We share this planet with millions of other creatures, it's about time we started to share out the land so the other species can survive. The only practical way of doing this is to protect large areas of habitat, and that is what we are doing with the Charles Darwin Reserve.'
This area once supported impressive expanses of eucalypt woodlands, shrublands and heath vegetation, although agricultural activities have resulted in the clearance of 93 per cent of these vegetation communities. The history of extensive clearing throughout south-west Western Australia makes Charles Darwin Reserve an important refuge area for plant and animal species that were once widespread in the region. The reserve's 680 sq km includes 15 land systems and 12 vegetation types, including acacia shrublands and heath, eucalypt woodlands, mallee, herbfields, mulga shrublands, and halophytic shrublands associated with salt lakes and claypans.