Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin Reserve is 68,600 hectare. It was the White Wells property and is located 4 hours North-East of Perth, Western Australia 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 within the Southwest Botanical Province, on the edge of the Avon Wheatbelt region and is recognized internationally as a 'hotspot' for biodiversity and an area needing urgent conservation action. Plant species diversity in this region is higher than in Australian tropical rainforests. 

The Southwest Botanical Province covers only four per cent of Australia but 52 per cent of the nation's rare and threatened plant species occur there. 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 has inherited from his famous relative a strong commitment to ending the alarming rate of species decline on our planet and explained his vision for the Charles Darwin 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.'

'To give an idea of the scale of the area of habitat that Bush Heritage will be protecting with this purchase, Charles Darwin Reserve is bigger in landmass than 20 nations, including Singapore and Monaco and Liechtenstein,' Mr Darwin said.

This area once supported impressive expanses of Eucalypt woodlands, shrublands and heath vegetation.  Agricultural activities for the development of cropping land have resulted in the clearance of 93 per cent of these vegetation communities.  The history of extensive clearing throughout SW Western Australia makes Charles Darwin Reserve an important refuge area for plant and animal species that were once widespread in the region.  The reserve covers an area of aapproximately 680 sq km.  This area consists of 15 land systems and twelve vegetation types.  These vegetation types include Acacia shrublands and heath, Eucalypt woodlands, mallee, herbfields, mulga shrublands, and halophytic shrublands associated with salt lakes and claypans.