When I first arrived at Hamelin Station Reserve, I remember being immediately struck by its beauty. Watching the sun setting over Hamelin Pool and wandering the complex network of spinifex woodland and shrubland tree-heath you can’t help but feel truly connected to this ‘big sky’ landscape.
Hamelin Station Reserve is a former pastoral station and is one of the newest properties to come under Bush Heritage care. The property is such a unique blend of history, ecology and biodiversity, its protection is essential.
Throughout the 202,000 hectares is habitat for the nationally vulnerable Hamelin Skink, Western Spiny-tailed Skink, threatened Beard’s Mallee, nationally vulnerable Malleefowl and endemic reptiles. Under Bush Heritage care, Hamelin will also offer a brighter future for the Western Grasswren, the Little Long-tailed Dunnart, the Spinifex Hopping-mouse, and other unique creatures. I am immensely proud that Bush Heritage Australia will be at the forefront of conserving this vital landscape.
Neighbouring this glorious property is the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, including Hamelin Pool and its incredible stromatolites, which hark back to the very beginnings of life on Earth. It is just one of less than 20 World Heritage sites that meet all four of UNESCO’s criteria for World Heritage listing; Natural Beauty, Earth’s History, Ecological Processes and Biological Diversity.
By purchasing Hamelin we have expanded the total area protected and managed for conservation in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area region by a further 10%. It's not often that we have the opportunity to protect a vast property of such national and international importance.
We’ve assembled a small team tasked with the challenge of caring for Hamelin. Our long-term vision is to retain and restore the outstanding conservation values of the reserve and establish Hamelin Station at the forefront of marine and rangelands restoration research.
Essential to our work will be collaboration with the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the Malgana and Nhanda Traditional Owners. They're enthusiastic about our purchase of Hamelin and the cultural, conservation and economic opportunities it will create.
Our purchase of Hamelin, with your help, is just one of the many wonderful places that have been protected over the last 25 years. In fact, in October this year, we celebrate 25 years since our founding. That’s 25 years of conservation excellence, 25 years of protecting Australia’s bush and precious native species, and 25 years of everyday Australians like you, making a difference.
Thank you
Gerard O’Neill, Chief Executive.
BUSHTRACKS 16/06/2016
Over billions of years, a complex interaction between climate and environment at Hamelin Pool has created the miracle of ‘living fossils’ called stromatolites. These extraordinary natural monuments contain microbes similar to those found in 3,500-million-year-old fossils – the earliest record of life on Earth.
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Welcome to Hamelin Station Reserve, nestled in the rangelands of Western Australia, where the stunning beauty of the landscape conceals an urgent need for conservation.
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For the vulnerable endemic species found on Hamelin, the old saying “it’s a small world” couldn’t be more apt. With suitable habitat a precious rarity, careful land management could offer a better future for these threatened creatures.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 16/06/2016
For more than 130 years Hamelin Station Reserve has been a pastoral station, home to sheep and goats. Its new future as a conservation property meant removing stock. A lot of it. Brian Wake and Jock Isdale were the men for the job.
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Our team at Hamelin Station Reserve share their thoughts about the property and the role they’ll play in protecting it.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 16/06/2016
On a property as big as our Hamelin Reserve, challenges abound. But with your help, our team of land managers and ecologists will work together with our neighbours, partners and volunteers to revitalise the landscape.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 16/06/2016
Hamelin Station Reserve (WA) is already a hive of research activity. Its location and unique ecological values have put it on the scientific map. But this is just the beginning.
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