Saving Brigalow
Hope for the Brigalow biome can be found in the hearts of our supporters and the newly acquired Avocet Nature Refuge.
The Brigalow Belt is a nationally recognised biodiversity hotspot with many unique species found nowhere else in the world.
The purchase of Avocet almost tripled our impact in this extremely rare bioregion. It neighbours our Goonderoo Reserve, adding another 1,207 hectares and further securing a group of rapidly vanishing ecosystems – at the heart of which is the long, silvery wattle known as brigalow.
Despite Queensland being Australia’s most biologically diverse state, land clearing has increased at a worrying pace. Over 90% of native woodlands across the Brigalow Belt have been removed since the 1800s – today only 2% are under any form of protection.
What remains is highly fragmented, making intact patches such Avocet and Goonderoo vital for the large assemblage of species that live there including reptiles, invertebrates and the endangered Koala and Bridled Nailtail Wallaby.
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A Bridled Nail-tail Wallaby (Flashjack) at Avocet Reserve. Photo Grassland Films.
Flashjack comeback
The Bridled Nailtail Wallaby (or flashjack) is a small, shy marsupial named for the white ‘bridle’ line that runs across its neck and a small, horny spur at the tip of its tail – the so-called ‘nailtail.’
Once common across eastern Australia, the species experienced a dramatic decline due to land clearing and feral predation throughout the 1800s. By the 1930s, it had disappeared from sight and was believed extinct – until a chance rediscovery on a cattle station in 1973. That population is now protected at Taunton National Park. The only other known population in Queensland lives at Avocet, where the State Government reintroduced the species in the early 2000s.
Avocet’s former owners, Hugo and Shona Spooner, set aside the land for conservation in honour of Hugo’s late father’s wish. Over four years, 166 Flashjacks were translocated to the site.
A ‘nursery’ enclosure was built to protect vulnerable joeys from predation. Bush Heritage are now caretakers of this precious population and with support from the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby Recovery Team are developing a new scientifically-backed management plan to strengthen its protection and recovery.
What Avocet protects
Animals: Bridled Nailtail Wallaby, Koala, Long-nose Bandicoot, Squatter Pigeon, Common Dunnart, Krefft's Glider, Rufous Bettong.
Vegetation communities: Brigalow woodland, Poplar Box woodlands, Mountain Coolabah woodlands and Lancewood forests and woodlands.
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A Red-winged Parrot at Avocet Reserve. Photo Grassland Films.
What we’re doing on the property
Bush Heritage is implementing a science-led reserve management plan to protect the threatened Brigalow ecological community and the species that live on the reserve including the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby and Koala.
We are managing the threats of invasive predators that prey on smaller animals. The Bridled Nailtail Wallaby is a small wallaby that is within the critical-weight range during its juvenile life stage, making it susceptible to feral cat and fox predation. We're following guidance from the Recovery Team on the operation of a predator-proof ‘nursery’ that was established at Avocet in 2014 and have been working to boost their numbers since.
We're expanding our dedicated monitoring program from Goonderoo to Avocet to pay close attention to the health and dynamics of local species.
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A Koala at Avocet Reserve. Photo Grassland Films.
A Koala refuge
Koalas need a lot of space. These beloved iconic marsupials are listed as endangered in Queensland and nationally. Their survival depends on access to suitable trees (of which only a small fraction are edible to them) and large, connected areas of habitat.
Avocet and neighbouring Goonderoo comprise a diverse mosaic of Koala habitat types that support a resident, widespread, low-density Koala population. Their persistence through a series of intense droughts suggests Avocet is an important local refuge that may help support the broader regional population.
We are also working to manage weeds such as Buffel Grass that degrade habitat, and managing fire across both reserves.
Our plan is to seek Special Wildlife Reserve status for both Avocet and Goonderoo to increase the amount of habitat under the highest level of protection available for private land in Australia. This would mean that these reserves, and the species they protect, would be permanently free from the threat of mining.
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Ecologist Becky Millar dealing with a cactus infestation.
History and cultural values
The Traditional Custodians of Avocet are the Western Kangoulu people. Their country is a broad landscape rich with significant cultural value.
After colonisation the region was established by European settlers for sheep and timber production and soon it became cattle-grazing country.
Avocet Nature Refuge is part of a broader grazing property owned by Hugo and Shona Spooner. Before Hugo’s father died, his request was for part of the land to be designated for conservation. Avocet Nature Refuge was subsequently gazetted in 1999.
