Dr Alexander Gosling's happy place
There are characters in Bush Heritage’s story like the gibber pebbles that dot the landscape at Evelyn Downs Reserve – they go a long way back. Dr Alexander Gosling is one of those characters.
If you drive an hour west of Broken Hill, past the backdrop of Mad Max II, feral goats and frantic emus, you'll reach a dirt track that leads to a former sheep station, now our Boolcoomatta Station Reserve.
Boolcoomatta’s 63,000 hectares contains vegetation under-represented in Australia’s national reserve system. Its sweeping plains boast chenopod (saltbush) shrublands and ephemeral wetlands. Creek beds are lined by grand old River Red Gums; squat, twisted and pocketed with bird hollows.
But for the occasional waterhole, the creeks are usually dry; the average rainfall is just 190mm and highly variable.
Yet the open mulga woodlands support species such as Gould's Wattled Bat, Blue Bonnets and Red-backed Kingfishers.
Down on the saltbush plains Orange Chats, Chirruping Wedgebills, Bearded Dragons and large flocks of Emus go about their business. And watching over all of this are the dramatic Olary Ranges – some of the oldest rocks in Australia.
All this is protected thanks to generous supporters.
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Emu father with chicks. Photo Wayne Lawler.
What Boolcoomatta protects
Significant species and communities include:
Animals: Plains-Wanderer, Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies, Tree skink (Egernia striolata), Dusky Hopping Mice, Narrow-nosed Planigale, Emus, White-winged Fairy Wrens, Chirruping Wedgebills, Chestnut Crowned Babblers, Singing and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, Australian Pipits, Nankeen Kestrels, Wedge-tailed Eagles, Masked Woodswallows. Orange and Crimson Chats, Zebra Finches, Budgies, Cockatiels, Brown and Rufous Songlarks.
Plants: Murray Swainson-pea (vulnerable), Purplewood Wattle (nationally vulnerable), Slender bell-fruit (nationally vulnerable), Riverine flax-lily, Wilga, Australian Broomrape, Broughton Pea.
Vegetation communities: Mulga woodland, Bullock bush shrubland, Freshwater wetlands, River Red Gum woodlands.
What we’re doing
Run for 150 years as a sheep station, Boolcoomatta shows plenty of signs that it was carefully managed, and retains outstanding examples of Saltbush plains, ephemeral streams and wetlands.
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Ecologist Graeme Finlayson with a Dunnart.
Our staff and volunteers have worked hard to control feral animals and weeds. The reserve has also benefited from effective landscape-scale fox control through the national Operation Bounceback program in the Flinders Ranges.
Boolcoomatta has long-provided critical drought refuge habitat for the Plains Wanderer – an endemic species that's globally significant in conservation circles. Grasslands on the property are vital to its persistence and long-term monitoring using remote cameras and song meters help us identify areas for additional protection.
Our ecologists and volunteers have carried out plant and animal surveys, which show significant increases in shrub-dependent birds such as the Cinnamon Quail-thrush, Rufous field-wren, Redthroat and Chirruping Wedgebill.
On the edge of the reserve, jumbled rocks at the foot of steep cliffs provide hope that the nationally threatened Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby may have expanded it’s range from the neighbouring Bimbowrie Conservation Park and established a population. Sightings over many years confirm individuals have explored the area.
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Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby. Photo Wayne Lawler.
Cultural values
The Adnyamathanha and Wiljakali peoples are Traditional Custodians of Boolcoomatta.
The property played a crucial role in both the pastoral and mining industries that helped expand the fledgling colony of South Australia. Many historic buildings on the property were built using local stone.
Boolcoomatta was acquired in 2006 with help from the Australian Government under the Natural Heritage Trust’s National Reserve System Program and the Nature Foundation SA.
Click Went the Shears: history of Boolcoomatta 1857 to 2020
Judy Johnson has researched and documented the social history of the property in great detail, and Eva Finzel has edited her document.
14 MB Visiting Boolcoomatta
From 1 June to September 30 you can book a camping spot at Boolcoomatta to explore the reserve for yourself. Visit our Boolcoomatta camping page to register and download the camping guide with details of what you’ll need.
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Camper at Boolcoomatta. Photo Sandy Horne.
