Saving Brigalow
Hope for the Brigalow biome can be found in the hearts of our supporters and the newly acquired Avocet Nature Refuge.
Named after the long, silvery wattle known as Brigalow, Queensland's Brigalow Belt is a nationally recognised biodiversity hotspot with many unique species found nowhere else in the world.
Goonderoo Reserve, in the heart of the Bigalow Belt, protects a group of rapidly vanishing ecosystems – among them the Brigalow shrublands.
Today just 6% of the Brigalow shrublands remain and only 2% are under any form of protection.
With land clearing a continuing issue, over 90% of native woodlands across the Brigalow Belt have been removed since the 1800s.
What remains is highly fragmented, making intact patches of bushland such as Goonderoo a vital refuge for many woodland species, such as bandicoots, bettongs, gliders and Koalas.
In 2025 we extended the reserve, and tripled its size, with the purchase of neighbouring property Avocet Nature Refuge. In addition to extending important natural values, Avocet is home to one of only two populations of Bridled Nailtail Wallabies in Queensland – a species once thought to be lost forever!
All this is now protected thanks to our generous supporters.
What Goonderoo Reserve protects
Animals: Bridled Nailtail Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Long-nose Bandicoot, Koala, Squatter Pigeon, Common Dunnart, Krefft's Glider.
Vegetation communities: Bluegrass grasslands, Brigalow shrublands and woodland, Lancewood shrublands, forests and woodlands, riparian forest, Poplar Box woodlands, Mountain Coolabah woodlands, Red-gum Forest.
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Sugar glider. Photo Steve Parish/Nature Connect.
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 (now part of Goonderoo), where the State Government reintroduced the species in the early 2000s.
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Bridled Nailtail Wallaby and joey, Avocet Nature Refuge, Western Kangoulu Country, 275 km west of Rockhampton, QLD. By Grassland Films
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.
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.
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.
Goonderoo contains 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 this area is an important local refuge that may help support the broader regional population.
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Koala in tree. Photo Bruce Thomson.
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.
Our monitoring program allows us to understand the health and dynamics of local species. We're also managing invasive predators. Juvenile Bridled Nailtail Wallabies are susceptible to feral cats and foxes. We're following guidance from the Recovery Team to manage this issue and have been working to boost wallaby numbers.
We are also working to manage weeds such as Buffel Grass that degrade habitat, and managing fire.
Our plan is to seek Special Wildlife Reserve status for Goonderoo, which is the highest level of protection available for private land in Australia and would permanently remove any threat from mining.
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Reserve Manager Becky Miller dealing with a cactus infestation.
History and cultural values
Western Kangoulu people are the Traditional Custodians of the Goonderoo area. Bush Heritage are working with Western Kangoulu to deepen our understanding of their connection to this country.
Initially established by European settlers for sheep and timber production, the area soon became cattle-grazing country. The Spooner family settled on what is now Goonderoo during the 1940s, and the family maintains a strong interest in the reserve.
Goonderoo’s original purchase was made possible with funds from the Commonwealth’s National Reserve System Program, as well as our generous supporters.
