Volunteering in Brigalow country
Regular Queensland-based volunteers Paul and Jo Flint report back on their recent caretaking work at Goonderoo Reserve in Central Queensland.
At the heart of Queensland’s Brigalow Belt bioregio, Goonderoo is part of a disappearing world.
Goonderoo Reserve was bought because it secured a group of rapidly vanishing ecosystems – among them the Brigalow shrublands.
Taking their name from the long-lived, silvery wattle known as Brigalow, the once extensive Brigalow Belt shrublands have fallen prey to large-scale land clearance.
Just 6% of the brigalow shrublands remain, with only 2% protected in conservation reserves.
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Noisy Friarbirds. Photo Ross Whiteford.
These remaining patches, including those at Goonderoo, provide refuge for many woodland species – bandicoots, bettongs, Sugar Gliders and Koalas are just some of the species found on the reserve.
Goonderoo also hosts habitat for the nationally endangered Bridled Nailtail Wallaby, a population of which lives on a neighbouring property – Avocet Nature Reserve.
When Bush Heritage bought this property the previous owners were generous enough to pass on a family list of bird species recorded over several decades. We’ve since built on that list, which now includes numerous mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
All this is protected thanks to our generous supporters.
What Goonderoo Reserve protects
Animals: Rufous Bettong, Long-nosed Bandicoot, Koala, Squatter Pigeon, Common Dunnart, Sugar Glider.
Vegetation communities: Bluegrass grasslands, Brigalow shrublands, Lancewood shrublands, riparian forest, Poplar Box woodlands, red-gum forest.
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Sugar glider. Photo Steve Parish/Nature Connect.
What we’re doing on the property
Volunteers regularly conduct monitoring and pest management work on Goonderoo to help protect threatened mammals that are vulnerable to invasive predators.
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John Wybrow sandpad monitoring. Photo Rebecca Diete.
One of our biggest tasks at Goonderoo is to help the shrubby woodlands regenerate – a task that’s made challenging by an introduced pasture crop – Buffel Grass.
Native to Africa and India, Buffel Grass was brought into Australia as a drought and fire-tolerant livestock feed. Since then it’s replaced native plants over large areas.
As well as dramatically increasing damage from fires, Buffel Grass burns so hot that it kills most native Australian plants. Even the fire-adapted ones.
We’re using strategic controlled grazing to keep the Buffel Grass at bay, which reduces the risk of intense fire and gives the native plants a chance to establish.
Managing fire and weeds helps us maintain habitat for mammals on the reserve, including Rufous Bettongs, Koalas, Bandicoots and Sugar Gliders.
Flashjack comeback
Until the early 1970s it was thought the only place to see a Bridled Nailtail Wallaby was in history books. Also known as Flashjack Wallabies, they hadn’t been seen for 36 years.
But that changed in 1973 when one was sighted on a cattle station near Dingo in central Queensland. It was found to be part of a population that had survived in what’s now the Taunton National Park.
Since then two more populations have been established to safeguard the species. One of these sanctuaries is at Avocet Nature Reserve, which adjoins Goonderoo. We’re hoping that by restoring the shrublands and woodlands of Goonderoo, the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby will have one more place to call home.
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Nailtail wallaby (flashjack) with joey. Photo Steve Parish.
History and cultural values
There are Aboriginal artefacts on the reserve, showing that Indigenous inhabitants occupied the Goonderoo area.
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 purchase was made possible with funds from the Commonwealth’s National Reserve System Program, as well as our generous supporters.
