Our history | Bush Heritage Australia Skip to main content

Our story starts in 1991, in the Liffey Valley of Tasmania. Environmentalist Bob Brown purchased two forest blocks to protect them from logging, and a passionate community was born.

“I was walking high above two beautiful bush blocks that had come up for sale and that logging companies were keen to buy. I thought about what might happen if someone didn’t protect that land.”

– Bob Brown,

Bob had been awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for his role campaigning to protect the Franklin River. He used the $49,000 awarded with this prize as a down payment on the land, borrowing the rest from friends and the bank.

The campaign to pay off the remaining $200,000 loan was the birth of The Australian Bush Heritage Fund and that land is now our Liffey River and Drys Bluff Reserves, parts of which are UN World Heritage Listed!

From those first few hundred hectares of land, we’ve grown into a leading national organisation. Now, we protect millions of hectares of land across the continent through our network of reserves, and our partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other landholders.

Caption of this image 30 Years of Bush Heritage Australia

30 years & counting

From the dripping rainforests of Far North Queensland to the gentle grassy woodlands of NSW and Victoria; from the wide red plains of central Australia to the wildflowers of southwestern WA, a suite of animals and landscapes are better off because of Bush Heritage supporters.

Today, it’s over 30 years since our humble beginnings. Thank-you to supporters past and present, for making this wonderful journey possible.

Browse an interactive timeline
Freshwater and Wetlands Ecologist Dr Pippa Kern, Edgbaston Reserve Manager Rowan Hinchley and Indigenous Field Officer Stephen Brown at Edgbaston. Photo Peter Wallis.
Image Information
Freshwater and Wetlands Ecologist Dr Pippa Kern, Edgbaston Reserve Manager Rowan Hinchley and Indigenous Field Officer Stephen Brown at Edgbaston. Photo Peter Wallis.

Historian Sarah Martin documented our history in her book Restoring Nature Step by Step. Central to this story are the ecologists, researchers, land managers, Aboriginal groups, staff, donors and volunteers who’ve helped Bush Heritage to grow.

Highlights

11 Oct 1991

The Australian Bush Heritage Fund is founded, a year after Bob Brown purchased and saved two bush blocks destined for woodchips. Liffey Reserve, Tasmania

1993

From a local Tasmanian group to national with the purchase of Fan Palm Reserve, Queensland.

1998

Our role as a conservation group that complements the national parks system is endorsed by the extension of the federal government’s National Reserve System to non-government organisations.

1999

Our first conservation partnership as a founding partner in Gondwana Link, Western Australia

2001

Purchase of Carnarvon Reserve, Queensland. 

2005

A strategic approach is outlines through our “Anchors in the Landscape”, a strategy which prioritises specific “anchor” regions for protection.

2011

A ground-breaking 10-year agreement with the Wunambal Gaambera people in the remote Kimberley region.

2014

Our priority landscapes strategy is developed to define the regions in which we will work.

2015

Night Parrots rediscovered and Pullen Pullen Reserve established as a sanctuary to protect them.

2024

At 235,000 ha Evelyn Downs, in South Australia's painted desert, becomes the largest reserve in our history.