By Salma El-Sakka
Bush Heritage Australia has raised nearly $20 million in private donations to purchase Wooroora station, a 20,000-hectare property in far north Queensland that links wet tropics rainforest with savanna woodland and contains headwaters flowing to the Great Barrier Reef. The acquisition aims to protect one of the country's most biodiverse regions by Christmas.
Ambitious acquisition
Wooroora station spans more than 20,000 hectares on the lands of the Jirrbal people, about 100 kilometres south-west of Cairns. It borders Bush Heritage's existing 43,575-hectare Yourka Reserve, forming a critical piece of a 429,000-hectare nature corridor stretching to Cape York. At least 12 threatened species and over 30 species of conservation significance have been recorded there, including the southern cassowary, Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo, and the northernmost refuge for koalas.
Biodiversity hotspot
The property's unusual topography rises to 1,000 metres above sea level before dropping to 660 metres within 10 kilometres, creating a mosaic of habitats that support both rainforest dwellers like the cassowary and plains species such as the emu. Bush Heritage's head of Queensland and the Northern Territory, Dr Jo Axford, said the station includes one of the region's largest unprotected stretches of wet sclerophyll forest, a transition zone between ancient rainforest and seasonally dry savannah. She noted that invertebrates and hidden gullies likely harbour species unknown to science.
Fundraising efforts
Chief executive Rachel Lowry described the $24.7 million purchase and initial five-year management plan as the organisation's most ambitious single acquisition in its 35-year history. Fundraising has continued for over 18 months, including a presentation at the 2025 UN climate summit in New York that secured nearly $2.5 million from the foundation linked to outdoor clothing company Patagonia. An anonymous Australian philanthropist contributed $6 million. Bush Heritage now seeks a final $5.3 million from the public by a 24 December deadline.
Indigenous connection
Jirrbal senior elder Uncle Kurt Noble said the purchase would allow traditional owners to return to "proper Jirrbal land" after generations of restricted access. He highlighted Dreamtime stories and family history tied to the station, where his great-grandmother was born. Wabubadda Aboriginal Corporation chair Liam Roberts said Jirrbal people hope to jointly manage the reserve, citing sacred artefacts along old trails and creeks, and the area's cultural significance for language, song, and seasonal pathways between dry and wet country.
Ecological significance
Dr Axford emphasised that Wooroora provides the "missing piece" in a vast nature corridor actively sought since 2010. The property's diverse elevation gradients are expected to help critically endangered species like the magnificent brood frog find climate refuges. Axford added that aerial surveys suggest many hidden ecological secrets remain in the station's rhyolite outcrops and unexplored valleys.
