Bush Heritage Australia is calling on Australians to help raise the final $5.3 million by 24 December to purchase and protect Wooroora, a 20,333-hectare property south-west of Cairns

National conservation organisation Bush Heritage Australia has launched the most ambitious appeal in its history, with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure the future of Wooroora, a 20,333-hectare property 100km south-west of Cairns.

Located on the lands of the Jirrbal people, Wooroora is a nearly 98 percent intact landscape of rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest and savanna woodland, strategically located next door to Bush Heritage’s existing Yourka Reserve (43,575 hectares). It is one of the only places on Earth where cassowary country meets koala country.

According to Bush Heritage CEO Rachel Lowry, Wooroora is the organisation’s most ambitious single acquisition ever.

“Wooroora is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said. “For nearly two decades we’ve cared for Yourka and looked across the fence at this extraordinary landscape, knowing what it could mean for nature if we could bring the two together. Thanks to an incredible community of supporters, that’s now within reach.”

One fence line from an unbroken climate refuge

Securing Wooroora would create one unbroken 63,833-hectare climate refuge and protect the final unprotected link in a 429,000-hectare nature corridor through to Koombooloomba and Tully Falls national parks – twice the size of Greater Melbourne.

Wooroora also ties together two World Heritage Areas. Its water ways rise in the Wet Tropics, high in the headwaters of the Herbert River catchment, and flow towards the Great Barrier Reef. From about 1,000 metres above sea level, the land drops to 660 metres in just ten kilometres, creating cooler, wetter pockets where wildlife can shelter as the climate grows hotter and drier.

“This is what we’ve been hoping for since the day we arrived,” said Bush Heritage Executive Manager of Conservation Operations Rob Murphy. “The edge of the Wet Tropics is critical habitat, underrepresented in the National Parks system and exactly what we need to protect.”

A home for rare and threatened wildlife

At least 12 threatened species and more than 30 species of conservation significance have already been recorded on Wooroora, including the Southern Cassowary, Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo, Northern Greater Glider, Red Goshawk and the Endangered Magnificent Broodfrog. Koalas also find refuge there, at the northernmost edge of their range. The property holds the largest unprotected stretch of wet sclerophyll forest on the Wet Tropics–Einasleigh Uplands interface, a habitat that has more than halved across the region since the 1940s.

Before progressing with the purchase, Bush Heritage sought the support of Jirrbal Traditional Custodians, and it was a resounding yes. Securing Wooroora would support Jirrbal people to return to Country and help shape its future care.

For Rachel, the urgency is clear.

“Across Queensland, forests and bushland are still being cleared, and places like Wooroora – still whole and still wild – are becoming harder to find,” she said. “This is our best chance to protect it forever, and every gift before 24 December will help us get there.”

The purchase price and initial management costs total $24.7 million – three times more than Bush Heritage has ever raised – and thanks to our supporters, we are already close. We are calling on the public to help raise the final $5.3 million by 24 December to purchase and protect Wooroora, and other landscapes like it. A group of generous supporters has also pledged to match the first $2.245 million donated.

About Bush Heritage Australia

Bush Heritage Australia is a leading not-for-profit conservation organisation that protects ecosystems and wildlife across the continent. We use the best science, conservation and right-way knowledge to deliver landscape-scale impact. We’re on the ground, working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the agricultural sector to make sure our impact is deep, sustainable and collaborative. For more information on Bush Heritage Australia, click here.

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