Brooklyn Station
Brooklyn Station, the site of some of Australia's richest and most diverse wildlife has been protected in perpetuity through a partnership agreement, with the Australian Government and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to purchase, protect and manage the area.
Brooklyn pastoral lease covers an area of more than 60,000 hectares in far north Queensland and an enormously diverse range of environments and topography. The property straddles the boundary of two Bioregions - the Wet Tropics and the Einasleigh Uplands, and extends from some of the highest and most rugged mountains in the Wet Tropics (rising to nearly 1,200 metres) to the plains of major streams, including the Mitchell River, flowing west to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Approximately 5,000 hectares of Brooklyn is included in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. This includes, 2,600 hectares of rainforest, of which more than 2,000 hectares is virgin rainforest.
Almost 500 native mammals, birds, frogs and reptiles are known to occur within Brooklyn or in the immediate vicinity of the property. This diversity includes at least 48 threatened fauna species, approximately 40% of all Australian bird species and almost 30% of all Australian mammal species.
The fauna list for Brooklyn includes:
- 293 birds including the endangered Buff-breasted quail, which is endemic to north-eastern Queensland and the vulnerable Red Goshawk
- 89 mammals including the vulnerable Yellow-bellied Glider and the endangered northern Spotted-tailed Quoll.
- 76 reptiles.
- 36 frogs.
Brooklyn contains 45 threatened plant species and the only known occurrences of Bunya Pines in north Queensland.
Brooklyn’s rich diversity of ecosystems and wildlife are threatened by a range of factors including unrestricted public access, cattle grazing, altered fire regimes, weeds and proposals to divert water from the Mitchell River.
On ground works to protect and manage Brooklyn Station will include biodiversity surveys and monitoring, cattle removal, fire management, revegetation and rehabilitation and weed control.
Photo : Australian Wildlife Conservancy
Photo : Australian Wildlife Conservancy
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