As duck calls break the morning silence, the landscape slowly changes pace. Frogs turn in for the day, flocks of ibis circle overhead and cormorants dry their wings in the morning sun. Wetlands and black box woodlands stretch into the distance.

This is a special place, and it needs our help. Nil Desperandum, a 4,037-hectare property with a name that fittingly means ‘nothing to be despaired of’, is now for sale. It's a important link between Bush Heritage’s Naree Station Reserve and Yantabulla Swamp.

Nil Desperandum holds immense ecological value. This land is crucial for protecting a nationally important wetland. Regular flooding here creates a vital breeding ground for waterbirds, and reducing grazing pressure would restore native vegetation, creating safe habitats for small species like dunnarts and planigales.

With your help, we aim to raise $2.6 million to buy and protect Nil Desperandum and transform it into a nature reserve. Any additional funds raised will support deepening landscape management across the connected reserve system secured through this purchase.

Thanks to two generous donors, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar, (up until December 24 or until we reach target) doubling your impact. 

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Your donation can help us:

  • Remove cattle to restore native groundcover.
  • Create a safe haven where endangered species will thrive.
  • Extend conservation programs from neighbouring reserves.

Landscape connectivity is essential. Larger, linked areas allow ecosystems to function in a more natural state. By acting now, you can ensure this remarkable wetland thrives for generations.

Please donate today to double your impact and help us buy and protect one of Australia’s last wild river systems forever.

Bridget Roberts

Bridget Roberts
Bush Heritage Ecologist
Paroo Warrego

Expanding our protection

Expanding the land we protect in these wetlands is an efficient way to deploy our resources. 

With skilled land managers already established at Naree Station, and also managing the adjacent Yantabulla Swamp, owned by the South Endeavour Trust, we can get started quickly to establish a conservation reserve.

Importantly, adding this extra piece of the puzzle would allow us to manage both sides of the Cuttaburra Creek, ensuring stronger protection for this vital water channel.

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Map of Nil Desperandum, Naree and Yantabulla Swamp.
“All it takes is one big flood for the place to come alive. Fish start feeding... All of the lignum and the big coolabahs and yapunyas turn green and start flowering. The insects go crazy and it brings in birds from all around.”

— Bridget Roberts (Ecologist)

Photo by Annette Ruzicka

Brolgas. Photo Darcy Whittaker.

Brolgas. Photo by Darcy Whittaker.

Boom and bust

Iconic waterbirds such as egrets, ibis, brolgas, pied stilts and spoonbills rely on flooding in inland river systems to support breeding colonies. This wetland is part of the last free-flowing rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin, their waters still flowing when rain arrives. Elsewhere our waterways and their wetlands struggle.

While often dry, when water does come, the landscape is ready to transform. Burrowing frogs, crustaceans and shrimp lie waiting below the surface, plants and algae turn the landscape a vivid green and with plenty to feed on waterbirds are attracted in large numbers.

The biggest threat to our waterbirds is loss of habitat, particularly through drying rivers and wetlands. Don't let that happen here.

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About Bush Heritage

Bush Heritage Australia is a leading not-for-profit conservation organisation protecting ecosystems and wildlife across the continent.

We’re grounded in science and culture to protect and heal Country forever. We’re on the ground, working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the agricultural sector to deliver landscape-scale impact.

Together, we're nurturing Australia's natural heritage for generations to come.

Be part of this change

Photo by Annette Ruzicka.

Photo by Annette Ruzicka.

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Where water flows, biodiversity grows.

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Galahs. Photo by Annette Ruzicka

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