NSW Government buys Broken Hill sheep stations to protect diverse western wilderness

With the aim of creating a new outback nature reserve, the NSW Government has announced the purchase of more than 60,000 hectares of farmland near Broken Hill.

Marking the second largest land acquisition for national parks in the last 10 years, the purchase of the neighbouring Lanigdoon and Metford stations, 65 kilometres east of Broken Hill, will enable the creation of a new outback nature reserve, home to at least 14 threatened species.

Announcing a plan to combine the two areas into a new reserve conserving significant biodiversity and Aboriginal heritage in the region, NSW Environment Minister, Matt Kean advised “land to the west of the Great Dividing Range supports a great diversity of wildlife, unique natural heritage and culturally important places, worthy of protection.”

With the threatened blue-billed duck and freckled duck found in the region, Minister Kean said 30% of this new reserve will be made up of endangered Acacia loderi shrublands, adding “this new park will be an important refuge for wildlife including at least 14 threatened animal species including habitat for the Australian bustard, white-fronted chat and the pink cockatoo.”

The NSW Parks and Wildlife Service will now begin the process of legally converting the stations into national parkland, which is expected to take several months.

Once this addition is formally reserved, the national parks system will have increased by more 350,000 hectares since August 2019, heading towards a target of an additional 400,000 hectares by the end of 2022.

The purchase follows on from the recent creation of another outback reserve - Narriearra Caryapundy Swamp National Park which was the largest purchase of private land for the national parks estate.

In time, it is expected visitors will be able to explore sandplains and stony desert, gibber chenopod shrublands, floodplain woodland along watercourses and a lake system that provides habitat for a range of migratory bird species.

The properties contain important Aboriginal heritage including artefacts such as grinding plates and stones.

Images: The Langidoon and Metford sheep stations in western NSW - newly procured by the NSW Government for use as a nature reserve - are home to at least 14 threatened species. Photographs: Supplied.