Historic Announcement - Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area

The Wilderness Society welcomes the announcement by the South Australian Government to protect a vast area of the internationally iconic Nullarbor Plain.

Bunda Cliffs, Nullarbor, South Australia

In 2005, The Wilderness Society nominated the Nullarbor Plain for protection under South Australia’s Wilderness Protection Act. The nomination recognised the cultural significance of the region to its traditional owners.

Widely acclaimed for outstanding natural and cultural heritage values, the Nullarbor is the largest semi-arid karst cave system in the world.

The Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area will cover 900,000 hectares, the same size as the famous Yellowstone National Park in the USA.

With this announcement the State Government has effectively doubled the size of the Wilderness Protection Area estate in South Australia, making it a grand initiative.

No trees – but lots of other things

Nullarbor is Latin for ‘no trees’. The Europeans who named this place only saw what wasn’t here – but the Wilderness Society is hoping new legislation will protect what is.

At 270,000 square kilometres, the Nullarbor is huge. Riddled with caves and underground river systems, it’s the world’s largest landscape of limestone ‘karst’ - filled with fissures and caverns eroded by water. 

Conditions vary from semi-arid to just plain arid. Temperatures are extreme, with 50 degree days the norm in summer, though winter nights can drop below freezing. There may be no trees, but there are a lot of other lifeforms here. The low saltbush and bluebush vegetation might look monotonous to the untrained eye, but among the scrub are some of Australia’s most rare and endangered species.

Australia’s largest population of the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat live here. The delicately coloured pink and green Princess Parrot, listed as vulnerable, also finds a refuge. The Nullarbor Quailthrush is a shy songbird bird whose habitat has been compromized elsewhere by clearing for grazing. 

Beneath the sandy soil, the endangered Southern Marsupial Mole, or ‘blind sand burrower’ tunnels.  This eyeless, insect-eating creature is so rare that no one knows how it breeds, and so unusually built that it’s hard to tell which end is which! 

Whale dreamers

Cultural values also abound. Creation stories from South Australia’s Mirning people, the ‘whale dreamers’, tell how they were born when Jiddara, the White Whale Creation Spirit, thrashed his tail, creating the jagged, dramatic coastline where the Nullarbor meets the sea. 

For European Australians, too, the Nullarbor holds a mesmerising significance – ‘crossing the Nullarbor’ remains an arduous test of resiliance and is the longest straight stretch of road in the world.  The plain forms a mental and physical barrier between Western Australia and the eastern states.

The Mirning people still have a strong bond with the whales who regularly pass along the coastline.  With the end of whaling, their numbers have recovered.  The waters off the Nullarbor’s stark cliffs are also home to populations of the rare and vulnerable Australian Sea Lion.

What is needed now is a commitment to ongoing management and funding for an Indigenous Ranger Program.