Issued: 19 May 2025

A purple-necked rock wallaby

The Queensland Government will help safeguard populations of purple-necked rock-wallabies through a $364,000 offset program that will improve crucial habitat in the state’s northwest.

The four-year offset project will fund environmental improvements on Chidna Station, which is a 26,000-hectare pastoral lease property around 130 kilometres north of Mount Isa.

Chidna Station features rugged, rough country of breathtaking beauty that provides ideal habitat for the purple-necked rock wallaby along with other threatened species.

The offset project will be a collaboration between the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation and environmental management group Conservation Partners.

Conservation Partners have developed a strategic management plan for the purple-necked rock-wallabies, and will focus on the following pivotal actions:

• Fire Break Maintenance – Fire breaks can help contain and reduce the impacts of bushfires.
• Prescribed Burning – Planned burns will foster habitat diversity and promote growth of plant species that purple-necked rock-wallabies browse upon.
• Fire Scar Mapping – High-resolution mapping and analysis of historical data will evaluate the success of fire management strategies for purple-necked rock-wallaby habitat.
• Population monitoring – Surveys will evaluate the effects of fire management strategies on purple-necked rock-wallaby population dynamics.

Acting Deputy Director General Environment and Heritage Policy and Programs Kahil Lloyd said the Queensland Government is committed to protecting and conserving our populations of threatened species.

“This collaborative offset project represents a significant step forward in boosting populations of an at-risk species on privately-owned land,” Mr Lloyd said.

“I’d like to thank the landholder at Chidna Station for their dedication to conservation and protecting the natural and cultural values of their property.

“Conservation Partners have vast experience in habitat and species management and through this project will build upon the exceptional work of the department’s threatened species unit.

“Our Offsets Framework is just one of the ways that we are making a difference to our threatened species.”

Conservation Partners Chief Executive Steve Murphy said the organisation works closely with private landholders to conserve Queensland’s threatened species.

“Conservation Partners works on stations in western Queensland, the Gulf and Cape York Peninsula, and many cattle stations have important conservation values,” he said.

“Over the next four years we will work with Indigenous landowner Brussie Spreadborough to improve fire patterns on Chidna Station, mainly using aerial prescribed burning.

“We’ll also closely monitor the impact on Purple-necked Rock-wallabies as well as Chidna’s other endangered wildlife populations, such as Carpentarian Grasswrens and Gouldian Finches.”

Brussie Spreadborough said the partnership with Conservation Partners is a win-win situation.

“Working with Conservation Partners means that I can concentrate on cattle, while also having a hand in good conservation work that looks after the native wildlife that lives on my place,” he said.