Pungalina-Seven Emu Wildlife Sanctuary

Seven Emu Station has partnered with a neighbouring property to create the first private nature reserve in the Gulf of Carpentaria, called the Pungalina-Seven Emu Wildlife Sanctuary. In a landmark partnership between a not-for-profit conservation organisation and an Indigenous landholder, Frank Shadforth has subleased 110,000 hectares of Seven Emu – almost half the area of the pastoral lease – to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). The station’s cattle are kept out of this conservation zone.

The whole sanctuary comprises an unbroken stretch of 305,000 hectares from the sandstone uplands to the coastal waters of the Gulf. It protects a suite of habitats along an important ecological gradient in one of the highest-priority regions in Australia, as well as delivering significant socio-economic benefits for Indigenous communities.