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Aerial view of the modest infrastructure at Edgbaston Reserve. Source: Bush Heritage Australia<\/p>\nAerial view of the modest infrastructure at Edgbaston Reserve. Source: Bush Heritage Australia<\/p>\n
A number of rare Australian species found nowhere else in the world now enjoy special protection at a dedicated reserve that was once a cattle station but is now the domain of ecologists and environmentalists<\/a> looking to ensure the survival of some of our most unique species<\/a> in a place which has mysteriously maintained their existence over the centuries.<\/p>\n Considered an ecological site of “global importance”, Edgbaston Reserve in Central Queensland now has government backed status to ensure its highly unique life doesn’t disappear.<\/p>\n Freshwater and wetlands ecologist Dean Gilligan spends about four to five months of the year at the site, where he and others work improve the future for 23 endemic animals \u2013 as well as working to undo the mistakes of the past.<\/p>\n In particular the “terrible” mistake made by the Australian Army in the 1940s when it introduced a fish<\/a> species called Gambusia, or Mosquitofish, as a mosquito or malaria control strategy.<\/p>\n “It was a terrible idea, mostly because almost every native fish eats mosquito larvae anyway, so adding the extra fish to the ecosystem was a cane toad scenario,” he said.<\/p>\n “They’ve turned out to be a significant environmental pest and they’re also one of the most invasive species … they’re really hard to keep out of waterways.”<\/p>\n Among other things, they threaten the Red-finned blue-eye fish species which was on the brink of extinction when it was discovered on the property in 1990. But scientists have since carefully re-cultivated the species.<\/p>\n “We’ve done that by translocating them into Gambusia-free springs to create extra populations. We’ve established captive breeding populations, both on the reserve and in Brisbane, and we’ve also commenced Gambusia eradications from springs that Red-finned blue-eye [fish] could be reintroduced to if the Gambusia were eliminated,” Dean explained.<\/p>\n It’s been a little over a year since the area was granted Special Wildlife Reserve status \u2013 the highest level of protection in the country \u2013 after not-for-profit organisation Bush Heritage Australia purchased the land back in 2008 after raising millions of dollars from its supporters.<\/p>\n “The impetus for the purchase of the reserve in the first place was that individual species of fish,” Dean told Yahoo.<\/p>\n The reserve is also home to another nationally threatened fish, the Edgbaston Goby, as well as 11 types of snail, a small crustacean, a flatworm, a spider and a species of dragonfly that reside exclusively in the spring-fed pools of the area.<\/p>\n But why exactly it has proved so conducive to a unique set of endemic life is still somewhat of a mystery \u2013 one that Dean says we may never get to the bottom of.<\/p>\n “It is a bit of a conundrum,” he said.<\/p>\n “We don’t really understand whether all the springs in the Great Artesian Basin used to be as rich as what Edgbaston is and through the degradations that they suffered through the 1900s as a result of over extraction from the aquifer, things just went extinct before people even know they existed [but] for some reason Edgbaston held on to its biodiversity.<\/p>\n “That’s one scenario, and unless we have a time machine we’ll never know,” he said.<\/p>\n Alternatively the site might just have some factor that means species colonised and radiated more prolifically there than anywhere else.<\/p>\n According to the Biodiversity Council, Australia is a “mega-biodiverse” region thanks to millions of years of geographical isolation. But the flip side of that equation is our worryingly poor record on biodiversity loss.<\/p>\n Critics say Australia is failing to protect its native species from extinction with federal and state governments getting an ‘F’ grade in the latest report card from the World Wildlife Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since the first report card was launched in 2022,<\/a> Australia has listed an extra 163 new species as threatened with extinction and 2,245 different plants, animals and ecological communities are now in danger of being lost forever.<\/p>\n![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/c0899540-8469-11f0-a9fe-70b17b1dfad5.jpeg\")
Dr Dean Gilligan collecting samples at the site. Source: Bush Heritage Australia<\/p>\n![\"Populations](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/c0c19531-8469-11f0-b5ef-37a13cffd8a7.png\")
Populations of the red-finned blue-eye fish has been re-cultivated. Source: Bush Heritage AustraliaMystery remains over unique springs home to so many rare species<\/p>\n![\"Dozens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/c0c19530-8469-11f0-bb2f-c2dc87e2bee8.jpeg\")
How the springs have supported such life ‘is a bit of a conundrum’. Source: Bush Heritage AustraliaGroup’s fight to halt biodiversity loss<\/p>\n
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