An inland sea emerges north of Lake Eyre

The filling of Lake Eyre is one of Australia’s great natural spectacles. Fed by floodwaters that have travelled more than 1,000 kilometres from the channel country in Queensland, a vast inland sea emerges in the heart of Australia’s driest region. The team from Sunday Night were fortunate to visit Lake Eyre after it had reached its highest level for more than 40 years.

It is the Warburton River that gives life to Lake Eyre – 65 percent of all the water that enters the Lake arrives via this iconic desert river. The images on Sunday Night showcase beautifully the Warburton in flood, meandering between the Simpson and Tirari Deserts before pouring into Lake Eyre through the Warburton Groove, a channel that extends deep into the Lake.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), a non-profit organisation dedicated to saving Australia’s threatened wildlife, plays a vital role in protecting the wildlife of the Lake Eyre region. We own and manage Kalamurina, a property occupying an amazing 670,000 hectares (around 1.7 million acres), including the last 100 kilometres of the Warburton River and the north shore of Lake Eyre. This former pastoral station has been transformed by AWC into Australia’s largest non-government nature reserve. It is one of 22 properties managed by AWC for conservation, covering in total more than 2.7 million hectares around Australia.

During their visit to Kalamurina Wildlife Sanctuary, Mike Munro and the Channel 7 team marvelled at the ecological “boom” delivered by the floodwaters and substantial local rain (we had 4 times the average annual rainfall in 2010).

The birdlife is spectacular, with huge numbers of waterbirds arriving en masse in the middle of the desert, while small mammals like the Dusky Hopping Mouse and the carnivorous Mulgara emerge soon after dark, scampering across every sand dune (and even exploring our camp!)

However, this temporary ecological boom hides a tragic story – Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate in the world. More than 20 of our unique native animals have become extinct in the last 200 years ... and central Australia, including the region around Lake Eyre, is a global extinction hotspot! The causes of this extinction crisis include the feral cat and the fox, as well as introduced herbivores such as the rabbit, the camel and feral horses.

Overgrazing by cattle in sensitive areas – such as the floodplains along the Warburton River – has also contributed to the demise of our native wildlife. The feral cat is a particularly nasty villain – around Australia, feral cats kill more than 60 million native animals every day.

The floodwaters won’t solve the extinction crisis in the Lake Eyre region... but they are vitally important because they give the ecosystems around the Lake and the Warburton River a massive boost in productivity. In short, the floods will buy some time ... and give us an opportunity to put in place the practical land management programs that are urgently required to save Australia’s threatened wildlife for future generations.

Cattle have already been removed from Kalamurina, meaning the Warburton floodplain will regenerate without being “taxed” by grazing. A new wave of Coolibah seedlings will emerge, and the lignum thickets which provide habitat for birds and mammals will thicken and flower. However, to consolidate the ecological benefits of the boom, we also need to continue and accelerate our work in controlling other ferals such as camels (over 300 were removed from Kalamurina last year), horses, rabbits and foxes. Our field ecologists are working on ways to reduce the impact of feral cats, perhaps the single greatest conservation challenge in Australia.

At Kalamurina, and at our other sanctuaries around Australia, AWC is putting in place a new model for conservation. It is a model based on practical, on-ground action: around 80 percent of our staff are based in the field where they are the front line in our battle against ferals, wildfire and weeds.

For example, our property in western NSW (Scotia) incorporates the largest fox and cat-free area on the mainland. Across our properties, we have conducted more than 60 translocations of threatened wildlife. Some of the largest remaining populations of endangered species like the Bilby, the Gouldian Finch, the Numbat and the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby survive on AWC properties.