Yarrabee Wesfarmers Reserve: A Protected Nature Reserve within Western Australia

Yarrabee Wesfarmers Reserve is best known for its role as a Bush Heritage Australia property within the Gondwana Link corridor and for protecting remnant woodland adjoining the Stirling Range National Park.

The reserve was acquired in 2006 by Bush Heritage Australia, with financial support from Wesfarmers, the Western Australian diversified industrial company that has long supported conservation partnerships in the state. The purchase created a formal joint ownership arrangement between Bush Heritage Australia and Greening Australia (WA), the latter having an existing revegetation focus across the property.

Since acquisition, the reserve has formed part of Bush Heritage Australia's Gondwana Link program, a long-term project aimed at maintaining and reconnecting native habitats across south-western Australia. The historical clearing of part of the property for farming has given the site an active restoration dimension, with Greening Australia working to re-establish native vegetation in those sections.

The reserve lies in the foothills and lower slopes flanking the eastern side of the Stirling Range. While the dramatic peaks of the Stirling Range itself remain a separate protected landscape, Yarrabee extends the broader terrain of woodland and shrubland that surrounds the range.

The terrain is gently undulating rather than rugged, with soils and topography that historically supported both forest and farmland. Today the landscape is a patchwork of intact woodland and former cleared paddocks undergoing revegetation, creating an active mosaic of recovering and mature vegetation.

Yarrabee protects significant stands of remnant vegetation, including tall marri and jarrah woodland on the more sheltered and better-watered sites and lower-growing mallee and Banksia woodland in drier or sandier areas. These vegetation types reflect the transitional character of the south-west Australian landscape, where tall eucalypt forests give way to shrub-dominated heath and woodland communities.

Around 600 hectares of the reserve were previously cleared and are being actively revegetated through the efforts of Greening Australia. This makes Yarrabee an example of both protection and ecological repair, with the aim of linking existing woodland remnants into a more continuous patch of habitat.

The reserve is expected to support malleefowl, a ground-dwelling bird that depends on large areas of intact shrubland and is a recognised conservation priority across southern Australia. Small marsupials such as the western pygmy possum and the honey possum; a small, nectar-feeding marsupial adapted to heath and Banksia-dominated habitats; are also considered likely residents.

The mix of woodland, mallee and Banksia habitat at Yarrabee is suitable for a wide variety of reptiles and insectivorous birds typical of the south-west Australian shrublands, supporting the broader community composition of the Stirling Range's surrounding landscapes. The presence of recovering cleared land increases habitat variability and may benefit edge-loving species as revegetation matures.

Yarrabee Wesfarmers Reserve is a privately protected area, with conservation outcomes managed by a non-government organisation rather than a state government agency. Its position directly adjoining the Stirling Range National Park adds to its conservation significance, effectively extending the buffer and habitat base around one of the most important upland national parks in Western Australia.

Its role within the Gondwana Link program places the reserve inside a much larger coordinated effort to maintain habitat connectivity across south-western Australia. Combined with the on-ground revegetation work by Greening Australia, Yarrabee illustrates a multi-partner approach to conservation that combines land purchase, joint ownership and active restoration.

Yarrabee is distinctive for combining private land protection, co-ownership between two conservation organisations, and active revegetation within a single property. It is one of the contributing properties to the Gondwana Link program and sits immediately adjacent to the Stirling Range National Park, an area of exceptional botanical richness.

Its mix of marri and jarrah woodland, mallee and Banksia woodland, plus former farmland now being restored, gives the reserve both intact habitat and a visible restoration story. The presence of species such as malleefowl and small marsupials underscores its role as habitat for some of the south-west's most characteristic wildlife.

Given its location in the south-west of Western Australia, Yarrabee's landscapes and wildlife are best appreciated during the cooler and drier months of the southern hemisphere, broadly spring through autumn, when conditions are generally more comfortable for outdoor activity and when wildflowers are typically at their best across the Great Southern region.