Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary

Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary

Company type	Protected area
Industry	Conservation, Wildlife management
Founded	1959
Founder	Alex Coppock
Headquarters	Northern Territory , Australia
Area served	Great Sandy Desert bioregion, Northern Territory, Australia
Owner	Australian Wildlife Conservancy and Birds Australia (collaborative management)

Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, previously known as Newhaven Station, is a protected natural area in Australia located about northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It is collaboratively managed by Birds Australia and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

History

The land encompassing Newhaven is part of the ancestral territories of the Warlpiri, Luritja, and Anmatyerre peoples, with numerous Aboriginal sacred sites identified within its boundaries, including Yunkanjini (Lake Bennett).

Originally established as a cattle station under a pastoral lease in the Tanami Desert, Newhaven was acquired and named by Alex Coppock in 1959. The Coppock family operated it with a low-intensity cattle approach, thereby conserving rare native plants and animals. They also introduced Waler horses from another location, which attracted wildlife due to the water sources associated with these animals.

In December 2000, Birds Australia purchased Newhaven Station for , supported by federal funding of through the National Reserve System. After acquisition, most of the horses were relocated. Since 2006, management responsibilities have been shared between Birds Australia and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

Native title rights were recognized in 2010 for the Ngalia-Warlpiri and Luritja peoples. In April 2018, Newhaven completed installation of the world’s longest cat-proof fence, creating a predator-free zone to strengthen conservation initiatives.

Location and description

Positioned roughly northwest of Alice Springs and from the Aboriginal settlement of Yuendumu, Newhaven lies within the boundaries of the Great Sandy Desert bioregion.

Spanning an area of , Newhaven is approximately five times larger than Birds Australia's other property, Gluepot Reserve in South Australia.

The terrain consists of parallel sand dunes, salt lakes, claypans, plains, and rocky hills. Vegetation types include grasslands, woodlands, and shrublands across ten distinct ecological communities, with over 600 plant species documented.

Newhaven provides habitat for numerous threatened species such as the night parrot, grey falcon, princess parrot, striated grasswren, grey honeyeater, brush-tailed mulgara, black-flanked rock-wallaby, greater bilby, marsupial mole, and great desert skink.

Governance

In December 2005, ownership and financial responsibility for Newhaven were transferred from Birds Australia to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), while Birds Australia retained long-term management participation and member access rights. From 2006 onward, both organizations have jointly overseen sanctuary operations. Alex Coppock, the original station proprietor, also contributed as a guide and mentor to visiting researchers over many years.

Since 2007, Newhaven has been situated within the administrative locality of Lake Mackay, Northern Territory.

Species conservation

In August 2023, a collaborative team comprising AWC personnel and Indigenous ranger women relocated 40 golden bandicoots from Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Western Australia to Newhaven after conducting population surveys. An additional 60 bandicoots from Barrow Island joined them the following week.

In August 2024, 40 brushtail possums—extinct locally in Central Australia—were moved from Kangaroo Island in South Australia where their populations remain robust to Newhaven. The Anmatyerr community in Laramba marked their arrival with a traditional "Possum Dreaming" ceremony.

See also

• Protected areas of the Northern Territory

References

• Birds Australia Annual Report 2005. Melbourne: Birds Australia.

External links

• Birds Australia: Newhaven
• Newhaven at Protected Planet