Witchelina Nature Reserve
| Company type | Private nature reserve |
|---|---|
| Industry | Conservation |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Founder | John Ragless |
| Headquarters | South Australia , Australia |
Area served | South Australia |
| Owner | Nature Foundation SA |
Witchelina Nature Reserve, situated in South Australia, occupies land formerly operated as the Witchelina pastoral lease, which functioned as a sheep and cattle station prior to its transformation into a conservation reserve by the Nature Foundation. The station's name also identifies the surrounding area known as Witchelina.
Positioned approximately northwest of Leigh Creek and north of Adelaide, the property features diverse terrain including gibber plains, woodlands dominated by red river gum and coolibah, shrublands of bluebush, plains covered with saltbush, and dunefields populated by various acacia species.
History
The lands encompassing Witchelina are traditionally owned by the Adnyamathanha and Arabunna peoples, with the reserve spanning their ancestral territories. Initially established as a sheep grazing property by John Ragless in 1873, the station supported around 4,000 sheep by 1915. In 1916, the Ragless brothers offered Witchelina for sale; at that time, it extended over , included a homestead with ten rooms, a shearing shed equipped with 20 stands, and was fully enclosed by boundary fencing. Shortly after, ownership transferred to Sidney Kidman in partnership with Lewis and Pearce.
Following a severe heatwave in 1932, station managers reported capturing an estimated 100,000 rabbits. After heavy rains in 1949 caused damage to some fencing, the Kidman estates sold Witchelina along with adjacent stations totaling more than in 1950 to A. S. Toll and the Boynthon family, who established the Myrtle Springs Pastoral company.
By 2009, the property was on the market and featured a two-story stone homestead, a manager’s residence with three bedrooms, quarters for shearers accommodating ten people, a six-stand shearing shed, and numerous outbuildings. The station was capable of supporting either 6,600 head of cattle or 33,000 sheep.
In 2010, Nature Foundation SA purchased Witchelina with approximately two-thirds of the funding provided through an Australian Government grant under the Caring for Our Country initiative, supplemented by contributions from private donors and State Government land acquisition funds. This purchase resulted in South Australia's largest privately held nature reserve, establishing an important ecological corridor connecting Lake Torrens to the Northern Territory.