Wadderin Sanctuary

Wadderin Sanctuary is a nature conservation project within the Shire of Narembeen in the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia. It is about 290 km east of Perth and 8 kilometres north of the town of Narembeen. Wadderin is surrounded by a fox- and cat-proof fence that was completed in early 2008. This has allowed the reintroduction of fauna that is uncommon or locally extinct in the wheatbelt, and includes species that are considered threatened at the national level.

Wadderin is one of very few sanctuary projects within Australia managed by a local community. The community group includes current and retired farmers and townsfolk. Another within Western Australia is the Heirisson Prong project. at Useless Loop at Shark Bay. These projects were set up to exclude foxes and feral cats and so allow reconstruction of the past native fauna.

Wadderin is 427 ha in area and consists of a series of large granite outcrops surrounded by woodland, shrubland and mallee. It is largely isolated by surrounding farmland. It is poorly connected to bushland to the east (Wadderin Siding Railway Reserve, 175 ha and c. 1.4 km away) and to the west (Roach Nature Reserve and adjoining bushland, 515 km and 6 km away).

Wadderin is formally a water reserve (#20022) vested for water catchment and supply under the control of the Water Corporation of Western Australia. All granite outcrops have low walls that direct water into channels and eventually into a large holding dam within the Sanctuary. Much of this infrastructure was constructed in the 1920s, yet is still functioning today.

In 2004 a licence agreement was established between the Water Corporation and the Shire of Narembeen (on behalf of a local community group) to manage for nature conservation and potential future eco-tourism. Construction of the barrier fence commenced in 2006 and was completed in early 2008.

Narembeen has an annual average rainfall of 332 mm, with the bulk falling from May to September.

The mammal fauna of the reserve prior to the fencing of the Sanctuary and the reintroductions detailed below included only the echidna, western grey kangaroo, and euro and introduced species such as the fox, feral cat, rabbit, house mouse and black rat.

Bruce Leake, a farmer from nearby Kellerberrin, documented the rich past fauna of the eastern wheatbelt in the late 1800s. These included possum, phascogale, tammar wallaby, brush wallaby, rock-wallaby, nailtail wallaby, banded hare-wallaby, rufous hare-wallaby, woylie, boodie, pig-footed bandicoot, dalgite, numbat and chuditch. Many of these species would have occurred in the Narembeen district also. Unfortunately, very little of this fauna remains. It has only been comparatively recently that this loss of fauna has been attributed largely to predation by introduced foxes and feral cats.

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