Aroona Station

• Honouring the legacy created by Dr Robin and Kathleen Stock when they donated Aroona Station to QTFN in 2015, with the wish to see the property managed for both its production and conservation value.
• Running a breeding herd of over 300 cattle using sustainable grazing and best management practice to maximise land condition to deliver environmental and economic returns.
• Protecting, enhancing and rehabilitating habitat for threatened species found on the property including the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), powerful owl (Ninox strenua), brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) and glossy black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami).
• Establishing a nature refuge at Aroona Station ensuring its permanent protection as a place of ecological significance.
• Actively participating and supporting in the Little Liverpool Range Initiative, a coordinated network of land managers committed to improving the quality and quantity of threatened species habitat in the region.
• Providing a vehicle for field research collaborations which explore how grazing regimes and agricultural land management can deliver commercial value while also contributing to the health of native wildlife and ecosystems.
• Serving as an exciting, real-world classroom that brings science and biodiversity to life for school and university students.
• Hosted Camp Koala with the support of CommBank and Wonder of Science. Led by QTFN ecologists and Young Science Ambassadors, the overnight camp offers primary school students to learn about balancing agriculture and wildlife management.
• Harnessing the power of ‘citizen science’, QTFN partners with community groups such as the Entomological Society of Queensland, government organisations such as Ipswich or the Queensland Herbarium to hold camps and survey biodiversity on Aroona.
• Implementing the Accounting for Nature model– a scientifically credible and trusted natural capital accounting standard used to measure the condition of environmental assets and inform investment and management decisions

Check out some of our Videos from Aroona here:

• Aroona Station hosts nine regional ecosystems, six of which have a biodiversity status ‘of concern’. This includes a population of the near-threatened native Bailey’s cypress (Callitris baileyi).
• The property’s large areas of diverse native vegetation allow natural ecological processes to occur at the scale necessary to support varied and viable populations of conservation-significant wildlife.
• Our dedicated conservation team is applying a multi-pronged approach to protecting and enhancing Aroona’s biodiversity via research, long-term monitoring, ecological burning, habitat and ecosystem restoration and pest control.
• Previously unknown populations (three colonies) of the vulnerable brush-tailed rock-wallaby have been found living on the property. We are supporting research to better understand their habitat requirements and behaviours, and undertaking habitat restoration to support this invaluable local population.
• Our real-life application of sustainable agricultural practices and conservation and habitat restoration activities are demonstrating the economic and environmental rewards of integrating biodiversity and productive land management.
• Received recognition as an Accredited Producer in 2017 as part of the industry led Grazing BMP (Best Management Practices) program.
• Topped the market for Charbray Cross Steers reared at Aroona in 2018 – demonstrating sustainable and profitable grazing practices can go hand-in-hand with large scale land restoration and conservation outcomes.

• Little Liverpool Range Initiative
• Ipswich City Council
• Accounting for Nature
• Firesticks Alliance
• The Turner Family Foundation
• Private landholders and nature refuge landholders
• Research Organisations