Gondwana Link

26/08/2026

We are thrilled to have the newly minted DR Nicole Hodgson (R) working on our team, co-ordinating our very new State of the Link project – more to follow on that. Nic has helped us and worked with us in many ways over the years, including the development of the Heartland Journey’s website.
Pictured with Nicole is Prof Andrea Gaynor, one of her PhD supervisors and a wonderful Gondwana Link friend, too.

Congratulations Dr Nicole!!

13/08/2026

Tonight's event at UWA Albany is a wonderful opportunity to learn about peatlands in southwestern Australia. Register at the link below and come along at 5.30 pm (Thurs 13 Aug). See the link below to a recent peatland story, too.

08/08/2026

We think you’ll love the warmth and insights in our latest Heartland Journeys story by zoologist Tim Gamblin.
Drawing on personal experience, scientific knowledge and a love of nature, Tim explores the remarkable peatlands of the Walpole Wilderness area: “Standing in a remote peat feels like stepping into another realm. Even more so when you’re crawling beneath tea tree and sedges in the dark peat channels, looking at plants and evidence of fauna and feeling much like a hobbit.”
Empodisma peatlands, found from Cape Naturaliste to east of Albany, are at the heart of the story. Carnivorous plants, sunset frogs, small burrowing crayfish and quokkas are among the species supported by these ecosystems.
Tim’s story highlights the importance of the 2023 listing of ‘Empodisma peatlands of Southwestern Australia’ as an Endangered Threatened Ecological Community, and the major research effort underway through the PEAT Southwest Project.
Photo: Holly Winkle. The story is also available in the Southerly Magazine, August 2026.

TIM GAMBLIN has a close connection to the watery and peaty landscapes of Walpole, reflected in his delightful booklet 'Paddle Trails in the Walpole Wil ...

28/06/2026

Anyone wondering how surreal conservation work in WA is should read this ABC article, and reflect. Our summary: the main conservation presence on a 700 km coastline is a volunteer run Bird Observatory that has functioned for nearly fifty years providing invaluable observations, record keeping and training of enthusiasts. Key word below is volunteers, who are continually filling the massive funding vacuum the WA Government leaves at Eyre, at Fitzgerald River National Park and so many other precious places. Then, because of one incident, almost inevitable given the failure of the WA Government to provide adequate resourcing, the Eyre Bird Observatory is closed at the very time H5N1 Bird Flu hits our southern shores. Come on WA Environment Minister, fix this:

Volunteers and wildlife advocates push to reopen the Eyre Bird Observatory, arguing the station will be critical in monitoring the potential impact of avian flu.

27/06/2026

Delighted and honoured to be there for the launch of this wonderful exhibition last night. Albany and Denmark at its best. Special congratulations to Nic Duncan and Aunty Carol Pettersen, and all involved.

A photography exhibition in Albany shares the stories of Menang elders, who often have been overlooked in history.

25/06/2026

On 3 June, Menang, Goreng and Merningar Elders held an extraordinary event to celebrate two years’ work by Noongar people who love and care for Pallinup-Marra Country, north-east of Albany.

The Pallinup-Marra Elders Circle (PMEC) is comprised of many families, and they have just published a Healthy Country Plan called ‘Pallinup-Marra Bilya Wangee Moort Boodja’, which is available on the Gondwana Link website under the main tab 'Resources', where you can also access the 'Stories of the Pallinup and Beaufort Inlet'.

With the support of the Gondwana Link team, the Elders Circle launched their booklet at the Boxwood Hill Sports Club to more than 150 people. Noongars from several generations spoke of the shared values and vision they hold for the river, and how they want to re-awaken the waterways and old pathways for the future of all our children and their children’s children:

“The health of the river directly affects the health of the people. The river and its creeks are the arteries and veins of the Country, sustaining all life. When the Old People walked along the river, they listened to it and knew what it needed to thrive.” (PMEC)

We heard from guest speakers whose families had lived and farmed on the river for generations, alongside a riverine geomorphologist and riverine ecologist who have studied the river, a community landcare co-ordinator, and people who have restored parts of the river system. The audience was asked to participate in a question-and-answer session and describe what it is that they love about the river, and what they can do to look after it better.

This event was not only the launch of a Healthy Country Plan, but also the beginning of the 'doing' stage of the project. The Elder Circle will now use the relationships built and momentum gathered at the event to inspire a collaborative group of landcarers, landholders, government people, NGO’s and educators to focus on healing the river together.

The preparation of the Plan itself included input and support from UWA Albany, Awesome Aboriginal Consultancy, Wagyl Kaip Southern Noongar Aboriginal Corporation, and the North Stirlings Pallinup Natural Resources group in Borden.

The project is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program and Janet Holmes a Court, and the event was also funded by the Great Southern Development Commission.

Heartfelt thanks to all the people who contributed to the launch event, including Robbie Miniter OAM as MC; all the Elders, speakers, participants and helpers; the musicians Uncle Eugene Eades, Bruce Anthony and Rhian Bethan; Table & Thyme Catering; and the Boxwood Hill Sports Club for providing such a great venue.

Thanks to everyone for the mighty team effort!

21/06/2026

We’re sorry we can’t offer to instantly double your donation. But there is a good chance that over the next 12 months we can use it to help secure at least 30 times more.

That’s a conservative estimate of what Gondwana Link Ltd has been instrumental in landing on the ground each year recently - over 30 times our core costs. We do that through being a lean organisation that brings large projects together while surviving on fragile, and often haphazard, core funding. A donation from you can make our core operations less fragile and even more effective. We’d greatly appreciate it.

Achievements during the Financial Year just ending include:

• Securing 35,000 hectares of significant land in the eastern wheatbelt to strengthen bush connections back to the nearby Great Western Woodlands. This land consists of about 7,000 hectares of existing habitat and 28,000 hectares that will be revegetated. As the landowner, we have important responsibilities here, so we are delighted to be working with a partnership of skilled revegetators, ecological practitioners and investors. Discussions are underway on how this work can also benefit local communities.

• Supporting the formation of an Elders Circle and development of their Healthy Country Plan for the 200 kms of the Pallinup-Marra River and catchment. We’re delighted by the wide backing already evident for the Elders and their initiative.

• Continuing to support arrangements placing four significant properties east of Albany into ongoing Noongar management and ownership, bringing employment, environmental and cultural benefits.

• Bringing a strong focus and extra support to what others are achieving across the Link. We do this by linking donors with local projects, helping where useful with strategic planning, presenting local successes at a wide range of gatherings and in stories of local champions in our Heartland Journeys website, and much more.

Our goal — achieving connected, healthy habitats and thriving communities across 1000 kms of Australia’s most biologically diverse ecosystems — is becoming a reality. The steady successes being achieved through numerous projects is what keeps us hard at it. Funding helps too!

If you can help us through a DONATION we would greatly appreciate it. Please link to us through the DONATION page on our website here - https://gondwanalink.org/get-involved/donate/ - or get in touch to discuss what has been achieved so far, and what can be achieved with your help. Donations are, of course, tax deductible.

Photo by Peter Ewing from the Bushblocks Guardians Group, of land at their Chiddarcooping Reserve, which will be reconnected back to the Great Western Woodlands across our properties within the next three years.

20/06/2026

Our western approaches to managing fire in south-western Australia are clearly failing. So it's just wonderful to see old ways becoming new again. Well done Nowanup Boodja and DFES!!

Two inspiring days at Nowanup with a cultural fire exchange with indigenous fire managers from all over Victoria and cohosted by our wonderful friends at DFES bushfire centre of excellence.

Thanks fellas for helping put fire into long unburnt natural vege close to camp, your keenness to get into it, cultural respect and exchanges, sharing fire knowledge and new friendship.

This visit was a wonderful reminder that while we still have a long way to go to apply cultural kaarla across the landscape , within a decade, indigenous mobs across southern Australia have bought cultural fire back onto the map. Every elder led mob, every ranger team , every organization having a go, often against the odds and fighting a bureaucratic system , old ways are becoming new 💛