NSW government and The Nature Conservancy purchase Comeroo Station

A 37,422ha station in northwest NSW will be converted into a National Park after it was bought by the NSW government. See the details.

More than 500,000ha of what was privately owned pastoral farmland in northwest NSW will be converted to National Parks by the NSW government after a series of multimillion-dollar acquisitions.

The NSW government confirmed it has purchased the 37,422ha Comeroo Station, located about 150km northwest of Bourke, in a deal worth $13 million.

Previously owned by Bruce and Chris Sharpe and run as a sheep and cattle station, Comeroo Station had been owned by the Sharpe family since 1919.

The NSW government purchased the property in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, who brokered contributions from charities, The Wyss Foundation and Holdfast Collective. The Nature Conservancy has contributed about 17 per cent of the purchase price.

About 9600ha of Comeroo Station stretches across the renowned Yantabulla Swamp, which is home to up to 50,000 waterbirds, including threatened freckled ducks, pink-eared ducks, grey teals.

Comeroo Station, northwest of Bourke, will be converted into a National Park. Picture: Joshua J Smith Photography

The Yantabulla Swamp is in excellent ecological condition and is largely unaffected by upstream water resource development, the state government said in a statement.

Comeroo Station is also home to 13 known threatened species including the stripe-faced dunnart, ringed brown snake, black-breasted buzzard, brolga and pink cockatoo.

The park is expected to open to the public in late 2024 after the Sharpe family transition the property to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service management.

NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe said the station was purchased to protect wetlands in the Cuttaburra basin, part of the Paroo and the Warrego flood plains and some of NSW’s and Australia’s largest waterbird breeding sites.

“Wetlands are some of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet, which is why this acquisition is so important,” she said.

Comeroo Station was owned by the Sharpe family for more than 100 years. Picture: Joshua J Smith Photography

Comeroo Station’s conversion to a National Park will add to the existing Brindingabba National Park and properties Yantabulla and Naree, creating a contiguous conservation area of 101,725ha.

NSW’s previous Coalition government, led by former premier Dom Perrottet, committed to permanently protecting the adjoining Naree and Yantabulla Stations, which span 31,200ha, via annual payments to their owners, charities Bush Heritage Australia and South Endeavour Trust, in an $8.9 million deal.

The purchase comes after the state government paid a reported $118 million to purchase a 437,394ha northwest NSW station in February this year.

Located between Tibooburra and Bourke, Peter Hughes sold Thurloo Downs to the state government, who are converting the property into what will be the state’s third largest national park.

Thurloo Downs, which includes a variety of rivers, salt lakes and flood plains, fringed with coolibah, billabongs and waterholes, is expected to be open to visitors from 2025–26 after a transition period.

Meanwhile The Nature Conservancy are in the midst of selling the 34,114ha Boyong and Juanbung stations in the NSW Riverina near Oxley, northwest of Hay.

In partnership with Tiverton Agriculture TNC Australia purchased the property, which includes the nationally significant wetland, the Great Cumbung Swamp, four years ago, but are selling because their ownership “model was not deemed to be viable any longer”.