The Land Behind Australia's World Heritage Bid
How a 4,500-hectare acquisition in the Flinders Ranges is protecting ancient Country, rare wildlife, and half a billion years of Earth history
Deep in the northern Flinders Ranges, about 17 kilometres east of the small settlement of Blinman, sits a stretch of country that has been holding its breath for a very long time.
Balcoracana Paddock is part of the Bunkers Range on Adnyamathanha Country. Its gorges and creek beds hold permanent water. Its cave systems shelter yellow-footed rock wallabies. And beneath its surface lies some of the most scientifically significant fossil records on Earth: sedimentary sequences from the Cambrian period documenting more than 500 million years of life.
This land has now been permanently added to Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.
We partnered with the Australian Government and the SA Department for Environment and Water to acquire Balcoracana Paddock, adding approximately 4,500 hectares of conservation-significant country to the park’s protected estate. The acquisition was also supported through the Federal Government’s Protecting Important Biodiversity Areas Program.
The timing is significant. In February 2026, Australia formally submitted the Flinders Ranges World Heritage nomination to UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, and the nomination has since been accepted for assessment. A final decision from the World Heritage Committee is expected in mid-2027. It is a milestone a decade in the making, backed by a 368-page submission and nearly 4,000 pages of supporting documentation.
Balcoracana Paddock is one of seven properties whose geological record underpins that bid. The Flinders Ranges is the only place on Earth where the continuous formation of the earliest complex animal life, between 672 and 510 million years ago, can be observed across three geological periods: the Cryogenian, Ediacaran, and Cambrian.
For the Adnyamathanha people, whose connection to this Country runs far deeper than any pastoral boundary, the nomination and the acquisition carry real meaning together. UNESCO requires World Heritage bids to be supported and consented to by all relevant First Nations communities. Last year, the Adnyamathanha Common Law Holders provided that consent.
As an addition to Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, Balcoracana Paddock now falls under the existing co-management agreement between Adnyamathanha native title holders and the South Australian Government, expanding Traditional Owners’ formal decision-making role across the landscape.
Adnyamathanha Senior Elder Charles Jackson OAM has spoken of the importance of Adnyamathanha people coming together on this nomination, and of their cultural information placing them front and centre on the world stage. The land acquisition is part of that same commitment.
For wildlife, the benefits are immediate. Removing stock grazing allows native vegetation to recover across the creek beds and drainage areas where threatened plant species are already returning.
The land connects directly into the Bounceback Program’s existing predator and grazing management regime, which has driven significant recovery of yellow-footed rock wallabies, short-tailed grasswrens, and echidnas across the broader Ikara-Flinders landscape. Western quolls, successfully reintroduced to the park, have been recorded moving northeast toward Balcoracana Paddock.
This acquisition gives them somewhere to go.
The Flinders Ranges was recently named the only Australian destination on Lonely Planet’s must-visit list for 2026. World Heritage listing, if confirmed, would cement that recognition on a global scale. But the case for protecting this country doesn’t rest on tourism or titles. It rests on what’s here: ancient fossils, rare animals, living culture, and a landscape that holds an irreplaceable record of life on Earth.
Growing national parks is one of our three core commitments. Balcoracana Paddock is exactly the kind of acquisition that makes it real.
