Bullo River Station, a vast 400,000-acre property in the East Kimberley region, has released its inaugural Sustainability Report, sharing the progress the property has made towards its sustainability goals, as well as showcasing its groundbreaking approach to blending conservation with commercial pastoral operations.

Co-founders of Bullo River Station, Alexandra and Julian Burt, said the team's first sustainability report indicates promising progress and evidence that the property is on track to achieve the goal they established when purchasing the Station in 2017.

On their initial vision, Julian said, “To drive broad change you need to act broadly. The purchase of Bullo River Station was with a dual purpose of improving the pastoral enterprise and equally creating a utopian plan for conservation. A unique vision for the future was with us, one where you could have a profitable food-producing business with an utterly thriving natural environment. If this is achieved, then it represents a profound change in the pastoral business model and approach.”

He continued, “This, being our first Bullo River Station Sustainability Report by The Landsmith Collection, provides a frank assessment of where we are in respect of our goal for sustainable conservation and food creation. It provides key direction in various areas needed for improvement, but it also tells us the wins we have had. It sets out staged cultural and system changes to enable pathway to improvement, allowing us to measure that progress to be set out in our next report.”

A Vision for Sustainability

Under the stewardship of Alexandra and Julian Burt, Bullo River Station is redefining the relationship between cattle grazing and ecological preservation. The station's commitment is centred around three core priorities:

• Conservation: Maintaining a biodiverse ecosystem alongside low-impact tourism.
• Regeneration: Running a profitable cattle enterprise while ensuring landscape health.
• Culture & Experience: Creating immersive guest experiences that connect visitors with land, food, and heritage.

Shortly after purchasing Bullo River Station in 2017, Alexandra and Julian, embarked on a groundbreaking 10-year partnership with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC).

Now entering their seventh year in partnership, Bullo and AWC are working together to deliver scientific biodiversity monitoring and are taking on the big land management challenges for any pastoral property – fire, ferals and weeds. This work includes a carefully designed Land Management Plan, ongoing 'mosaic' burning programs, regular feral animal control programs, and comprehensive surveys to monitor threats and introduced species. The team also carefully manages the number of animals grazing the land to allow recovery of grasses, keep the soil covered, and manage weed infestations.

“There is no easy way to match carrying capacity and stocking rates, and it's a work in progress at Bullo. We have undertaken careful investment in water and fencing to divide up paddocks, which makes rotational grazing easier, and so far, we have reduced our stock numbers by over 60%,” said Julian. “As of September 2024, we have approximately 2,500 head of cattle in the Bullo herd, which is a significant drop from the 7,000 head of cattle that once grazed the land, and just over 350,000 acres of the property's 400,000, is now considered conservation area.”

Positive Impacts

Bullo River Station has seen many positive outcomes of its highly-considered approach to pastoral operations, biodiversity and land management and is on a pathway of generational change.

The team is still at the very start of a long-lived journey, but there are some promising early results across pastoral, conservation and tourism work that are well-worth noting.

Conservation Firsts: Bullo River Station is responsible for the first Northern Territory captures of the carnivorous marsupial False Antechinus (Pseudantechinus sp.), previously only seen on camera trap images. The Mitchell's Water Monitor (Varanus mitchelli) was also detected at Bullo for the first time, a highly vulnerable species in the Northern Territory, and the first live trapping of the Scaly-Tailed Possum (Wyulda squamicaudata) in the Northern Territory, a rare and vulnerable species, also took place at Bullo.

Sun Power: On average, 55% of Bullo's electricity comes from on-site solar power generation (including battery storage) throughout the year, with the rest provided from diesel generators.

Paddock-to-plate: 20% of vegetables are now grown on-station with staff only eating Bullo raised beef and pork, and approximately 70% of all beef served to guests is Bullo-grown beef. This has helped the team to reduce food miles and avoid packaging where possible. The remaining fresh food is sourced from local orchards and growers in Kununurra. Only a small amount of remaining food is sourced from commercial suppliers outside the region.

Single-use Plastics: 100% of guest products are compostable or biodegradable, and Bullo now purchases and decants bulk quantities, reducing packaging waste. There are no single-use plastic water bottles available to guests, with Bullo gifting each visitor with a refillable water bottle instead.

Local Business: The Station supports over 20 local businesses on a regular basis through the procurement of goods and services. The guest operations team also actively works with and promotes 15 different Kununurra-based tour and hospitality businesses for pre- or post-Bullo travel experiences. 

Guest Experiences & Engagement

Bullo River Station encourages guests to embrace a new kind of luxury – one that transcends opulence and encourages a thoughtful connection to culture and nature.

The property's sustainability commitment may have foundations in wildlife and habitat conservation, but it also includes responsible travel and respect for its natural environment when it comes to guests and visitors.

Educational guest experiences are focused on the appreciation of and learning about outback wildlife. These include:

• Delivering comprehensive guide recruitment and training that enables the team to confidently answer questions from guests. Most staff are provided the opportunity to participate in conservation activities with AWC throughout the year, for example, assisting with condition assessments, and setting up or collecting camera traps.
• Offering immersive experiences, which encourage care and respect for natural and cultural heritage, including Aboriginal rock art tours, spectacular Gorge boat trips and visits to special conservation projects such as Lake Lesley.
• Providing an up-to-date native fauna and bird species list for guests from AWC.
• Providing a dedicated, sustainability-focused tour called 'Keeping the Lights On', where guests learn more about our solar power generation, rainwater capture and storage, flourishing vegetable garden, extensive weed management work, composting and soil building.
• Documenting its natural environment with the iNaturalist app, allowing staff and guests to upload observations of plants, frogs, mammals, insects and trees.
• Facilitating opportunities for a wider reach of supporter engagement for AWC. Every year, AWC hosts an annual three-night stay for their regular supporters with focused, conservation-led itineraries.

Looking Ahead

With ongoing efforts in habitat restoration, carbon footprint assessment, and sustainable sourcing, Bullo River Station is committed to continuous improvement in its land management practices. Its key focus areas for action over the next three years are to continue building on its land improvement work, continue Eco-Health monitoring by AWC, commence work on understanding its greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce some of its operational impacts.

“Looking ahead we still have a lot to do and a long way to go but we're committed to improving the environment and social outcomes of our business,” said Julian. “Ultimately, as an organisation, the way we treat our land, our animals, our own people and our guests is what will sustain us, eternally.”

Bullo River Station's pioneering model demonstrates that sustainable agriculture and conservation can coexist, setting a benchmark for responsible land management in Australia's outback.

For more information visit www.bulloriver.com.au

Bullo River Station acknowledges that the traditional custodians of the East Kimberley Region, the Miriwoong and Gajirrawoong people, were the original sustainable farmers and managers of the land, and looks to them to constantly learn and improve its own practices.

Ends

Images

Bullo River Station's Sustainability Report and images are available here.

Bullo River Station general property images are available here. 

About Bullo River Station

Set on 400,000 acres of privately owned countryside at the convergence of the Bullo and Victoria Rivers, Bullo River Station is a working cattle station in the Northern Territory and member of Luxury Lodges of Australia. The station's pristine landscape is carved with gorges and waterfalls, making it one of Australia's most breathtakingly beautiful stations. Encircled by the coffee-coloured waters of the Victoria River and rugged hills inscribed with Aboriginal rock art, the vast property is not only home to around 2,500 Brahman-cross cattle, but also a stunning variety of local fauna species including wallabies, dingoes, wild buffalo, a myriad of native and migratory birds, fish and the omnipresent crocodiles. 12 generous and comfortable rooms, designed by Sibella Court, tasty, wholesome meals and a cold drink at the end of the day revive guests who have spent the day enjoying the station's many activities. Whether it's a day filled with dust, sweat and the exhilaration of station life or spent exploring stunning landscapes, waterfalls, swimming in remote waterholes, barramundi fishing and discovering Aboriginal rock art and wildlife, the Bullo River experience is unlike any other. Visit www.bulloriver.com.au or www.instagram.com/bulloriverstation.