04-08-2025
Former outback station Thurloo Downs nears opening as NSW national park
A former outback New South Wales station, which is more than a third of the size of Greater Sydney, is edging closer to opening as a national park.
The NSW government bought Thurloo Downs in 2023, in the largest-ever private land acquisition for a national park in the state's history.
The 437,394-hectare property between Bourke and Tibooburra in the state's far north-west cost $108 million, according to an ABC Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
Known to locals as Thurloo Downs — a 130-year-old sheep station — the property was previously five stations combined: Thurloo, Margalah, Caloola, Delalah Downs and Yarralee.
By the time the state government bought it, it was owned by one family.
The scale of the property was one of several reasons it was purchased, according to Rob Smith, executive director of park operations inland at the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
NPWS is installing visitor infrastructure and is looking at setting up driving tours to explore the park's key features.
While the NPWS expects Thurloo Downs National Park to be open to the public in 2026, the priority is getting feral species under control.
Since 2021, the NSW government has purchased more than a dozen properties across far western NSW to turn them into national parks.
But pest management continues to be a challenge, according to the NPWS.
Following floods in Queensland, it undertook an aerial shooting campaign targeting pigs, dogs, foxes and cats.
"We've got an extensive program of feral animal control right across the state using a range of ground-based techniques," Mr Smith said.
"It is a continuing focus right across the state, and certainly we'll be making sure we continue that work out here."
The conversion of Thurloo Downs from grazing land into a conservation area has been met with disappointment by the Pastoralists' Association of West Darling (PAWD).
PAWD head Sam Beven said pastoralists remained sceptical about the scale of outback stations to the NSW government for conservation and tourism purposes.
"Some places such as Mutawintji National Park [where] there's Aboriginal artwork … something to attract tourists, but when it's just a random parcel of land that's difficult to get to because of a dirt road, I find it hard to agree that tourism is going to go through the roof because there's a national park there," he said.
Graziers were also concerned about the impact on succession planning and whether the new national park would become a "breeding ground for pest animals".
"We'd like to hope that the National Parks and Wildlife Service can look after it as well as the previous owners," Mr Beven said.
Mr Beven said pastoralists would lobby to improve the roads around Thurloo Downs and other national parks.
"We will definitely be using these national parks as a drawcard to try to convince the government to seal the road," he said.
"Because it's hard to market tourism when it's a 4WD access only kind of road."
