The Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Wildlife Park and Animal Refuge
Sixteen kilometres from Broome, Western Australia, on the Great Northern Highway, Malcolm Douglas is developing a wildlife park and animal refuge. Situated on thirty hectares it is very different from other nature parks.
Malcolm is hoping to give visitors a unique wilderness experience only a short drive from Broome. People will enter another world through the jaws of a giant crocodile. Constructed over several months through 2005, the entrance to the wildlife park is already recognised as the best example of its kind in the world.
Beyond the crocodile entrance is the shop and an extraordinary display of Malcolm’s forty years spent producing his famous adventure films. These classics are a historical record of a way of life that is gone forever. Beyond the shop is the wildlife park featuring two huge billabongs where 200 crocodiles stage a twice weekly feeding frenzy, an awesome spectacle.
The wildlife park is home to cassowaries, dingoes (including the rare white and a black), hundreds of kangaroos, euros and wallabies, emus and jabirus. Scattered throughout the park, large aviaries house many species of Kimberley birds. In the wild, visitors catch only glimpses of the local birds, but at the wildlife park the birds, some breathtakingly colourful can be enjoyed up close. A breeding program for many rare and little known kangaroos and wallabies is well established and new species are being added to the collection continuously.
Winding paths through the park are well shaded by magnificent trees and giant golden bamboo. The track past the pandanus lined Barramundi pond leads to a large arid zone billabong where huge flocks of birds come and go throughout the year, depending on the seasonal conditions in the Great Sandy Desert to the east.
At times thousands of whistling ducks, Pacific black duck and large numbers of pelicans stay for weeks. The daily tour finishes at the bird billabong at sundown a perfect time for photos and videos in the glorious golden light.
Malcolm is currently developing a night walk, with infra-red lighting, through a wilderness inhabited by nocturnal animals. Many of these are among Australia’s least known species. Visitors will see bilbies, Sugar and Squirrel gliders, bandicoots, woylies, potaroos, quolls and possums, as well as some of the smaller, more elusive, wallabies.
Established in 1983 by Malcolm Douglas as a research centre, the park is home to Australia’s finest display of crocodiles.Take a guided feeding tour and see crocodiles that have been caught and relocated to the park, for causing disturbance to outback communities. You will see Hatchlings, Alligators, Nile and Freshwater crocodiles, as well as ferocious Saltwater crocodiles. The number of crocodiles fed depends on the season and daily temperature.
Broome Historical Society Museum offers an insightful look into Broome’s diverse cultural history. Take a walk through the charming 1890s former general store, which is now the town’s museum. Check out the well presented visual displays, photographs and artefacts to learn all about the history of Broome.
Find out about the town’s interesting pearling history which has developed into a world class export industry today. Learn about the terrifying Japanese attacks on Broome during World War II and the impact it had on the local residents and allies who had taken refuge there.
You will be intrigued by the tales of shipwrecks and missing diamonds which takes you on a journey of discovery into the development of a culture that has melded from a diversity of origins. Examine Aboriginal artefacts and memorabilia from the area and discover how the town of Broome became the first truly multicultural district in Australia.
Regarded as one of the best regional museums in Australia, it is located in the town centre of Broome which is a two and a half hour flight north of Perth. Check opening hours prior to visiting.
Broome Bird Observatory is dedicated to the conservation of migratory shorebirds. We foster science-based study, public education and alliances with conservation organisations from the local to international level.
Broome Bird Observatory is located on the north-west coast of Australia on the shores of Roebuck Bay: Just 25 kilometres east of the town of Broome and some 2,400 road kilometres north of Perth.
The Broome region is regarded as the most significant site in Australia for shorebirds as well as being of high significance among other locations for shorebirds across the world. Roebuck Bay has the greatest diversity of shorebird species of any site on the planet and around 150,000 of these birds visit annually. The magnificent coastal scenery of Roebuck Bay provides a fitting backdrop for the birds and is a stunning attraction in its own right.
Broome Bird Observatory was established in 1988 by Birdlife Australia (Australia's peak scientific and recreational birding organisation) as a research and education facility. Its principle aim is to work for the conservation of migratory shorebirds which visit Roebuck Bay along with the many endemic birds of Broome.
