Nardoo Wildlife Reserve consists of 191 hectares of both old mallee and open bushland. It is located about 2km from Moorunde Wildlife Reserve, west along Moorundie Road. Like Moorunde, it is home to Southern Hairy-nosed wombats with numerous warrens distributed across the property.
Wombat warren on Nardoo Wildlife Reserve.
The reserve is named after the Nardoo plant that grows readily in two artificial ponds on the property. The ponds were originally created as water reserves for grazing stock when the land was used for farming. Nardoo is a food plant for aboriginal people. The plants’ sporocarps are edible when prepared properly to remove toxins. Improper preparation can result in ill health, as experienced by explorers Burke and Wills. Find out more about the Nardoo plant from this CSIRO fact-sheet. The plant flourishes in spring every year. Even when the ponds remain empty during winter the plant returns, covering the bottom of the ponds. Without continuing rain, it dies back by Christmas.
One of the two artificial ponds behind the large shrub at centre-right.
Given the environment is semi-arid, it still amazes how such a prolific amount of water-based life forms find their way into the ponds.
Eggs of a Spotted Grass Frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) in one of the ponds on Nardoo. The leaf of a Nardoo plant can be seen at the top left corner.