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Southern Highlands NSW

The Southern Highlands, is located around 110 kilometres (70 miles) South-West of Sydney, in New South Wales. It sits between 500m and 900m above sea level on the Great Dividing Range. It is under the local government area of the Wingecarribee Shire which covers an area of around 2,700 sq km (1000 sq miles).

The Great Western Wildlife Corridor (GWWC) is a key link through the Southern Highlands for wildlife migration between the southern Blue Mountains World Heritage area and Morton National Park further south.

The area was historically cleared for farming, but contains a series of significant fragments of remnant woodland vegetation on private and public land that act as stepping stones for flora and fauna to move through the landscape. Wingecarribee Shire is an important catchment area for water supply to Sydney, Wollongong and the Northern Shoalhaven. Several rivers flow through the region, including the Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, and Paddy’s river.

The region is centred on the small towns of Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale, Bundanoon and Robertson as well as the historic town of Berrima.

The Southern Highlands Koala Conservation Project gaining a deeper understanding of koala distribution, habitat, status and threats throughout the Southern Highlands, and it has been estimated that over 3,000 koalas reside in the Southern Highlands, making it the largest koala population in southern NSW and representing around 10% of the total koala population in the State.

In recent years, several properties have been established as Koala sanctuaries in the areas around Canyonleigh. There are also projects underway to map the location and movement of Platypus in the area and provide more complete data to assist decision-makers support the local Platypus population in the future.