Brooklyn Sanctuary is a 600 km² nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 in north-east Queensland, Australia, less than 100 km north-west of Cairns

Cairns, Queensland

Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...

. It is owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy

Australian Wildlife Conservancy

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is an Australian independent, non-profit organisation, working to conserve threatened wildlife and ecosystems in Australia, principally through the acquisition of extensive areas of land on which to establish conservation reserves . These sanctuaries are...

. It is located on the boundary of the Wet Tropics bioregion and Einasleigh Uplands bioregion on the Mount Carbine Tableland

Mount Carbine Tableland

The Mount Carbine Tableland is a plateau in Far North Queensland, Australia. Part of the Great Dividing Range, it lies in the Shire of Mareeba 15 km west of Mossman, and 1460 km north-west of Brisbane, at an altitude of about 1165 m above sea level...

. The landscape varies widely from rugged, rainforested peaks of up to 1,200 m altitude, with an annual rainfall of 4,000 mm, to drier lowland plains in the upper reaches of the Mitchell River

Mitchell River (Queensland)

The Mitchell River is a river in the Far North Queensland region of Australia. The river begins on the Atherton Tableland about northwest of Cairns, and flows about northwest across Cape York Peninsula from Mareeba to the Gulf of Carpentaria....

 with less than 900 mm. It is important for the conservation of upland endemic species. Part of the property is inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Fauna

Threatened birds found on Brooklyn include the Southern Cassowary

Southern Cassowary

The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary, Australian Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird...

, Buff-breasted Button-quail and Red Goshawk

Red Goshawk

The Red Goshawk is probably the rarest Australian bird of prey. It is found mainly in the savanna woodlands of northern Australia, particularly near watercourses...

. Notable mammals include Northern Bettong

Northern Bettong

The Northern Bettong is a small potoroid marsupial which is restricted to some areas of mixed open Eucalyptus woodlands and Allocasuarina forests bordering rainforests in far northeastern Queensland, Australia....

, Yellow-bellied Glider

Yellow-bellied Glider

The Yellow-bellied Glider is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in a narrow range of native eucalypt forests down eastern Australia, reaching from northern Queensland to Victoria.-Habitat:...

, Spotted-tailed Quoll and Spectacled Flying-fox

Spectacled Flying-fox

The Spectacled Flying Fox , is a megabat also known as the Spectacled Fruit Bat, lives in Australia's north-eastern west regions of Queensland...

.

Ecosystems

Ecosystems include a variety of rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 types, wet sclerophyll

Sclerophyll

Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....

 forests, mixed eucalypt

Eucalypt

Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...

 woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

s, melaleuca

Melaleuca

Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...

 gallery forest

Gallery forest

Gallery forests are evergreen forests that form as corridors along rivers or wetlands and project into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands or deserts....

, and lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s on alluvial plain

Alluvial plain

An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms...

s. Brooklyn also contains a relict

Relict

A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....

 population of Bunya Pine.

External links

• Australian Wildlife Conservancy