Fairlight Station

Fairlight Station is a Savanna Fire Management project located at Cape York Peninsula near Yarraden, approximately 70km west of Laura and 320km north of Mareeba in Queensland. It was registered in September 2014 and covers an area of 104,975.96 hectares.

Savanna fire management projects involve the strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. This practice actively reduces the fuel load and minimizes the risk and severity of late dry season wildfires, thereby avoiding overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The surrounding Cape York Peninsula region is primarily used for large-scale cattle breeding and grazing operations. The property itself sits within a high rainfall zone. The landscape features a mix of river and creek flats, undulating ridges, and hilly broken areas that are heavily timbered with ironbark, bloodwood, gum, box, messmate, and tea tree. Soils across the project area are varied, ranging from loam on the river flats to yellow clay and red-brown ridge soils, with some sandy soils extending to the northern sections.

An interesting note about this project is that the station features a 35-kilometer frontage to the permanent Palmer River, supported by natural springs and flowing creeks. The historic cattle station, which had been under single-family ownership for over a century, changed hands in early 2024 to a prominent North Queensland grazing family after initially passing in at auction for $7.25 million. The property is tied to a 25-year carbon agreement for its savanna burning activities. Furthermore, Clean Energy Regulator records indicate an Enforceable Undertaking was accepted from former project participant Country Carbon Pty Ltd in May 2020, before Terra Carbon Pty Limited took over as the sole proponent in 2022.