Strathburn Station

Strathburn Station is a savanna fire management project located on the Cape York Peninsula, approximately 129km north-west of the Musgrave Roadhouse and 506km north-west of Mareeba in Tropical North Queensland. It was registered in December 2014 and covers an expansive 246,564.30 hectares.

Savanna fire management projects involve the strategic and planned burning of savanna areas during the early dry season. This practice aims to reduce the fuel load in the landscape, which lowers the risk, extent, and intensity of late dry season wildfires, ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving carbon stored in biomass. Projects under this methodology typically utilize standard modelling tools, such as SavBAT, to calculate emission abatements against a historical 10-year fire baseline.

The remote Cape York region is highly biodiverse but is widely utilized for grazing, with vast properties operating as large pastoral cattle leases. The project area is classified as high rainfall savanna, experiencing heavy monsoonal wet seasons that fill extensive wetlands and river systems (such as the Holroyd River), followed by harsh, hot dry seasons. The surrounding environment features flat sandy soils, dry scrub, termite mounds, and endless native eucalyptus trees.

In July 2026, this project made history when the pastoral leaseholder, Rory Robertson, signed a landmark 25-year agreement to share 50% of the project's carbon credit profits with the Wik and Way Traditional Owners. This 50/50 split of the clean energy scheme's revenue is celebrated as the first agreement of its kind voluntarily offered by a pastoralist in Australia, combining traditional First Nations cultural burning knowledge with regional economic empowerment.