Deer are one of Australia's fastest-growing invasive species threats, and the Gariwerd-Grampians region, one of the state's most celebrated national parks, is now on the frontline. Sambar deer, the largest and most ecologically damaging species, have been confirmed for the first time in southern Gariwerd and the Black Range near Stawell. Budja Budja (Halls Gap) and the surrounding national park already host the largest known population of Red Deer in western Victoria, while Fallow Deer are broadly established across the Upper Wimmera and Glenelg catchments. The window to act is now, before these populations become entrenched and far harder to control.

Nationally, Gariwerd is one of only a handful of places named as an Australian National Heritage site at risk from deer, with threatened plant species found nowhere else, including the Grampians Pincushion-Lily, the Grampians Globe-Pea and the Pomonal Leek-Orchid, under direct threat from deer browsing (National Feral Deer Action Plan 2023–28). Every year of delay compounds the eventual cost, and narrows our chance to act before these populations are entrenched for good.

Deer populations don't stay put, they disperse outward from established ranges over time, and modelling shows this spread is contiguous across state borders, including between Victoria and South Australia (Frontier Economics, 2022). Gariwerd sits in the path between well-established deer populations to the east and largely deer-free country to the west, making it a critical pinch-point for stopping further westward spread before it happens.

Deer cause harm on every front. They compete with livestock for pasture, damage crops and vineyards, strip bark and browse seedlings in forestry plantations, and are a growing cause of vehicle collisions on regional roads. Environmentally, they trample and graze native vegetation, ringbark trees, spread weeds through their fur and droppings, and churn wetlands and waterways into wallows. Sambar deer in particular are recognised under Victoria's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act as a threat to native plant communities (National Feral Deer Action Plan 2023–28). They damage Aboriginal cultural heritage sites, including scar trees and other living landscapes, and reduce the value of parks for hikers, campers and other visitors as tracks erode and wildlife encounters increase (National Feral Deer Action Plan 2023–28).

Hosted by Project Platypus Landcare Network, this 14-month trial will fund a dedicated part-time Deer Control Coordinator to align deer management effort across public and private land throughout the Gariwerd-Grampians Containment Buffer Zone. The Coordinator will bring together farmers, landholders, Landcare groups, covenant holders and government agencies to plan, sequence and sustain coordinated deer control at a landscape scale, helping communities start and maintain their own local control programs.

The trial is monitoring-first. Its primary job is to build a shared, cross-tenure picture of where deer are, what they are doing, and how landholders can respond. Landholder-initiated control is a supplementary element.

The trial is not a government culling program, not a change to law or policy, and not a restriction on lawful hunting. It works alongside, not in place of, the control activities already being carried out by Parks Victoria, DEECA and lawful private and commercial operators.

• Establish a surveillance network across key deer movement corridors, waterways and biolinks entering the Gariwerd-Grampians Containment Buffer Zone;
• Help farmers, landholders and community groups start and sustain their own coordinated deer control programs across the zone;
• Protect EPBC-listed threatened species, Aboriginal cultural heritage sites, remnant vegetation and catchment waterways from deer impacts;
• Deploy an AI-assisted camera network feeding a shared, near-real-time map for land managers; and,
• Trial and evaluate a community coordination model that can be replicated in other containment buffer zone communities nationally.

Fallow Deer (Dama dama)

Fallow Deer are the most widespread and established of the feral deer species in Australia, and are present across the eastern edges of our project area. Bucks stand up to 95cm and weigh 60–100kg; does are smaller, at 40–50kg.

Coat colour varies enormously — red, black, white, and the spotted 'menil' form all occur — with a distinctive heart-shaped pale rump patch outlined in black. Their flattened, palmate antlers are unmistakable and can reach around 50cm with numerous points. Fallow Deer are herd animals, favouring semi-open scrubland and pasture close to cover. They breed in April and May, with fawns born in December, and in rut the buck makes an unmistakable croak, quite different from the roar of a Red stag or the bell of a Sambar.

Sambar Deer (Cervus unicolor)

Sambar are the newest arrivals in the Gariwerd-Grampians landscape and, in national policy terms, the most concerning. They have recently been recorded in our area for the first time.

Sambar are Australia's largest feral deer. Stags reach 160 cm at the shoulder and 300kg; hinds up to 115cm and 230kg. They are dark brown with ginger and cream underparts and a light buff colour under the chin, with prominent bat-like ears with pale inners and coarse, stiff hair. Their antlers are lyre-shaped with three tines per side and can reach 75cm.

Sambar are largely solitary and semi-nocturnal, preferring to remain in dense cover during the day. They browse a wide range of vegetation and can breed year-round, with a peak in September and October. Under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, Sambar are listed as a Potentially Threatening Process for the reduction of native plant taxa and ecological communities, a reflection of the environmental damage they cause where they establish.

Over the coming months, the Coordinator will be visiting Landcare groups, agency partners, industry groups and community members across the project area. If you'd like to know more, host a visit, or register interest in participating in our monitoring initiatives, please get in touch with the team at Project Platypus.

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