A big mission for Moora

Literally, the next big thing.

The Central Wheatbelt town is planning for the construction of a 10.7 metre high Carnaby's Black Cockatoo sculpture.

The sculpture project is being driven by the Kerkhoff Carnaby Group (KCG) and Moore Catchment Council (MCC), and is supported by the Shire of Moora.

KCG secretary Topsy de Vries said it was hoped the giant birds would make Moora a "can't be missed" destination and put the town on the 'Australian big things' list.

"Moora will become known as the town of the big Carnaby's sculpture," Ms de Vries said.

"We hope it will increase the overall number of tourists visiting the town and wider region and extend our tourism season to 12 months, rather than the traditional peak in winter and early spring when the wildflowers are in bloom."

Ms de Vries said this, in turn, would help to boost economic growth for existing businesses attached to tourism and create opportunities for other local businesses and ventures.

She said this included indigenous community groups that may benefit economically or through cultural sharing projects.

Moora is an important place for Carnaby's Black Cockatoo ecological conservation in WA.

Carnaby's Black Cockatoos are endemic to the south west of the State and are an Aboriginal Noongar Totem bird, but they are rapidly in decline and classed as endangered by the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Total population estimates are now at less than 60,000 birds.

The western Moore River Catchment and West Midlands area has seven of the 23 designated Important Bird Areas (IBAs) that support Carnaby's Black Cockatoos.

The birds flock to the area to breed in hollows of old Eucalypt trees from July to January, however past and continuing clearing of Carnaby's breeding and forage habitat is threatening their future survival.

MCC landcare officer Rachel Walmsley said Carnaby's Black Cockatoo used to blacken the skies, but numbers around Moora were decimated - with about 12 pairs left breeding in the early 1980s.

"But a local Moora volunteer, Wally Kerkhoff, started building artificial log nests in the 1980s, which increased the breeding from 12 pairs to nearly 100 pairs now," Ms Walmsley said.

"Wally's work has contributed to at least 880 extra Carnabys to Moora."

MCC has been supporting Wally and the KCG by carrying out extensive and effective Carnaby conservation projects since 2012.

Various funding programs through Iluka and State Natural Resource Management (NRM) projects are helping the council to raise the Carnaby's population through increasing and protecting breeding and priority forage habitat, and installing and monitoring artificial breeding nests.

Community awareness is a key activity and has included Carnaby nest monitoring, videos on social media, new interpretative signage, new Carnaby's information booklets and countless information events.

These projects have also engaged the local Yued Aboriginal community through information signage design and appointing a Working on Country Yued native seedling planting crew.

Ms de Vries said Moora could become an important eco-tourism destination, with visitors immersed in a "natural Wheatbelt" experience that included learning about the Carnaby's Black Cockatoo.

She said the town was well situated as the "gateway to WA's wildflower country" and many caravanners passed through from July to November.

"Moora is well placed on the sealed highway road network, with the Midlands Road linking to Geraldton and the Great Northern Highway to Perth and the north of WA," she said.

"Dandaragan Road leads to the Brand Highway and the Bindoon-Moora Road links to Perth."

Ms de Vries said the bulk of tourists travelling through Moora were from within WA and from the older generation.

She said there were opportunities to encourage these tourists to stay for longer periods and to attract a new generation of tourists interested in the natural environment.

Getting on the 'Australia's big things' list with the Carnaby's sculpture would be a big boon for the town, according to Ms de Vries.

"There are more than 150 big things on this list from around the country that act as tourist traps and drawcards," she said.

In WA, there is the big redback in Nannup, the big crocodile head in Broome, the big cricket bat in Narrikup, the big numbat in Williams, the giant ram in Wagin, the big wheelbarrow in Port Hedland, the big banana in Carnarvon, the big orange in Harvey, the big apple in Donnybrook, the big dog in Corrigin, the big marron in Denmark, the big Western Rock Lobster in Dongara and there are plans for a big tractor in Carnamah.

Moora has raised the money needed to construct the big Carnaby's Cockatoo sculpture and aims to have it built by the end of 2024.