Fleays Fauna Reserve Gold Coast

Fleay's Fauna Reserve, Gold Coast as it was earlier known, was set up as a place of scientific research and education by Australian naturalist David Fleay in 1952. The place was set up in such a way that the animals could remain close to natural habitat and breed freely but could be studied at the same time.

Animals like Platypuses, snakes, dingoes, scrub turkeys, ospreys, crocodiles and alligators lived at the sanctuary in ‘benevolent captivity', on the other hand bandicoots, flying foxes, white-breasted sea eagles, wallabies and koalas were free to come and go as they wished. Visitors could walk amid the animals, such as the macropods, which were confined in large paddock-like areas with swing-weighted gates, a design introduced by Fleay at Healesville.

David and Sigrid Fleay in order to maintain the sanctuary sold 37 acres of the land to Queensland Government in 1982, which then became a Conservation Park. The following year the main park housing the animals was sold to the Government. The rest of the land was transferred to the Government in 1985. David continued to stay and carried on his research and kept animals, such as kangaroos, emus, cassowaries and his Galápagos tortoise, Harriet, largely in their original enclosures.

The park was closed on 1983 for renovation and was reopened in 1988. The Park was re-named David Fleay Wildlife Park in 1997, in tribute to its founder. However it is still popular as Fleay's Fauna Reserve. Today this park is one of the major tourist attractions of Gold Coast.