Born Curious, Bound to the Desert

From the time I was a child, I’ve been captivated by wildlife. I remember telling my mum that one day, I’d move to Alaska and live with ten dingoes. I was always creating my own little projects about animals, filling scrapbooks with drawings, facts and stories. That early curiosity never left me, and while I haven’t made it to Alaska just yet, my life has taken me deep into the heart of one of Australia’s remote landscapes, where I’ve dedicated myself to understanding and protecting one of our most misunderstood native species.

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My background includes a decade of work in agriculture, including time on the second-largest sheep station in Australia, Commonwealth Hill Station. I’ve also volunteered at Ballarat Wildlife Park and rescued countless native animals, especially birds injured by roadside impacts, in collaboration with local wildlife carers. My connection to wildlife has always run deep. It was in 2017, after a chance encounter with two wild dingoes while walking my dogs, that a lifelong fascination became a focused mission.

 

In 2020, I received my first trail camera as a gift and began camera trapping for dingoes. What started as a weekend passion quickly grew. I soon had a growing network of cameras, hiking over 20 km every weekend to check them. In 2023, I formally established Big Desert Dingo Research, an independent research initiative committed to documenting, understanding and advocating for wild dingo populations in the Big Desert region and beyond.

 

Today, I collaborate with Deakin University and manage over 60 trail cameras across more than 20 remote sites in the Big Desert and Wyperfeld complex. I’ve worked with DEECA to collect scat swab samples for genetic and population research for CESAR, and contributed tissue samples to Dr Kylie Cairns for DNA testing from both the Big Desert and Mitta Mitta Valley regions.

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In 2024, I had the privilege of scouting filming locations for Dr Daniel Hunter, a globally respected wildlife cinematographer and ecologist. Commissioned by Dingo Coexistence, our collaboration featured on ABC’s 7.30 Report.

 

I was honoured to receive the 2025 Macintosh Research Grant from the Australian Dingo Foundation in recognition of my ongoing fieldwork. I continue to advocate fiercely for dingo protection, including in Ngarkat Conservation Park, where the Big Desert population is still subject to 1080 baiting four times a year.

 

Despite the Victorian Government’s announcement in March 2024 to protect the Big Desert dingo population, I know the work is far from over.

 

My commitment is to continue shining a light on the truth about dingoes through research, fieldwork, and public advocacy, until every wild dingo population in Australia is valued, protected and allowed to thrive.

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— Leesh
Founder, Big Desert Dingo Research