Wallis Island Nature Reserve was originally reserved in 1983 covering 133 hectares. There have since been two additions to the reserve, one in December 1997 of 340 hectares and the other in December 2005 of 111 hectares. A large proportion of Wallis Island is reserved, although there are sections of privately owned land in the north-east and south. The private land in the island’s north includes an airstrip which is occasionally used by small aircraft. There are also some parcels of Crown land remaining in the north-east of Wallis Island, which are interspersed between private lands.
The whole of Regatta, Mills, Yahoo, Bandicoot, Flat and Durands islands are reserved as nature reserves. Coolongolook Nature Reserve is the only reserve within this group that is not an island. It borders the southern side of the Coolongolook River at its junction with the Wang Wauk River. It also borders privately owned land to the south and east and is close to Bachelor State Forest.
The reserves are located in the administrative areas of the Forster Local Aboriginal Land Council, Hunter Local Land Services and MidCoast Council.
