H5 highly pathogenic bird flu confirmed in Australia for first time, brown skua near Esperance WA, last continent reached
Australia was the last continent free of the H5 strain of bird flu. That ended on June 20, when CSIRO confirmed the first mainland detection: a brown skua, a migratory seabird, found sick near Esperance in Western Australia and later dead. No poultry or livestock cases reported y
Australia has lost its status as the last continent free of the H5 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza. On June 20, 2026, the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness confirmed the country's first mainland detection. The case was a single brown skua, a migratory seabird found sick at Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance in southern Western Australia on June 14. The bird later died. A second migratory bird, a giant petrel discovered exhausted in the same area, was undergoing confirmatory testing at the time of the announcement. For years Australia stood apart while this H5 lineage spread through wild bird populations on every other continent. Its geographic isolation and the timing of migratory flyways had kept the virus out. The arrival of infected migratory seabirds indicates that buffer has now closed. At the time of confirmation, authorities reported no detections in commercial poultry or domestic livestock tied to this strain. The immediate finding is in wild birds, not farmed flocks. Australia's poultry sector and its wildlife agencies are the groups now watching most closely, given the damage the virus has caused to seabird colonies and marine mammals elsewhere. The detection puts Australia's biosecurity and wildlife monitoring to the test for the first time against a pathogen that has reshaped wild bird populations across the rest of the world. Reporting is based on the CSIRO confirmation and coverage from The Conversation and Australian agriculture authorities.