This newsletter edition features:
This newsletter edition features:
This newsletter edition features:
The annual field trip of the Friends of Mound Springs was conducted from 16 to 22 May 2010. Unfortunately, Colin Harris was a late scratching from the trip because of family reasons, leaving the following as the touring party:
The main tasks for the group were:
With the extensive recent rains, the group found the country to be in very good heart. Logistically, this had its pros and cons, as indicated below.
Several members of the group converged on Roxby Downs: John and Leigh via Coober Pedy, Brendan and Elizabeth via Bon Bon Station and Elaine, Bill and Simon from Adelaide. With rain falling, they were confronted by a “road closed” sign on the Borefield Road and so had little option other than to bunker down in the Roxby Downs Hotel / Motel for the night.
In the meantime, Anne, Bjarne and Michael were travelling up via the Flinders Ranges, with a view to meeting the group at Coward Springs on Monday.
A fine morning in Roxby Downs but as the group coffeed in the sun at the Dunes Café the report came through that the Borefield Road would remain closed until at least Tuesday 18th. The group made good use of the spare afternoon with a trip to Andamooka and then camped on Lake Mary (between Roxby Downs and Woomera) for the night.
Meanwhile, Anne, Bjarne and Michael made it through to Coward Springs Campground (via Marree) and waited patiently for everyone else to catch up. Bruce and Sherrie commenced their trip from Adelaide, overnighting at Mambray Creek.
Good news at last for the Roxby contingent – the Borefield Road opened for 4wd traffic. This group and the Jensen group rendezvoused at Coward Springs for lunch, before heading for William Creek – the Jensens travelling gingerly with their conventional A-van in tow. At William Creek we were pleased to be caught up with by Bruce and Sherrie and progressed on to the Peake Public Access Route (PAR), with the Jensen van bringing up the rear. At the entrance to the PAR, there was just enough daylight left for the installation of the PAR sign provided by DWLBC – a good example of “many hands make light work”. Then on in the darkness to the camp-site near the Peake Repeater Station ruins. Anne and Bjarne (BJ) finally emerged through the range, with BJ muttering “never again!” in terms of bringing the A-van into this terrain.
A fine and enjoyable day with the signs being installed and the trail interpretive work being completed by a late lunch-time. A free afternoon for all with one group looking more closely around the ruins etc, while a second group went for a hike over to Peake Creek: lots of free-standing water and lots of interesting vegetation. A second night spent at the Peake.
A slight split in the party as Brendan and Elizabeth head north towards Dalhousie and the rest head south towards the Peake homestead. BJ and Michael decide to head straight down the Oodnadatta Track with the van and to wait for the group at William Creek.
At Peake homestead the group is greeted hospitably by Karen Durbidge, with the news that a “big rain” is moving in as from Friday afternoon. This instils a little urgency into the group and we head out to inspect Outside, Twelve Mile and the Fountain springs – for some discussion with Anne about springs management and for Bruce to do some maintenance work on the bayonet gates. Later, after a quick search for Bruce’s wallet on the Douglas, the group arrives at William Creek in late afternoon and, re-united with BJ and Michael, heads down to Strangways Springs to camp for the night. That night we are somewhat reassured by news on the satellite phone from our weather guru Colin that rain is not expected the following day.
Another fine day dawns. The group’s first job is to relocate a sign at the Hemichroa enclosure (as requested by Greg Campbell of S Kidman & Co) and most of the group is happy to supervise the efforts of Bruce and BJ with crowbar and shovel. Then it is on to the proposed interpretive trail with Anne providing expert comment on points of natural history interest. After a late lunch at the campsite we make our farewells as the formal part of the FOMS trip comes to an end.
Bruce and Sherrie, John and Leigh and the Jensen clan head to Marree and beyond, while Elaine, Bill and Simon venture back towards Roxby Downs to retrieve their vehicles.
In summary, a great trip with a very compatible group of people pitching in and adapting well to the difficulties imposed upon us by higher influences. Many thanks to all concerned – we got the jobs done and had a great time.
This newsletter edition features:
At the 2009 South Australian Friends of Parks Forum held recently FOMS was presented with one of three prestigious awards from the Department for Environment and Heritage.
The award presented to FOMS, for outstanding achievement by a Friends group, was in recognition of the on-ground conservation and interpretation work that FOMS has been carrying out at the Peake Overland Telegraph Repeater Station near Oodnadatta in the Far North of the State. When FOMS first visited the site in 2007 it was concerned about the impact of an ever-increasing number of visitors on what is a nationally significant heritage site, the Peake being listed on both the South Australian and Australian heritage registers.
In 2008 FOMS commenced on-ground conservation works aimed at more effectively managing visitor impacts at the site, whilst at the same time explaining more effectively to visitors why the site is nationally significant. The work continued this year and the erection of two kilometres of fencing in the next few weeks will mark completion of the physical protection works. Subject to funding, self-guided walking tracks will be marked next year and interpretative information provided to identify and explain features of interest along the walks.
A feature of the work has been that it involves a broadly based partnership between FOMS, the Heritage Branch of DEH, S Kidman & Co as pastoral lessees of the land, the Pastoral Programme of the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation and the Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. It is believed that the strength of this partnership was one of the key factors in the decision to present FOMS with this award, the citation accompanying the award noting:
The most productive aspect of the project has been the partnership model. Without engaging partners from within and outside of government it would have been impossible for the Friends to undertake the work. At the same time, without the Friends undertaking its role of consulting with key parties, encouraging involvement and developing a programme of works acceptable to all interests, the work would not have been undertaken and the nationally significant heritage values of the site would have been further compromised.
The award was presented to FOMS President Colin Harris by the Hon Jay Weatherill, South Australian Minister of Environment and Conservation, at the Forum Dinner on 31 October 2009. It is intended that $1250 accompanying the award will be used for further work at the Peake and also at Strangways Springs Overland Telegraph Repeater Station.
It is pleasing that FOMS has gained this recognition only a few years after its formation and we look forward to developing further work programmes that contribute to the better management of the mound springs of our Far North.
The two other recipients of DEH awards were Friends of Scott Creek Conservation Park and Friends of Parks KI, Western Districts.
This newsletter edition features:
Arabana people talk with awe of two springs near Mt Margaret, one bright green, the other red like blood. The red spring is associated with a deadly curse that belongs to the Fish and Crane history and nothing will grow around it.
Nearby are said to be rocks that look like girls, a locality known as Thita-puntakanha, ‘Bushes Broken’. The crane had become so distracted by his obscenities with his daughters in law that he let go of the bushes with which they were sweeping the water for the two giant Yellow-bellies and the fish escaped. As a result of this a curse is uttered which belongs to the Mangkapilji spring: it makes people swell up and die.
Some say that the curse can be turned back by means of the right incantations, but no Arabana person will go anywhere near the Mangkapilji spring. They say the water is undrinkable in any case.
[From Heritage of the Mound Springs: the Assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance. Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton in association with Kinhill Stearns, South Australian Department of Environment & Planning, 1986. See also FOMS Newsletter No. 4 August 2007 for additional information on the Fish and Crane history]
This newsletter edition features:
“There are many springs around Strangways, most of them close to the old Telegraph Station but some on the other (northeast) side of the old main Marree–Oodnadatta road, easily visible as the road approaches the Warriner Creek or Warditji Karla. Some of the mound springs are extinct and a few still active, but they all form part of the one mythological site Panki Warrunha ‘White Ribs.’
The myth to which this site refers is that of the two ancestral Snakes, Kukari the green snake and Yurkunangku the Red-Bellied Black Snake. They have traveled from far away …and they have had many adventures…. They are now travelling south from Toogamoona Creek Thungka-marna, having their mouths full of solanum berries. They camp overnight at Strangways and waking in the morning they say “ mathapurda ngunanayi arimpa pangki warru-thirnda-ki, warritharu yukarndinaru”
“Eh, old fellow, my friend, our ribs have turned white! It’s because we have traveled such a long way!”
The many mound springs around Strangways, both active and extinct, do in fact have bands of white silcrete that look like the ribs of snakes.
Quoted from SA Dept of Environment & Planning (1986) Heritage of the Mound Springs: The assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in South Australia prepared by Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton.
