Sleeper Track Swan Reach ‘ Currawong’

Introducing Section 13 – Sleeper Track Swan Reach  ‘ Currawong’

The 16:6 Heritage Trust is a collection of Heritage Agreements comprised of four parcels of land, all sharing one or more boundaries. These sections are within the Hundred of Ridley, to the South of the Sleeper Track, an area known as Black Hill.  

Image of Section 13 and the other sections - THIS IMAGE WILL BE REPLACED

While future Posts will provide a ‘Spotlight’ on sections 215, 249, 226 and 227, and even some of our neighbouring sections of land, this post is about Section 13, Currawong, 1301 Sleeper Track, which is associated with the 16:6 Heritage Trust.

Section 13 comprises around 185 acres and was the last to be purchased by the group that forms the 16:6 Heritage Trust in November 2021. One of the four trust Directors (owners/ shareholder families) bought it as an aligned Heritage Agreement that could sit outside the trust's intentionally conservative Constitution. The purchase was to provide a suitable location with a slight offset on which a shed and storage space could be developed to manage the greater 16:6 Heritage trust.

As a Heritage Agreement in its own right, the intention is to manage this land with the same intrinsic ideals of protection and enhancement as the 16:6 Heritage Agreement, through actively controlling exotic weed species and feral animals and reducing human impacts and incursions.

This land has an additional challenge that does not exist on any of the other Heritage Agreements: the need to make good an area that had previously been a site of abandoned structures, broken furniture, cannabis-growing paraphernalia, dumped building supplies, an old, decommissioned vehicle, and general human rubbish.

Image of the clean-up site

 

The Land - Currawong, Section 13, is located within a Heritage Agreement (HA 928)

Swan Reach Conservation Park is approximately 1.2 km to the east.

The property here is on an alluvial plane, within the Murray Mallee Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation of Australia (IBRA)  A subregion with shallow calcareous loam on calcrete soil. The vegetation is primarily Chenopod shrubland dominated by Maireana pentatropis (Erect Mallee Bluebush), Schlerolaena diacantha (Small-spine Bindyi), Maireana radiata (Radiate Bluebush), and Schlerolaena patenticuspis (Spear-fruit Bindyi) with Senna artemisioides ssp. filifolia (Fine-leaf Desert Senna) in moderate to good condition.  Adjacent to the more open area of Chenopod shrubland on two sides is Eucalyptus gracilis Mallee woodland.

Below is a list of some of the vegetation recorded on section 13.

Note that this table below is not a  complete list as we are still verifying other plants and need to add the smaller daisies and mini plants. Brett at Elura will be assisting us to verify the species and confirm additional species.  His property Ellura is Section 14, our eastern boundary as such he is best placed and well experienced to verify our vegetation.

 

Acacia nyssophylla	Spinebush
Acacia sclerophylla	Hard leaf wattle
Acacia hakeoides	Hakea Wattle
Austrostipa sp	Two different styper grasses
Austrodanthonia	Wallaby grass
Atriplex vesicaria	Bladder saltbush
Beyeria Sp	To be determined
Convolvulus remotus	Australian Bindweed
Callitris gracilis	Southern Cypress-pine
Cratystylis conocephala	Blue-bush Daisy
Chenopodium curvispicatum	Cottony Saltbush
Danthonia sp	Wallaby Grass
Dianella revoluta	Black- anther flax-lily
Dodonaea stenozyga	Desert Hopbush
Eremophila glabra	Tar bush - Glabra
Eremophila longifolia	Weeping emu bush
Eucalyptus dumosa	White Mallee
Eucalyptus gracilis	Yorrell
Eucalyptus Oleosa	Red Mallee
Eucalyptus socialis	Summer red Mallee
Exocarpos aphyllus	Leafless cherry (ballart)
Grevillea huegelii	Comb grevillea
Geijera linearfolia	Oil Bush – sheep bush
Halgania andromedifolia	Smooth Halgania
Lawrencia spicata	Thorny Lawrencia
Maireana brevifolia	Small leaved bluebush
Maireana eroiclada	Rosie Bluebush
Maireana rohrlachii	Rohrlach’s Bluebush
Maireana sedifolia	Pearl Bluebush
Maireana trichoptera	Mallee Bluebush
Melaleuca Lanceolata	Dry land tea-tree
Minuria leptophylla	Minniue Daisy
Myoporum platycarpum	Sugar wood – false Sandalwood
Oleria muelleri	Mueller Daisy-bush
Oleria brachyphylla	Short leaf daisy
Pittosporum Phylliraeoides	Native Apricot
Podolepis rugata sp	Pleated Copper-wire Daisy
Ropera aurantiacum	Shrubby twinleaf
Ropera glaucum	Pale twinleaf( wide leaf)
Scaevola spinescens	Spiney Fan flower
Sclerolaena diacantha	Grey Bindyi
Senna artemisioides	Desert Senna (cassia) Broad-leaf
Sclerolaena patenticuspis	Spear-fruit Bindyi
Sclerolaena uniflora	Small-spine Bindyi
Vittadinia gracilis	Woolly New holland daisy
Westringia rigida	Stiff Western rosemary
Wahlenbergia gracilenta	Annual Bluebell

 

Why did we need another property?

 

The 16:6 Heritage Trust existed under a Heritage Agreement, the restrictions and provisions of the National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Native Vegetation Act, and an established constitution (Created at the time of forming the trust) that limited all actions on the property.

This was done so that family members or shareholders would not be tempted to create additional tracks, build permanent infrastructure, or change the land use in the future.

Its aim was to provide the highest level of protection over the land possible and in perpetuity. However, the downside was that these caveats and controls limited us to camping at the campsite on section 249, a small site on a natural clay pan that was reasonable in dry weather but flooded in the wet. It also meant that prolonged work or larger projects required the movement of materials from Adelaide to the camp set up each visit.

 

 The campsite Section 249 2021

We had an off-road vehicle outside in the elements at a nearby property and fencing materials at a friend’s house, which resulted in many additional small trips.

We had supplies such as posts and equipment everywhere, strategically, where we thought we would use them.

Water—an essential for most work and for weed spray use—was required, which resulted in a trailer and one to two vehicles per visit. This was not only costly but also inconvenient. Like any property being actively managed, each trip resulted in more and more equipment left under tarpaulins on site.

After a hot summer, many restless nights camping in a roof-top tent, getting rained in, and the inconvenience of carting water and fuel, we decided to look for some land nearby, where we could establish a shed and base camp to store our equipment securely.

 

Image of carrying water

 

After looking and liaising with neighbours and land agents, we purchased Section 13, 1301 Sleeper Track, in November 2021. This land had already been established as a Heritage Agreement.

It was well-positioned relative to the other sections. Its key asset was approval for a small offset ( exclusion area) of land to establish a shed and rainwater tanks.

 

 

Section 13 site for the shed January  2022

  

We sought approval to build a shed and associated infrastructure on a delineated set aside in an area of ‘HARD’; calcrete.

This area was chosen because it was raised away from active wombat warrens. Truthfully, it was a complex area to build due to the impenetrable limestone sheet present. Yet, due to the substrate, it was unlikely that the wombats would ever seek it.

In addition, it was a naturally cleared and elevated area, with no tracks to clear or trees to establish.

We were warned that it would be windy, as neighbours generally nestled in the trees for shelter. We did need professional equipment and a jackhammer to commence the building, as the land was so rocky. Yet, on reflection, it is in a good position to meet our requirements.

By February 2022, we had started to build the offset shed and planned to spend a few days every second week establishing this compound, with the alternate week spent working close by on one of the sections that comprised 16:6.

Image of the shed starting to be built in February 2022

 

By May 2023, we had the shed and compound completed as well as rainwater tanks on site before the wet season (that is an oxymoron)

Since then, we have been equally working to manage all sections in relation to weed control, feral animal management, mapping native species, remote cameras, etc., and fitting out the shed to ensure that it is a comfortable dwelling for our stays and a secure site to store the vehicle and equipment.

The shed is self-sustainable, with solar panels, rainwater catchment, and grey water storage. All waste is removed and disposed of when back in town. It is built primarily from recycled materials, hard rubbish, and surplus building supplies from other people’s projects (thanks, Market Place and Gumtree). However, this has resulted in a comfortable and secure site and an enhanced situation to manage 16:6 better.

 

Image of the shed and tanks – May  2023

Section 13 is a lovely allotment of land. While we purchased it as a site to manage what we initially considered the real Heritage Agreement, thinking it was more impacted by poor primary production practices, more infested by intrusive weeds and less diverse, it has proven us incorrect. It is the perfect example of ‘Not Judging a book by its cover.

Indeed, it has far more evidence of land clearance, human impacts, and weeds than the other sections; it also has some unique species not present in the 16:6 Heritage Agreement.

This section of land is home to the Southern White Face, the Southern Hairy Nose Wombat, Maireana rohrlachii, and more microbat species than recorded across all of our other sections of land.

What is exciting is that this section also has several dedicated neighbours who are well ahead of us in the desire to document species present and manage the many threats that face this land side for future generations.

 Inside this shed workspace, far more conducive to the hours of data entry

Watch this space and the following update on Section 13 as we continue to deliver against our 2023-2025 Grant funding.

1-     The engagement of irongrass and their work and reporting - weed control

2-     Monitoring the two exclusion zones

3-     The photo points (we have established )

4-     Revegetation of local area species ( behind timeline due to the unseasonably dry year)

Other on-site actions that will be reported on include:

5-     The management of feral animals, primarily, Fox Baiting, and cameras to monitor Goat and Cat numbers

6-     The mapping, photographs, wildlife cameras and data review for entry onto the state records ( BDBSA) and iNaturalist.

7-     Rehabilitation and revegetation of the original 1990s offset and structures.

8-     And the mapping of the rare species Maireana rohrlachii, Rohrlach’s bluebush

 The following post (May 2025 ) will be placing a spotlight on the adjoining allotment of land. Section 14 Sleeper Track 'Ellura Sanctuary" 

A beautiful place, Ellura Sanctuary - Brett and Marie Smith