Overview
The attraction of a patch of scrub was a significant factor in the purchase of this property in 1983. Of the total 33 hectares, about one third was relatively untouched scrub, one third was grazing land with reasonable tree cover, and one third was improved pasture. We are now committed to preserving this land, and where possible, protecting the native flora (and fauna), and improving the quality of water leaving our property. Our resources to do this are not huge, but we are putting considerable effort into doing our best.
This first attempt at recording our progress is, of necessity, incomplete and does not always cite references and resources used. I want to get the main information recorded first, and then come back and upgrade this document to a properly structured thesis. Updates will be posted to the web regulary, and regular visits will find new information. As I organise my old photos and take current ones, these will be added. This first draft is mainly written from my memory of information and events (July 2002).
Locality
We are located to the East of Woodside in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Our locality is Harrogate, the centre of which is a small village, surrounded by a mixture of small land holdings (20-50 hectares) where small scale farming is sometimes practiced, up to larger, viable farming properties in the range of 200-750 hectares. Sheep and cattle grazing are predominant, but some dairies remain, and diverse activities occur on the smaller properties, including angora goats, viticulture, alpacas, etc. Many properties have no profitable primary production occurring. We are located about 45 minutes from the city centre of Adelaide, which has a population of about 900,000 people.
History
Prior to 1836, the Bremer Valley was occupied by the Peram Angk tribe of aboriginal people. The first white person to see the valley was Charles Sturt, who looked from the Murray River to Mt Barker. Explorers quickly came to find the fertile valley of the Bremer, and settled, cleared, cultivated and grazed, and began the decline that has occurred ever since. Land use was primarily dry land grazing on large holdings, but over the last thirty or so years, these have been increasingly broken up into smaller and smaller holdings.
Our land was once part of the 'famed' Warmington Run, a sprawling grazing property covering much of the upper Bremer. This was divided into smaller farms, many becoming dairying properties, and now much is in holdings of less than 100 hectares. Our land came to us via this path, the last subdivision occurring in 1983.
Topography and Soil
The Upper Bremer, or Harrogate District, is characterised by fairly steep and hilly land, with an abundance of rocks, mostly being sandstone, but some quartz bearing rock is evident. The rock is in tight reefs, and large areas are covered by surface boulders and rocks, down to stones the size of a tennis ball. Soils are generally loam over clay and skeletal soils. Farming activity quickly removes the nutients once you move away from the fertile river flats. Careful farm management is needed to maintain viable soil. Rainfall is in the range 400 - 650mm per year, and various eucalypts would have once dominated the area. The gum cover was largely cleared for mining operations and for agricultural purposes. Our own property and the immediate area is supposed to have been cleared to fuel the Charleston Milk factory furnaces. We have the remnants of saw blocks on the property.
Lynne Shandle, a Phd student undertaking further studies, carried out an environmental survey of our property in July 2000. Her
report can be read here.
Geology
Vegetation
As stated earlier, the property can be divided into three main 'zones'. There are sub-areas that I will survey and detail as many of the plants as possible. See the Scrub Preservation section.
I have an aerial photo from 1949 which shows a fairly dense canopy of tree cover. Some of this would be the mature, large gum trees that we still see today. There is about 10% of the soil visible and there are tracks which appear to be created by animals, probably cattle. There is cleared land around the original farm buildings, and almost certainly are the operating dairy farm that existed up until 1983.The next aerial photo is taken in 1962, and shows very little (less than 20%) tree cover remaining. This coincides with anecdotal evidence that there was extensive clearing at this time.
There are some exciting native plants in our scrub. There are several species of orchid, and we hope to be in a position to survey the species and list them here. We also have a fabulous Yakka bush. See the photo below. There are also native grasses and lots of different shrubby plants and groundcovers.
Pest Plants
Unfortunately we have a few. The worst from our perspective is Salvation Jane. When we purchased the property, there was a small patch, no more than an area of five square metres. One summer of sheep grazing saw the seeds spread over most of the property. This was probably our biggest mistake. We have managed to keep most of the scrub free by pulling the plants as the 'stems' started to appear, and with some spot spraying. We continue to patrol parts of the property to keep those sections Jane free, but some parts are not feasible to manage at present. We do patrol boundaries of infested areas to minimise spreading and pull plants found on our adjoining road reserves.
Gorse also exists, but is limited to an area of about a quarter acre. Again, we have a program of grubbing out small plants as they spread out from the main infestation.
There are a few worrying new pest plants we have found in the last year or so. The African Weed Orchid exists over a significant area of our property, and Dock can be found in a few pockets near watercourses. Both of these receive regular attention. There are also the common weed grasses, and we will try to cntrol these, too.
Fauna
We have a small colony of kangaroos on the property, and have seen a pair of echidnas on about four occasions over the last six years.
Water quality, Flows and Salinity
Native Scrub Preservation
Revegetation Sites
Redgum Swamp
This is the lowest part of our property, and collected lots of water in winter (typically, it was 50+mm deep in water, covering 0.4 hectares). Once the trees were planted, with the help of our local Landcare group and some Government money, the surface water has been reduced and we can mostly remain dry. (Click on the photo to see a larger image)
Roadside stony paddock
Below the Dam
The Dam precinct
Small spring-fed Dam precinct
When we first bought the property, this dam was never empty, but since planting around the inflow area, it regularly dries out in summer. (Click on the photo to see a larger image)
Potato paddock salt scour area
Potato paddock farm forestry trials
This section last updated on 15 August 2006
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