Gawler is an interim Australian bioregion located in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It has an area of . Gawler bioregion is part of the

Tirari–Sturt stony desert The Tirari–Sturt stony desert is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in central Australia. Location and description The Tirari–Sturt stony desert ecoregion contains the gibber plains (desert pavement) and red sands of the large S ...

ecoregion.

Geography

The landscape consists of rolling terrain, rocky hills, plains, and salt-encrusted lake beds.Bastin, G and the ACRIS Management Committee, 2008. ''Rangelands 2008 — Taking the Pulse'', published on behalf of the ACRIS Management Committee by the National Land & Water Resources Audit, Canberra. Ephemeral salt lakes, including

Lake Torrens Lake Torrens (Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf. Isl ...

Lake Gairdner Lake Gairdner is a large endorheic salt lake in the Australian state of South Australia, to the north of the Eyre Peninsula. When in flood, the lake is considered the third largest salt lake in Australia. Description Lake Gairdner is located a ...

, Lake Macfarlane, Lake Everard,

Lake Gilles A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, Lake Harris, and

Lake Acraman A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...

, cover extensive areas. The

Gawler Ranges The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba, South Australia, Kimba and Wudinna ...

lie in the southwestern portion of the bioregion. The

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...

bound the bioregion to the east. In the southeast the bioregion extends to the

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...

Climate

The Gawler bioregion has an arid climate. Rainfall is predominantly in the winter, with a spatially-averaged median of 169 mm annually (1890–2005). Rainfall is higher along the southern edge of the bioregion where it transitions to the

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

Eyre Yorke Block The Eyre Yorke Block, also known as the Eyre and Yorke mallee, is an interim Australian (IBRA) bioregion and a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion covering part of the Eyre Peninsula and all of Yorke Peninsula as well as land to its immediate east in ...

Flora and fauna

The main plant communities are spinifex grasslands, open woodlands, and

chenopod Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

shrublands.

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

plants of the Gawler Ranges include '' Acacia toondulya'', Gawler Ranges greenhood ('' Pterostylis ovata''), Gawler Ranges hop-bush (''

Dodonaea intricata ''Dodonaea'' is a genus of about 70 species of flowering plants, often known as hop-bushes, in the Sapindus, soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Amer ...

''), and Gawler Ranges grevillea ('' Grevillea parallelinervis''). The Lake Acraman button-daisy ('' Leptorhynchos melanocarpus'') is endemic to gypseous soils of the lake flats.
South Australian Arid Lands Biodiversity Strategy - Gawler Conservation Priorities
'. South Australian Arid Lands NRM Board, Department for Environment and Heritage, Government of South Australia. Accessed 11 May 2022. Native mammals include

red kangaroo The red kangaroo (''Osphranter rufus'') is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia, and the largest extant marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, except for the more fertile areas, such as sou ...

(''Osphranter rufus'') and

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, is ...

(''Macropus fuliginosus''). Threatened species include the

yellow-footed rock-wallaby The yellow-footed rock-wallaby (''Petrogale xanthopus''), formerly known as the ring-tailed rock-wallaby, is a member of the macropod family (the marsupial family that includes the kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, and wallaroos). Descripti ...

(''Petrogale xantropus xanthropus'') in the Gawler Ranges and the

plains rat The plains rat ''(Pseudomys australis)'', also known as the palyoora, plains mouse and eastern mouse, is a conilurine rodent native to arid and semi-arid Australia. Referred to as the ''pallyoora'' or ''yarlie'' by Indigenous groups, the plains ...

(''Pseudomys australis'') in the stony plains. Threatened birds native to the bioregion include the

western grasswren The western grasswren (''Amytornis textilis''), also referred to as the thick-billed grasswren (western subspecies) and, formerly, as the textile wren, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. It was formerly lum ...

(''Amytornis textilis myall'') in the stony plains and chenopod shrublands of the Gawler ranges, the western

slender-billed thornbill The slender-billed thornbill (''Acanthiza iredalei'') is a small bird native to Australia. It includes three sub-species: * ''A. i. hedleyi'' * ''A. i. iredalei'' * ''A. i. rosinae'' This thornbill can be found in shrublands and salt marshes, ...

(''Acanthiza iredalei iredalei'') in chenopod shrublands, and

malleefowl The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...

(''Leipoa ocellata'') in

mallee woodlands and shrublands Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is one of 32 Major Vegetation Groups defined by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. Description " Mallee" refers to the growth habit of a group of (mainly) eucalypt species that g ...

. The Pernatty knob-tailed gecko (''

Nephrurus deleani ''Nephrurus deleani'', also known commonly as the acacia knob-tailed gecko, the Pernatty knob-tail, and the Pernatty knob-tailed gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Carphodactylidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Etymology The ...

'') is endemic to the bioregion.Fenner, A., Hutchinson, M., McDonald, P. & Robertson, P. 2018. ''Nephrurus deleani. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018'': e.T14608A83321848. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T14608A83321848.en. Accessed on 11 May 2022. The Lake Eyre dragon ('' Ctenophorus maculosus'') is a lizard which inhabits the salt flats of Lake Torrens, where it lives in cracks in the salt crust. The ephemeral lakes are important breeding grounds for water birds, including

silver gull The silver gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae'') is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus''), which ...

(''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae''),

Australian pelican The Australian pelican (''Pelecanus conspicillatus'') is a large waterbird in the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant in New Zealand. It ...

(''Pelecanus conspicillatus''),

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...

(''Cygnus atratus''),

Caspian tern The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

(''Hydroprogne caspia''),

red-necked avocet The red-necked avocet (''Recurvirostra novaehollandiae'') also known as the Australian avocet, cobbler, cobbler's awl, and painted lady, is a wader of the family Recurvirostridae that is endemic to Australia and is fairly common and widespread th ...

(''Recurvirostra novaehollandiae''),

red-capped plover The red-capped plover (''Charadrius ruficapillus''), also known as the red-capped dotterel, is a small species of plover. It breeds in Australia. This species is closely related to (and sometimes considered conspecific with) the Kentish plover, ...

(''Charadrius ruficapillus''), and

banded stilt The banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'') is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Cladorhynchus''. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band fo ...

(''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'').

Land use

Most of the bioregion, except for the salt lake beds, is used for livestock grazing, mainly sheep with some cattle. The main towns are

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

Roxby Downs Roxby Downs may refer to. * Roxby Downs, South Australia, a town and a locality * Roxby Council, formerly Municipal Council of Roxby Downs, a local government area See also *Roxby Downs Station Roxby Downs Station was a pastoral lease in centra ...

, and Woomera. Mining of copper, uranium, and gold at

Olympic Dam mine The Olympic Dam mine is a large poly-metallic underground mine located in South Australia, NNW of Adelaide. It is the fourth largest copper deposit and the largest known single deposit of uranium in the world. Copper is the largest contributor ...

is a major source of revenue for the local economy. Iron ore is mined around

Iron Knob Iron Knob is a town in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. At the 2006 census, Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of 199. The town obtained its name from its prox ...

Subregions

Gawler bioregion consists of eight subregions: * Myall Plains (GAW01) – * Gawler Volcanics (GAW02) – * Gawler Lakes (GAW0) – * Arcoona Plateau (GAW04) – * Kingoonya (GAW05) – * Torrens (GAW06) – * Roxby (GAW07) – * Commonwealth Hill (GAW08) –

Protected areas

Protected areas in the bioregion include

Lake Torrens National Park Lake Torrens National Park is a protected area located in South Australia about north of the Adelaide city centre. Material published by the national park's manager reports that: The stark wilderness and the salt lake that stretches 250km in ...

Lake Gairdner National Park Lake Gairdner National Park is a protected area associated with Lake Gairdner in South Australia (Australia), 436 km northwest of Adelaide. It is located just south of the Trans-Australian Railway, Stuart Highway, and the Woomera Prohibite ...

, the northern portion of

Gawler Ranges National Park Gawler Ranges National Park is a protected area lying north-west of Adelaide in the northern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is known for its spectacular rock formations. History The national park originated as the Paney Station pas ...

Lake Gilles Conservation Park __NOTOC__ Lake Gilles Conservation Park (formerly Lake Gilles National Park) is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the north of the Eyre Peninsula about east of Kimba in the gazetted locality of Lake Gilles ...

Witchelina Nature Reserve Witchelina Nature Reserve, in South Australia, is situated on a former pastoral lease known as Witchelina that had operated as both a sheep station and cattle station, before being converted into a nature reserve by the Nature Foundation. Th ...

Whyalla Conservation Park Whyalla Conservation Park (formerly Whyalla National Park) is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia about north of the centre of city of Whyalla immediately adjoining the Lincoln Highway. The conservation park wa ...

, the northeastern tip of

Yellabinna Regional Reserve The Yellabinna Regional Reserve is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located about north of Ceduna. To the west it borders Nullarbor Regional Reserve, to the south Yumbarra Conservation Park and Pureba Conservati ...

, and the Arid Recovery Reserve.

References

{{coord missing, South Australia Biogeography of South Australia IBRA regions Deserts and xeric shrublands Deserts of South Australia