Gum Lagoon Conservation Park (formerly the Gum Lagoon National Park) is an 8765 ha

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

about 40 km south-west of

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

in the

Limestone Coast The Limestone Coast is a name used since the early twenty-first century for a South Australian government region located in the south east of South Australia which immediately adjoins the continental coastline and the Victorian border. The ...

region of

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 lies about 20 km inland from the southern end of the Coorong. It contains an isolated block of mallee woodland important for

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 ...

conservation.

History

Some 2700 ha formed the core of the reserve when it was originally proclaimed as Gum Lagoon National Park in August 1970. It became the Gum Lagoon Conservation Park in 1972 upon the proclamation of the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Protected areas of South Australia consists of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of March 2018, South Australia contains 359 sepa ...

''. It gradually expanded in area through subsequent ad hoc and opportunistic land acquisitions.DEH, 2005, page 2

Description

The conservation park is located on land in the gazetted localities of Laffer, Petherick and Tilley Swamp. It contains ranges of

calcarenite Calcarenite is a type of limestone that is composed predominantly, more than 50 percent, of detrital (transported) sand-size (0.0625 to 2 mm in diameter), carbonate grains. The grains consist of sand-size grains of either corals, shells, ooi ...

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s and interdunal flats, with slow-moving surface water drainage systems and blocks of remnant vegetation. The vegetation includes tea-tree scrub, wet

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

land and mallee woodland. The main feature of the conservation park is the Duck Island Watercourse which runs along a wide interdunal flat studded with ephemeral swamps and isolated sandhills. The average annual rainfall is 500 mm. The conservation park is classified as an

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Category VI protected area. In 1980, it was listed on the now-defunct

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

Flora and fauna

The conservation park's vegetation includes '' Banksia ornata'' shrubland, ''

Melaleuca brevifolia ''Melaleuca brevifolia'', commonly known as mallee honey-myrtle, short-leaf honey-myrtle, or d'Alton's melaleuca is a shrub or tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is native to western Victoria, south-eastern South Australia and the south-wes ...

'' low shrubland, ''

Eucalyptus arenacea ''Eucalyptus arenacea'', commonly known as the desert stringybark or sand stringybark, is a tree or a Mallee (habit), mallee that is Endemism, endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough bark to the thinnest branches, lance-shaped or curved ...

'' open woodland and ''

Eucalyptus diversifolia ''Eucalyptus diversifolia'', commonly known as the soap mallee, coastal white mallee, South Australian coastal mallee, or coast gum is a species of mallee that is endemic to an area along the southern coast of Australia. It has smooth bark, lanc ...

'' open mallee, while the wetter areas are characterised by red gum woodland and aquatic herblands. Eleven floristic communities have been identified, containing 375 indigenous plants, including four which are nationally threatened or rare. Native animal species include 12 mammals, 19 reptiles, five amphibians and 141 birds. Also recorded are 62 exotic plants, eight feral mammals and five introduced birds.BirdLife International.

Birds

The conservation park has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, principally because it supports an apparently sustainable population of the vulnerable

, with an estimated population of 13–14 nesting mounds. The

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

-restricted

purple-gaped honeyeater The purple-gaped honeyeater (''Lichenostomus cratitius'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits Mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.Menkhorst, P., ...

has also been recorded.

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Gum Lagoon Conservation Park webpage on the Protected Planet websiteGum Lagoon Conservation Park webpage on the BirdSA website
{{Wetlands Conservation parks of South Australia 1970 establishments in Australia Protected areas established in 1970 South Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate Limestone Coast Wetlands of South Australia