__NOTOC__ Reedy Creek Conservation Park is a protected area located in the Australian state 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 ...

in the localities of Clay Wells and

Greenways Greenway or Greenways may refer to: * Greenway (landscape), a linear park focused on a trail or bike path * Another term for bicycle boulevards in some jurisdictions People * Greenway (surname) Places Australia * Electoral Division of Greenwa ...

about south-east of the state capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and about north of the town of

Beachport Beachport is a small coastal town in the Australian state of South Australia about south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about north-west of the municipal seat in Millicent, located at the northern end of Rivoli Bay. Beachport has a ...

. The conservation park consists of land in the following cadastral unit - section 227 of the Hundred of Kennion, section 228 of the

Hundred of Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

and sections 154 and 186 of the Hundred of Smith and which occupies the watercourse of Reedy Creek from Clay Wells Road (also known as the Robe - Reedy Creek road) in the south for a distance of about . It was proclaimed on 8 March 1973 as a conservation park under 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 ...

'' in respect to sections 154, 227 and 228. On 24 April 1986, Section 186 of the Hundred of Smith was added to the conservation park by proclamation. Both proclamations included the requirement for the South Eastern Drainage Board to have “having full, free and unrestricted right and liberty” to enter the conservation park to carry out duties and functions described in the ''South Eastern Drainage Act 1931''. It was proclaimed because of “its fine stand of

river red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

s,” however the land continued to be grazed until 1978 due to the existence of a lease over the land. As of 2016, it covered an area of . In 1980, the conservation park's listing on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate argued it to be significant for the following reasons:

The Park represents the only large stand of River Red Gum in the vicinity. Being a long narrow Park it forms an important corridor of habitat for nomadic and migratory birds such as honeyeaters, notably the uncommon blackchinned honeyeater and parrots. The Park also contains small areas of swampy habitat.

In February 1983, the southern half of the conservation park was burnt during the

Ash Wednesday bushfires The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983, which was Ash Wednesday. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot ...

. In 1990, the conservation park was described as "an interdunal plain 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 ...

with sandy, mottled yellow duplex soils" covered with vegetation consisting of "a river red gun open forest/woodland community" which gradually changes into a brown stringybark woodland at its western boundary. The conservation park is the only part of the Reedy Creek watercourse which "ensures regeneration of the river red gums" because the rest of the watercourse is used for grazing. As of 1990, visitation consisted of use “mainly by local residents”. It was also considered to have “potential” for use as an educational resource by the Kangaroo Inn Area School which is located about west of the conservation park's southern boundary in the locality of Kangaroo Inn. The conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category IV protected area.

References

External links

Reedy Creek Conservation Park webpage on the Protected Planet website
{{Protected areas of South Australia, state=collapsed Conservation parks of South Australia Protected areas established in 1973 1973 establishments in Australia Limestone Coast South Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate

See also

References

External links