__NOTOC__ Billiatt Conservation Park, formerly the Billiatt National Park, is a

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 ...

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 ...

located in the locality of

Sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

about 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 ...

Description

The conservation park occupies a parcel of land known as ‘Allotment 101 of Deposited Plan 51151’ in the cadastral unit of the

Hundred of Auld The Hundred of Auld, is a hundred in the County of Chandos, South Australia.The Fleurieu Peninsula Family History Group Inc. of South AustraliaThe Counties & Hundreds of South Australia History The traditional owners of the Hundred of Auld are t ...

in the locality of Sandalwood. The country is characterised by

sand dunes 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, fl ...

with a mosaic of open mallee scrub. Ridge-fruited and red-tipped slender leaf mallees add colour to the dunes with

broombush ''Melaleuca uncinata'', commonly known as broombush, broom honeymyrtle or brushwood, is a plant in the paperbark family native to southern Australia. It is harvested from the wild, and grown in plantations, for broombush fencing. The Noongar nam ...

growing in the mottled shade. Since 2008, “certain existing and future rights of entry, prospecting, exploration or mining” permitted under the state's ''Mining Act 1971'' have applied to the extent of the conservation park. As of 2018, it covered an area of . 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.

History

The land under protection was first proclaimed as a ''flora and fauna reserve'' under the ''Crown Lands Act 1929'' on 12 December 1940 in respect to section 15 in the

Hundred of Billiatt The County of Chandos is one of the 49 cadastral counties of South Australia. It was proclaimed in 1893 and named by Governor Kintore for the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville who was appointed Sec ...

. On 23 September 1965, the following land was proclaimed under the ''Crown Lands Act 1929'' as the ''Billiatt Wildlife Reserve'' - section 26 in the Hundred of Auld and section 18 in the Hundred of Billiatt. On 30 September 1965, land proclaimed as a wildlife reserve earlier in the month was re-proclaimed as a wildlife reserve under the ''National Park and Wild Life Reserves Act 1891''. On 9 November 1967, the ''Billiatt National Park'' was proclaimed under the ''National Parks Act 1966'' in respect to section 26 in the Hundred of Auld and sections 15 and 18 in the Hundred of Billiatt. On 27 April 1972, the national park was reconstituted as the ''Billiatt Conservation Park'' 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 ...

''. Its boundaries were subsequently enlarged by the addition of the following land: #On 11 January 1973, sections 21 and 22 in the Hundred of Billiatt were added. #On 10 January 1980, section 13 in the Hundred of Auld and section 19 in the Hundred of Billiatt were added. #On 3 November 1983, sections 24 to 30 in the Hundred of Billiatt were added. #On 16 May 1985, section 27 in the Hundred of Auld, section 23 in the Hundred of Billiatt and sections 42 to 45, 48, 49 and 53 in the

Hundred of Kingsford 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

were added. #On 28 November 1985, section 28 in the Hundred of Auld was added. #On 24 July 2008, sections 14 and 16 in the Hundred of Billiatt and 'Allotment 101 of Deposited Plan 51151' in the Hundred of Auld were added. Also, on 24 July 2008, all of the land within the conservation park with the exception of 'Allotment 101 of Deposited Plan 51151' was constituted by proclamation under the ''Wilderness Protection Act 1992'' as a wilderness protection area named as the

Billiatt Wilderness Protection Area __NOTOC__ Billiatt Wilderness Protection Area is a protected area located about north of Lameroo in South Australia. The wilderness protection area occupies in land in the gazetted localities of Billiatt, Lameroo and Sandalwood. The wilder ...

and thereby was removed from the conservation park. In 1980, when the conservation park's area was , 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 ...

Fauna

Pygmy possum The pygmy possums are a family of small possums that together form the marsupial family Burramyidae. The five extant species of pygmy possum are grouped into two genera. Four of the species are endemic to Australia, with one species also co-occu ...

s and eighteen species of

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

inhabit the park.

Recognition by non-government organisations

Billiatt Conservation Park is part of an area of land considered 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 ...

to be 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 ...

because it contains small but globally important populations of

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 ...

mallee emu-wren The mallee emu-wren (''Stipiturus mallee'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is temperate grassland. It is threatened because of habitat loss. Taxonomy and systemat ...

and

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., ...

, as well as the rare

western whipbird Western whipbird may refer to the following bird species and subspecies: * '' Psophodes nigrogularis'', the black-throated whipbird ** subspecies: '' Psophodes nigrogularis nigrogularis'', 'western heath' ** subspecies: '' Psophodes nigrogularis ob ...

and red-lored whistler.

References

External links