My first activation for Tuesday 11th June, 2013, was the Lake Gilles Conservation Park.

Lake Gilles was first discovered in 1839 by explorer Edward John EYRE, and was named after Osmond GILLES, who was the Colonial General at the time.

Lake Gilles Conservation Park was established in 1973, and protects a sample of original vegetation growing in the transition zone between pastoral leases and established agricultural lands.  The lake was added in 1993, increasing the total area to 68,584 hectares.  The southern section of the park was surveyed in 1925 for farming.  Some sections were allocated to early settlers but only used for grazing.

Due to drought and the Great Depression, the Government decided against farming and reverted the area to pastoral leases.  Although timber cutting by the early settlers was prevalent, the native vegetation in this area was saved from clearing for farms and remains in its original state.

I turned the Yaesu FT-817nd to 40m and called CQ for about 5 minutes but had no takers at all.  So I QSY’d down the band a bit and heard Gary VK5ZK talking about my Eyre Peninsula trip.  So at the end of his over I jumped in and had a really enjoyable conversation with Gary VK5ZK; John VK5BJE; Trevor VK5ZTJ/m; and John VK5NJ.

After about 30 minutes of chatting, I decided it was time to take the antenna down and head further west towards Caralue Bluff.