My second park for Tuesday 13th August 2019 was the Hale Conservation Park 5CP-086 & VKFF-0889.  I have activated and qualified this park previously.

Hale is located about 52 km northeast of Adelaide and about 3km southeast of the town of Williamstown which is regarded as the southern gateway to the winegrowing region of the Barossa Valley.

The Hale Conservation Park is and was established on the 9th of January 1964.  The park is well signposted on Warren Road.

The park is located in rugged hills country of the north-central Mount Lofty Ranges.    The park habitat is mostly Woodland comprised of Long-leaf Box, Pink Gum and Messmate Stringybark over Golden Wattle and Yacca.

The park contains old mica diggings.  Mica is used in the electrical industry due to its unusual ability to act as a thermal conductor and electrical insulator at the same time.

There is a 4km circuit in the park which is rated as moderate in difficulty.

Various native mammals can be found in the park including Western Grey kangaroo and echidna.

Birds SA have recorded about 87 species of bird in the park including Superb Fairywren, Eastern Spinebill, New Holland Honeyeater, Crescent Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Australian Golden Whistler, Black-winged Currawong, Painted Buttonquail, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Little Wattlebird, Noisy Miner, Black-capped Sittella, and Black-faced Cuckooshrike.

The park first gained protected status as a Wild-Life Reserve on 9th January 1964 under the Crown Lands Act 1929.  Additional land was added n 4th January 1965 and the park was proclaimed as the Hale Wild-Life Reserve.  On 9th November 1967, the park was proclaimed under the National Parks Act 1966 as the Hale National Park.  The park was re-proclaimed under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 as the Hale Conservation Park on 27th April 1972.

The park is named in honour of Herbert Mathew Hale who was the Director of the South Australian Museum from 1931 to 1960.  He took part in numerous South Australian Museum Expeditions as well as the Board for Anthropological Research expeditions.  During these trips, he participated in anthropological research, took motion picture film, still photography, phonographic recordings, as well as conducting zoological studies.  Hale was a prominent member of many societies and associations including the Royal Society of South Australia; the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, the Anthropological Society of South Australia, and was secretary (1928-1956) to the Board for Anthropological Research.

I parked the 4WD in the small carpark on Warren Road and set up on the edge of the walking track in the park.  I ran the Yaesu FT-857d, 20 watts, and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation.

After setting up I turned on the transceiver and tuned to 7.144 and heard Ian VK5CZ/p calling CQ from Mokota Conservation Park VKFF-1062.  After logging Ian Park to Park I moved down to 7.139, and after placing a spot on parksnpeaks, I started calling CQ.  Park regular Peter VK3PF came back to my call, followed by another park regular John VK4TJ and then Geoff VK3SQ who is another committed park hunter.

Band conditions were still quite poor with lots of deep fading noticed on most signals.  It took me a little longer to get the required 10 QSOs in the log for VKFF qualification.  Contact number ten came 14 minutes into the activation and was with Steve VK3HK.

I logged 13 stations on 40m and then moved to 3.610, calling CQ after placing a self spot on parksnpeaks.  First in the log was Hans VK5YX with a strong 5/9 signal, followed by John VK5BJE in the Adelaide Hills who had a strong 5/9 signal.

To complete the activation I called CQ on 14.310 on the 20m, logging only John VK4TJ and his USA and Canadian calls.

I had qualified another park for VKFF and now had 3 VK5 parks for the month of August.  Just 2 more to go to qualify for the National Parks and Wildlife Service Award.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5CZ/p (Mokota Conservation Park VKFF-1062)
2. VK3PF
3. VK4TJ
4. VK4/AC8WN
5. VK4/VE6XT
6. VK3SQ
7. VK3MKE
8. VK4PZZ
9. VK5PL
10. VK3HK
11. Vk2ON
12. VK7NWT
13. VK5BJE

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5YX
2. VK5BJE

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK4TJ
2. VK4/AC8WN
3. VK4/VE6XT

 

 

References.

Birds SA, 2019, <https://birdssa.asn.au/location/hale-conservation-park/>, viewed 14th August 2019

South Australian Museum, 2019, <http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collections/information-resources/archives/hale-herbert-matthew-aa-124>, viewed 13th August 2019

Walking SA, 2019, <https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk/hale-conservation-park-loop/>, viewed 14th August 2019

Wikipedia, 2019, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Conservation_Park>, viewed 14th August 2019