After leaving Mungo National Park Marija and I drove back into the little town of Euston. It was about 5.00 p.m. New South Wales local time and we decided to do a quick activation of the Euston Regional Park VKFF-1782.
The park is located adjacent to the town of Euston in the far west of New South Wales. It is about 80 kilometres east of Buronga and about 80 kilometres west of Balranald.
Euston is a beautiful little town situated on the banks of the Murray River. It is the twin town of Robinvale on the Victorian side of the river. Prior to the irrigation development at Robinvale, Euston was the main town in the area.
Below is a short video showing the Euston and Robinvale area.
The Euston Regional Park is about 32.45 km² in size and was established on the 1st day of July 2010. The eastern side of the park abuts the Murray River (the State border between New South Wales and Victoria).
Before becoming the Euston Regional Park, the park was known as the Euston State Forest and was dedicated in 1959 for the purposes of timber production and other permitted uses including beekeeping, grazing, and sand quarrying.
In 2009 the Riverina Bioregion Regional Forest Assessment for River Red Gums and Woodland Forest, conducted by the Natural Resources Commission in 2009 (NRC 2009), recommended the area be managed for conservation and recreation.
The park consists of river red gum forest and includes plant communities that are poorly represented at a
national level in the reserve system which include River Red Gum – Black BoxWoodlands and Chenopod – Mallee Shrublands.
The park provides habitat for a range of native animal species including several that are dependent on mature river red gum trees and associated hollows. Threatened species recorded in the park include the southern bell frog and the eastern subspecies of the Regent Parrot.
We set up near the Euston Robinvale Lock and Weir 15 which was constructed between 1932 and 1936. The weir pool stretches back 60 km to Meilman East. About 32,000 mega lites of water flows through this system daily. It was the last lock to be built on the Murray River system.
After setting up, Marija popped up a spot for me on parksnpeaks, and I started calling CQ on 7.105. First in the log was Gerard VK2IO, followed by Bill VK3CWF, and then Andrei ZL1TM in New Zealand.
Contact number ten came just 6 minutes into the activation, with a contact with Ian VK5IS in the mid north of South Australia.
I logged a total of 53 stations on 40m from VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK6, and VK7, and New Zealand.
It was time for Marija to qualify the park and Marija soon had a little pile up going. Contact number ten was just 5 minutes into the activation, with a QSO with Adrian VK5FANA.
Marija logged a total of 40 stations on 40m before callers quickly dried up, so we headed to the 80m band. We were pushed a bit for time as we needed to get back to Robinvale for an evening meal.
On 80m we logged a total of 17 stations from VK1, VK2, VK3, and VK5. Marija’s 44th contact was with Adam VK2YK on 80m.
Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-
- VK3PF
- VK5SFA
- VK5FDMG
- VK3MPR
- VK3FTOM
- VK5PL
- VK5CZ
- VK4HNS
- VK2XJM
- VK5FANA
- VK5GY
- VK2DG
- VK4CZ
- VK5LA
- VK3CRG
- VK3NFS
- VK3CM
- VK7AN
- VK6XN
- VK7WUU
- Vk3SMW
- VK5MSA
- VK3TKK/m
- VK3DAC
- VK2YK
- VK5GA
- VK2PKT
- VK5VL
- VK3UH
- VK2IO
- VK3OB
- VK5SRP
- VK5MJC
- VK4SMA
- VK4HMI
- VK3SN/5
- VK2GMC
- VK2LWK
- VK6NU
- VK5JKE
Marija worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-
- VK5FANA
- VK2IO
- VK5SRP
- VK2YK
- VK5GA
I worked the following stations on 40m SSB;-
- VK2IO
- VK3CWF
- ZL1TM
- VK4CZ
- VK3PF
- VK2VW
- VK2HFI
- VK4FDJL
- VK3MPR
- VK5IS
- VK3UH
- VK2LEE
- VK5WG
- VK2DG
- VK3ZPF
- VK3MCK
- VK5RK
- VK5JP
- VK3GQ
- VK1DI
- VK2YK
- VK5GA
- VK3CU
- VK2BDS
- VK2VH
- VK4AAC/2
- VK5FDMG
- VK4HMI
- VK3ZD
- VK3TKK/m
- VK3ACZ
- VK1BUB
- VK2PET/5
- VK2AGB
- VK5BXN
- VK5BMC
- VK3CM
- VK3SMW
- VK2LIL/5
- VK3TV
- VK3YJD/m
- VK7AN
- VK5LA
- VK3MTC
- VK3PI
- VK5BJE
- VK5FANA
- VK5CZ
- VK4HNS
- VK5FD/p
- VK3FTOM
- VK2VRA
- VK6JK
I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-
- VK5SRP
- VK3CAT
- VK3KTT
- VK5FANA
- VK5GY
- VK1MWI
- VK2YK
- VK5GA
- VK3HSB
- VK2LEE
- VK5LA
- VK3MPR
References.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2021, <https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/euston-regional-park>, viewed 13th May 2021.
NSW Government, 2020, Euston Regional Park Plan of Management.
Protected Planet, 2021, <https://www.protectedplanet.net/555576691>, viewed 13th May 2021.
Robinvale Euston Visitor Centre, 2021, <https://www.robinvaleeuston.com/lock-and-weir-15/>, viewed 13th May 2021.
Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston,_New_South_Wales>, viewed 13th May 2021.
VK5PAS 