Today (Sunday 18th April 2021) was World Amateur Radio Day. Marija and I planned on activating a park on the way home, but we hadn’t decided which one.

To kick off the day we headed around to the home of Ivan VK5HS and Sheryl who made a beautiful cooked brekfast for us. We then hit the road and decided to activate the Loch Luna Game Reserve VKFF-1723. Loch Luna is about 10 km north-west of Barmera.

Prior to activating the park we had a look at the old Loveday World War Two (Camp 9) internment camp. It was also known as the Italian Internment Camp. It was one of three main prisoner or war and internee camps located at Loveday in the Riverland. The camp commenced operations in August 1940 and could hold up to 1,000 people, including Italian civillan internees, and Italian prisoners of war.

We then headed to Loch Luna Game Reserve. The reserve is about 20.63 km² in size and was proclaimed on the 7th day of November 1985. As you can see in the aerial shot below there is a parcel of land within the reserve which is not gazetted. It is known as Sugarloaf Hill and has been excluded from protection for the purpose of mining activity. 

The Moorok Game Reserve can be located adjacent to Loch Luna.

We activated the Kaiser strip in the southern section of the Reserve. This narrow section of the reserve was created when the Kingston-on-Murray to Cobdogla causeway was built in 1973, diverting the Sturt Highway from the low lying flood plain to above the 1956 flood level.

The bridge and causeway replaced two ferries that transported the traffic across the river at the western end of the park. Frequent flooding would render the Old Sturt Highway impassable and traffic had to be diverted through the township of Morgan. The concrete ramps and anchor blocks used by the ferries are still visible today.

The culvert at the eastern end of the park, nearest of Cobdogla, allows water to enter Lake Bonney from the river, through a maze of creeks and lagoons. Near the culvert is a small stone monument commemorating the life of Mrs. Napper, the first European woman to come to this area in the 1850s.

Before European settlement the area was used for camping, hunting and meeting places by the Ngawait and Erawirung peoples.

After setting up I called CQ on 7.144 and within 6 minutes I had contact number ten in the log, a QSO with Adam VK2YK. Band conditions on 40m were very good and a mini pile up soon developed. I logged 55 contacts on 40m from VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and VK7. This included three Park to Park contacts with Peter VK5PET/p in the Cox Scrub Conservation Park VKFF-1701, James VK2TER/p in the Cockle Bay Nature Reserve VKFF-1908, and Peter VK3TKK/p in the Holden Flora Reserve VKFF-2333. We also logged Gerard VK2IO who was on SOTA summit VK2/ HU-093.

Marija then jumped into the operator’s chair and logged 22 stations on 40m from VK2, VK3, and VK5.

I then took charge of the mic again and logged a further 12 stations on 40m. To conclude the activation I moved to the 20m band where I logged 3 stations from VK3, VK4, and New Zealand.

During the activation we were visited by Dan VK5FDMG from Loxton.

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5PET/p (Cox Scrub Conservation Park VKFF-1701)
2. VK3TKK/p (Holden Flora Reserve VKFF-2333)
3. VK5NJ
4. VK5JN
5. VK5MRE
6. VK3FIMD
7. Vk3FQSO
8. VK5DW
9. VK2HHA
10. VK3CRG
11. VK5FANA
12. VK5YX
13. VK3UH
14. VK3SMW
15. VK3DJC
16. VK2LEE
17. VK3MCK
18. VK5PL
19. VK3PF
20. VK3SQ
21. VK5LA
22. VK2YK
23. VK5GA

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK3PF
2. VK5LA
3. VK3UCD
4. VK3VDX
5. VK4BXX
6. VK4/NN3Z
7. VK2PET/3
8. VK3AHR
9. VK5KLV
10. VK2YK
11. VK5GA
12. VK3TKK/m
13. VK2LIL/3
14. VK2TER/p (Cockle Bay Nature Reserve VKFF-1908)
15. VK3DJC
16. VK3SWV
17. VK3FQSO
18. VK2PKT
19. VK3AWA
20. VK3XCI
21. VK3CWF
22. VK5FANA
23. VK3DBP
24. VK3MPR
25. VK5PET/p (Cox Scrub Conservation Park VKFF-1701)
26. VK2LEE
27. VK5WG
28. VK3FIMD
29. VK3MTV
30. VK2VH
31. VK4AAC/2
32. VK5NM
33. VK5TQ
34. VK5HS
35. VK5WU
36. VK2DG
37. VK5NIG
38. VK3SQ
39. VK2IO/p (SOTA VK2/ HU-093)
40. VK4SMA
41. VK3MKE
42. VK2VW
43. VK2HFI
44. VK3TKK/p (Holden Flora Reserve VKFF-2333)
45. VK7ME
46. VK3HOT
47. VK4CX
48. VK4FDJL
49. VK2HHA
50. VK5GY
51. VK7DIK
52. VK3CU
53. VK3PI
54. VK5MRE
55. VK3ZPF
56. VK5NJ
57. VK5YX
58. VK2KMI
59. VK5EE
60. VK3CRG
61. VK3DQW
62. VK5DW
63. VK3ALA/m
64. VK3UH
65. VK3OF
66. VK5FIVE
67. VK3NBL
68. VK2YW
69. VK5AR/m

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK3MPR
2. VK4HNS
3. ZL1TM

After packing up we continued west on the Sturt Highway and stopped to have a look at the Police Heritage site. The memorial cairn commemorates police officers, Corporal William Murray Wickham and Mounted Constable John Dunning Carter, who drowned on the 7th day of May 1847.  They were enroute from Mourundee, near Blanchetown, to Overland Corner for police duty in response to disturbances in the area.  They were the first police to die in the line of duty in South Australia.

We then stopped at Waikerie to have a look at the Waikerie Cliff Top Walk.

Also the Waikerie silos which are now part of Australia’s very popular silo art project. The non working Viterra Australia grain silos were painted by artists Garry Duncan and Jimmy Dvate in 2018. They were the 25th silo to be included in the Australian Silo Art Trail Collection.

Featured on the silos is a giant Yabby, the endangered Regent Parrot, Murray Hardyhead and the Spiny Daisy.

We then had a look at a historic old stone chimney at Waikerie overlooking the Murray River. The chimney was erected in late 1894 by the Waikerie village settlement to extend the fluming laid up the cliff from the boiler which drove the first irrigation pumps for Waikerie. It was used until Autumn 1909.

There is an excellent viewing platform at this spot where you can enjoy magnificent views of the Murray River and Jaeschke Lagoon.

We left Waikerie and continued west on the Sturt Highway, passing over the Murray River at Blanchetown and travelling passed the Brookfield Conservation Park.

Our final quick stop before reaching home was the site of the olf Annandale Hotel and Cafe at the intersection of the Sturt Highway, Halfway House Road, and Bower Boundary Road. The Annandale Hotel operated between 1876 to 1957.

References.

Australian Silo Art Trail, 2021, <https://www.australiansiloarttrail.com/waikerie>, viewed 14th May 2021.

Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveday_Camp_9>, viewed 14th May 2021.

Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Luna_Game_Reserve>, viewed 14th May 2021.