After packing up at Mount Lofty I headed to the Kyeema Conservation Park 5CP-107 & VKFF-0826. The park is located about 62 km south of Adelaide

The Kyeema Conservation Park is about 346 hectares (850 acres) in size and was established on the 12th day of November 1964. In those days it was a wildlife reserve proclaimed under the National Park & Wildlife Reserves Act. On the 2rd day of August 1967 the wildlife reserve and another section of land were proclaimed as the Kyeema National Park. On the 27th day of April 1972 the park was reconstituted as the Kyeema Conservation Park. On the 4th day of April 1974 further sections were added to the park.

The name Kyeema is believed to be local Kaurna aboriginal language meaning ‘dawn’.

The park is bounded in the south by Woodgate Hill Road, in the east by Blackfellows Creek Road, and the park’s boundary with the locality of Kuitpo in the west and in part to the north.

Prior uses of the land included the use of part of the current day park as a labour prison reserve, the Kyeema Afforestation Camp, which was opened on the 22nd day of March 1932. This was South Australia’s first prison camp. On the 27th day of October 1932 it was gazetted as the Kyeema Prison Camp. It operated until 1959 when it was replaced by the current Cadell Training Centre in the Riverland region of South Australia.

Above:- News article re escapees from Kyeema, The News Adelaide, 15 March 1948. Image c/o Trove

The overstorey in the park is predominantly messmate stringy bark (Eucalyptus obliqua), with some pink gum (E. fasciculosa) and cup gum (E. cosmophylla) and a diverse under storey.

Birds Sa have recorded about 84 native species of bird in the park including Superb Fairywren, Striated Thornbill, Brown Thornbill, White-browed Scrubwren, Crescent Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, and Grey Shrikethrush.

The park was significantly damaged during the devastating Ash Wednesday bushfires in February 1983. Following the fires, the park became the focus of a large revegetation project involving local school students. About 20,000 seedlings were planted in the first three years after commencement of the project. This area is now known as ‘The Childrens Forest’.

There are some nice walks in the park, including the famous Heysen Trail walking track passes through the park.

After setting up I called CQ on 7.144 on the 40m band and this was answered by Peter VK3PF. It was very slow going however, and it took me about 14 minutes before I had contact number ten in the log, a QSO with none other than my wife Marija VK5MAZ.

I logged a total of 28 stations on 40m before callers dried up. Contacts were logged into VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and VK7. This included two Park to Park contacts, with Bob VK2BYF/p and Gerald VK2HBG who were activating the Brundee Swamp Nature Reserve VKFF-2547.

I then moved down to 7.090 and logged David VK3IL, Glen VK3YY, and Andrew VK3JBL who were activating SOTA summit VK3/ VT-011.

After logging the SOTA contacts I moved back to 7.144 where I logged a further 5 stations from VK3, VK5, and VK7. Unfortunately callers dried up very quickly, so I headed to the 80m band. I logged 6 stations on 80m, all from VK5.

It was then off to 20m where I logged 6 stations from Indonesia, VK4, VK5, and VK6.

To conclude the activation I went back to 80m and logged Adrian VK5FANA who had missed me during my first go on 80m.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK3PF
2. VK3CAT
3. VK2VW
4. VK2HFI
5. VK3SQ
6. VK3VRA
7. VK3DWL/m
8. VK2LEE
9. VK3DEN
10. VK5MAZ
11. VK7FAMP
12. VK3ARH
13. VK2IO/m
14. VK3UH
15. VK3AV
16. VK3AMB
17. VK7LTD
18. VK7ME
19. VK3PI
20. VK7QP
21. VK4KLA
22. VK3TV/m
23. VK2BYF/p (Brundee Swamp Nature Reserve VKFF-2547)
24. VK2HBG/p (Brundee Swamp Nature Reserve VKFF-2547)
25. VK3AZN
26. VK3FIMD
27. VK7KT
28. VK3DAC
29. VK3IL/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-011)
30. VK3YY/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-011)
31. VK3JBL/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-011)
32. VK7JFD
33. VK3KV
34. VK5CZ
35. VK3IH
36. VK3EJ

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5CZ
2. VK5MAZ
3. VK5ST
4. VK5LA
5. VK5GY
6. VK5WG
7. VK5FANA

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. YB1TIA
2. VK6NU
3. VK5MAZ
4. VK6XN
5. VK4JWT
6. VK4CZ

I packed up and made the short drive back to my home at Ashbourne, travelling down Kirkham Road, enjoying the fabulous views of Ashbourne and surrounds.

References.

Birds SA, 2021, <https://birdssa.asn.au/location/kyeema-conservation-park/>, viewed 17th May 2021.

Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyeema_Conservation_Park>, viewed 17th May 2021.