Cowangie Railway Bushland Reserve VKFF-4158

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Our first activation for Tuesday 14th November 2023, was the Cowangie Railway Bushland Reserve VKFF-4158. This was the first time the reserve had been activated for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.

The reserve is located in the Mallee region of northwest Victoria.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Cowangie Railway Bushland Reserve. Map c/o Google Maps.

For a detailed history of Cowangie, please see my previous post.

The Cowangie Railway Bushland Reserve is about 60 hectares and was declared on the 1st day of May 1979. (CAPAD 2022)

The Parks Victoria website has a page about the reserve, but it contains no information other than a park boundary map.

The Reserve consists of part of the old Cowangie railway line,

Above:- An aerial view of the Cowangie Railway Bushland Reserve. Image c/o Google Earth.

The railway line reached Cowangie in February 1912 and was part of the Pinnaroo line. (Kow Plains 2024)

Above:- Cowangie Railway Station c. 1925. Image c/o Museums Victoria.

We found a dirt track off Cemetery Road, which followed the railway line. We ran the Yaesu FT857, 40 watts and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation. I used the special event call of VI10VKFF.

The highlight of this activation was working 4W8X in Timor Leste on 20m SSB.

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

  1. VK3VIN
  2. VK1AD
  3. VK1NAM
  4. VK2HHA
  5. VK3SO
  6. VK3BBB
  7. VK2CCP
  8. VK3MTT
  9. VK3MCK
  10. VK3PF
  11. VK3KAI
  12. 4W8X

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

  1. VK3VIN
  2. VK1AD
  3. VK1NAM
  4. VK2HHA
  5. VK3SO
  6. VK3BBB
  7. VK2CCP
  8. VK3MTT
  9. VK3MCK
  10. VK3PF
  11. VK3KAI
  12. VK5FANA
  13. VK2NP
  14. VK5KLV
  15. VK1AO
  16. VK2MET
  17. VK3EJ
  18. VK2EXA
  19. VK1DI
  20. VK3DAC
  21. VK4FE/3
  22. VK3CLD
  23. VKSLB
  24. VK2YAK
  25. VK4YAK
  26. VK2LEE
  27. VK2IO/m
  28. VK1RF
  29. VK2MK
  30. VK4CEE
  31. VK3CEO

I worked the following station on 80m SSB:-

  1. VK2IO/m

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

  1. VK4NH
  2. VK4DXA
  3. ZL3RIK
  4. VK1AO
  5. VK2MET
  6. ZL1TM
  7. VK7XX
  8. VK4EMP
  9. VK4TI
  10. VK2NP
  11. VK7PSJ
  12. VK2LEE
  13. 4W8X

Following our activation we visited the Cowangie cemetery to view some of the old headstones. Many of the native shrubs at the cemetery were in flower.

References.

  1. Australian Government, 2024, Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database, viewed 4th February 2024.
  2. Kow Plains Homestead Committee, 2024, <http://kowplains.com/cowangie/>, viewed 4th February 2024.

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