My first park activation for Thursday the 11th day of April 2024 was the Mootra Conservation Reserve VKFF-1730. This was to be the first time that the park had been activated for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Mootra Conservation Reserve. Map c/p Location SA Map Viewer.

I had visited Kimba previously, but a long time ago. And because I arrived when it was dark the night before, I decided to have a quick look around after breakfast.

Kimba is derived from an aboriginal word meaning ‘Bushg Fire.’ The District Council of Kimba’s logo reflects this with a burning tree. (Dist Council of Kimba 2024)

Before European settlement, the area around Kimba was occupied by the Barngarla (also known as Parnkalla or Pangkala) aboriginal people.

The first European in the district was explorer Edward John Eyre. In 1839 he travelled through the area on his passage from Streaky Bay to the head of Spencer Gulf.

Above:- Edward John Eyre. Image c/o Wikipedia.

By the 1870s land was settled by leaseholding pastoralists. From the early 1900s, the area was more intensely settled for wheat farming. Bags of wheat were loaded onto bullock drays and carted to Cowell about 76 km to the south. By 1913 Kimba was connected by a railway from Port Lincoln. This encouraged further wheat farmers into the district. By 1915 the town of Kimba was officially proclaimed.

Above:- A view of Kimba, c. 1928. Image c/o State Library South Australia.

Below is a great promotional video on Kimba.

Before activating the park, I walked across the road from where I was staying, to get some photographs of the Kimba silo during daylight. I had activated the silo the night prior for the Silos On The Air (SiOTA) program.

Diagonally opposite the silos is the old Post office. In 1911 the first mail was delivered from Watchannie (Cowell District), a distance of 40 miles, to the pioneer’s and government surveyor’s camps in the Hundred of Kelly by mailman Donald Cant on horseback. In 1913 the mail came from Port Lincoln by train fortnightly and also by road from Cowell once a week. The Post Office constructed at Duck Ponds was built in 1925. The mail was sorted and sent from this location from that time. The building housed the first public telephone exchange and telegrams were originally sent by Morse Code up until 1958. The telephone exchange closed in 1980, and automatic exchanges were installed. The business was relocated to new premises in High Street in 2003.

I then visited the Halfway Across Australia sign at Kimba. The information sign provides information about Kimba with its location being halfway between Sydney and Perth.

My next stop was the Big Galah which stands at 8 metres high on the Eyre Highway at Kimba. It was in much better shape compared to my last visit. The Big Galah underwent a full renovation in 2021. (Dist Council of Kimba 2024)

The park is located at the intersection of Inglis Road and Pile Pudla Road.

Above:- An aerial view of the Mootra Conservation Reserve showing its boundaries. Image c/o Google Earth.

Mootra Conservation Reserve is about 949 hectares (2,350 acres) in size and was established on the 2nd day of March 1989. The land was previously used as the Mootra Water Conservation Reserve. (Wikipedia 2024)

I ran the Yaesu FT857, 40 watts, and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation.

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB before the UTC rollover:-

1. VK3VIN
2. VK5MAZ
3. VK5IS
4. VK5AAF
5. VK3OU/m
6. VK4NH
7. VK4DXA
8. Vk1AO
9. VK2MET
10. VK3CEO
11. VK3APJ
12. VK4HAT
13. VK2IO/p (Deua National Park VKFF-0138 & SOTA VK2/ SM-059)
14. VK5TUX
15. Vk2VW
16. Vk2HFI
17. VK2AKA
18. Vk2BUG
19. VK5HAA
20. VK5LRB
21. VK3PF/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-046)
22. VK3MCK
23. VK7EE

I worked the following station on 20m SSB before the UTC rollover:-

1. VK3APJ

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB after the UTC rollover:-

1. VK3APJ
2. Vk2VW
3. VK2HFI
4. VK2AKA
5. VK2BUG
6. Vk3CEO
7. VK5MAZ
8. VK4NH
9. VK4DXA
10. VK7EE
11. VK3PF/p (SOTA VK3/ VT-046)
12. VK3EJ
13. VK2IO/p (Deua National Park VKFF-0138 & SOTA VK2/ SM-059)
14. VK1AO
15. VK2MET
16. VK5LRB
17. VK7AAE
18. VK1RF
19. VK2MK
20. VK4CEE
21. VK3AFW
22. VK3QH
23. VK3SQ
24. VK2BD
25. VK5HS
26. VK6NU
27. VK4MUD
28. VK4EHI
29. VK4HAT
30. VK5HAA
31. VK3LJZ

References.

1. Kimba, D.C. of (2019). The Big Galah. [online] Kimba District Council. Available at: https://www.kimba.sa.gov.au/tourist-information/attractions2/thebiggalah [Accessed 25 May 2024].
2. Wikipedia. (2022). Conservation reserves of South Australia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_reserves_of_South_Australia [Accessed 25 May 2024].