Thanks to Margaret, from the Yankalilla and District Historical Society, I have found out the origins of the name of Black Bullock Hill, VK5/ SE-016, on the Fleurie Peninsula.  See my previous post from a few days ago…..

https://vk5pas.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/black-bullock-hill-vk5-se-016/

The summit’s name actually comes from a plant, not an animal, as some of us presumed.  And that plant is ‘bull-oak’  Allocasuarina Luchnannii, which is part of the Casuarinaceae family.  The plant is also sometimes referred to as ‘buloke’.  It is reputed to the the hardest wood in the world, with a Janka Hardness of 5,060 lbf.  The Janka hardness test measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

It is a medium sized tree up to 15m high with a straight trunk, typically 30-70 cm in diameter.  Male and female flowers occur separately on different plants. Male flowers form in spikes up to 4.5 cm long , in September and October. The cones are short (5-12 mm long), cylindrical and broader than long, hairy when young and supported on a very short stalk. The winged seed is about 5 mm long and red-brown in colour.

Apparently, these trees flourished on the Fleurieu Peninsula, until farming.  There is a stand of these in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, however they are also endangered there as well by farming practices.  The tree is integral to the survival of the southeastern subspecies of the Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos.  The tree offers food and nesting for the cockatoos.

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

The Shire of Buloke in western Victoria is named after this species of plant.

I always find it interesting to learn how many of these places got their names.  One would have assumed that Black Bullock hill was named after a black bullock seen in a paddock.  But it was not.

References.

Australian Government, Department of the Environment, <http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/species-bank/sbank-treatment.pl?id=20188&gt;, viewed 9th January 2015.

Wikipedia, ‘Allocasuarina luehmannii’, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocasuarina_luehmannii&gt;, viewed 9th January 2015

Wikipedia, ‘Janka hardness test, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test&gt;, viewed 9th January 2015

Recently Larry VK5LY did some research on his mapping system re VK5/ SE-016, the summit down on the Fleurieu Peninsula, near Delaware.  The summit is un-named on the Summits on the Air (SOTA) database.  However, the actual name of the summit is Black Bullock Hill.

map courtesy of mapcarta.com

This morning I contacted the Delamere General Store who put me in contact with the land owner that the summit is located on.  In turn I contacted Mr. Peter Filsell.  He confirmed that the summit was called Black Bullock Hill, but he was not aware as to why it was called this.  Peter stated that his family had owned the land for about 60-70 years, but he had never been told the origins of the name.  There is a road just to the south of the summit called Black Bullock Road and there is also Black Bullock Creek.

map courtesy of mapcarta.com

Peter was very friendly.  Next time I am down that way I am going to call in to say g’day to Peter.  There is no need to access Peter’s property, as the trig point is just a short distance from the road, and the roadway is well and truly within the activation zone.  However, should you wish to operate from the trig point, you can contact Peter.  Please do not enter the land unless you have Peter’s permission.  I have placed Peter’s contact details on the SOTA page for this summit.

I have also advised Ian VK5CZ, the VK5 SOTA Association Manager, with a view to advising the SOTA moderators of the name of this summit, so that the records can be ammended.

There is also a Geocache at this site.  Peter was unaware of this.

http://geocaching.com.au/cache/tp5097