My fourth park activation for Friday 6th June 2014, was the Tilley Swamp Conservation Park, which is located north of Kingston in the Upper South East of South Australia.  The park conserves an area of about 1,525 hectares and was proclaimed and gazetted in 1993.

Moves to establish Tilley Swamp commenced in the late 1980’s following an application of vegetation clearance through the Native Vegetation Management Branch by the owner.  The Native Vegetation Management Authority refused the application and subsequently the allotment was registered as a Heritage Agreement and eventually sold to National Parks and Wildlife South Australia.

The park forms an integral part of the significant Tilley Swamp watercourse which moves surface waters northerly through the park.  During summer, the park is an important refuge for thousands of water birds, and for at least 20 other species throughout the year.  This includes the vulnerable Rufous Bristlebird.

The park is also home to a number of native mammals including the rare (SA) Common Wombat and rare (SA) Red-necked Wallaby.

The park is considered to be one of the most significant scrub blocks in the area and contains a number of rare plants including the Metallic Sun-orchid.

Tilley Swamp was named after Thomas Tilley, who succeeded John MacIntyre as manager for the Leake Brothers at Glencoe in the South East.  Tilley later joined pioneer pastoralist George Ormerod in a pastoral partnership, which included a lease of the Avenue Range run and other properties.

I accessed the park via Petherick Road, which runs off the eastern side of the Princes Highway.  Petherick Road runs along the southern boundary of the park.  I found an unlocked access gate and drove my car in a very short distance.  There are no formal tracks.

My first impressions of this park were that it was probably one of the least attractive that I had ever visited.  The park was severely impacted by a bushfire in February 2013 and there was still lots of evidence that the park was recovering.  However, I only saw a very small portion of the park, and never got the opportunity of exploring it in detail, so I will reserve my judgement until another visit.

I set up underneath a small cluster of ‘dead’ trees and shrubs, which provided a bit of shade from the sun.  There was plenty of room here to run out the legs of the dipole which I held down with some dead tree branches.

My first contact was with Hauke VK1HW who was mobile in the Selwyn Snowfields in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales.  This was followed by Greg VK5GJ at Meadows in the Adelaide Hills, Arno VK5ZAR in Adelaide, and then Col VK5HCF at Mount Gambier in the South East.  All had beautiful 5/9 signals.

A steady flow of callers followed from VK2, VK3, and VK5.  Nigel VK5NIG was kind enough to give me a call whilst he was operating from the top of Mount Gawler VK5/ SE-013.  Although Nigel was running QRP 5 watts, his signal was a very good 5/9.  It is very refreshing to see a number of SOTA operators now chasing park activators, and vice versa of course.

Another good contact from this park was with Ken VK3FKNZ at Belmont, a southern suburb of Geelong.  Ken advised me that he had only been on air for one week.  Welcome aboard Ken.  Ken had a very nice 5/9 signal coming into Tilley Swamp with his IC-751A and wire antenna.

My last contact in the park was with Greg VK5GJ who called in for the second time, but this time using his ‘just completed’ home brew QRP rig.  Greg had a solid 5/9 signal with very nice audio.  Congratulations Greg on your home brew construction.

After operating for one hour at Tilley Swamp I had a total of 26 QSOs in the log.  It was time to move on to my final activation of the day, the Mount Scott Conservation Park.

The following stations were worked:

Haucke VK1HW/m; Greg VK5GJ; Arno VK5ZAR; Col VK5HCF; Nev VK5WG; Norm VK5GI; Tibor VK3MRO; Bob VK5FPAC; John VK2AWJ; Darren VK2NNN; John VK5BJE; Greg VK5ZGY; Gary VK5ZK/m; Amanda VK3FQSO; Rod VK2LAX; Rod VK5VRB; Nigel VK5NIG; Allen VK3HRA; Hans VK5YX; Jim VK2FADV; Don VK5NFB; Peter VK2NEO; Ken VK3FKNZ; Brian VK5FMID; Stan VK3BNJ; and Greg VK5GJ.

References.

Government of South Australia, Tilley Swamp Conservation Park Managemnt Plan, 2000.

Cockburn, R, ‘South Australia.  What’s in a Name?’, 2002

Pastoral Pioneers of South Australia, Vol II, 1927

It is just a short drive from Martin Washpool Conservation Park to the Messent Conservation Park, which was my third activation for Friday 6th June 2014.There is a sandy track that leads from Martin Washpool to Messent.  The track dissects two pieces of farming land.  Although the track is sandy, it can be passed in dry weather in a conventional vehicle.  I stuck to the high points of the track and had no issues.  I certainly wouldn’t try it in wet weather without a 4WD.

Messent conserves a large area of open scrub, open heath and tussock sedge land and includes a number of rare plant species.  The park contains brown stringy barks, white and ridge-fruited mallee, deret banksias, fringed myrtle and yaccas.  It is home to numerous native animals and birds including western grey kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, ashey-grey mice,  emus, mallee fowl, and a variety of waterbirds.

I still have not been able to find anything on the internet to tell me how this park was named.  However, I did find people of the name MESSENT in South Australia, so I presume the park was named in honour of one of them?

I last activated this park on the 5th September 2013.  Details on that activation and a video can be found at…..

https://vk5pas.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/messent-conservation-park/

I set up in exactly the same location as last year, in the south eastern corner of the park.  Although I wanted to explore more of this park, it was just too risky in a conventional vehicle.  There are 2 tracks going off to the north and to the east, but as per last year, they were very sandy and not suitable for anything but a 4WD.  So out came the little fold up table and deck chair, and after erecting the antenna I went to 7.095 on 40m.  Again for this activation, I ran the Yaesu FT450, 40 watts and the linked dipole.

I didn’t even get a chance to call CQ.  I asked if the frequency was in use and Brian VK5FMID came back to say it was all mine.  Brian had a beautiful strong 5/9 signal coming in from Mount Gambier.  This was followed by ever reliable John VK5BJE and then Norm VK5GI.  One of the regular New South Wales parks chasers, John VK2AWJ then called in with a strong 5/9 signal.

A steady flow of callers followed including Gary VK5ZK who was mobile at the Wellington ferry, on his way down to the South East Radio Group convention at Mount Gambier.

I had one QRP contact whilst in the park, and that was with Simon VK3SMC who was portable.  Simon was running QRP 2.5 watts and had a very nice 57 signal.

After 35 minutes of operating in the park I and a total of 21 QSOs in the log from VK2, VK3, and VK5.  Time to move off to the Tilley Swamp Conservation Park.

The following stations were worked:

Brian VK5FMID; John VK5BJE; Norm VK5GI; John VK2AWJ; John VK5DJ; Amanda VK3FQSO; Greg VK5GJ; Gary VK5ZK/m; Tony VK5FTVR; Nigel VK5NIG; John VK5ET; Greg VK5ZGY; Stan VK3BNJ; Ormond VK3HAT; Simon VK3SMC/p; Charles VK5FBAC; Col VK5HCF; Tibor VK3MRO/m; Larry VK5LY; Greg VK7FGGT; and Haucke VK1HW/m.

References.

Australian Government, Department of the Emvironment, http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=7958

Limestone Coast Tintinara Heart of the Parks brochure, 2010

After packing up at the Coorong National Park, I continued south east on the Princes Highway heading towards my next park, which was the Martin Washpool Conservation Park.

In September last year I had activated this park, which has a rather macabre history.  The park was named after Malachi Martin, who was a convicted murderer.  It was so named after the pool in which he washed the blood from himself after committing murder.  For more information on the park and my previous activation, have a look at …..

https://vk5pas.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/martin-washpool-conservation-park/

 Map courtesy of Mapcarta

I set up in exactly the same spot as last year which was at the end of Salt Creek Road.  Access to the park is via a closed but unlocked gate at this location.  And as per last year, this park was absolutely alive with honeyeaters and wattlebirds, as many of the native trees and shrubs were in flower.

I used the park sign to attach my squid pole to, with the assistance of some octopus straps.  There is a track heading off to the south along the eastern boundary of the park, but I have never ventured up there, as the track is very sandy and boggy.  It would certainly not be passable in a conventional vehicle.  From looking at maps, this track takes you right down to the water in the park, which is fed by the Tilley Swamp Drain.

My first contact was with Greg VK5ZGY, who I was looking forward to meeting at Mount Gambier.  Greg and his wife Gabbie are very keen park activators and hunters.  Next up was Nev VK5WG from Crystal Brook with his normal enormous signal, and then Greg VK5GJ who has become a regular park hunter.  This was followed by Nigel VK5NIG and John VK5BJE.  A steady flow of callers followed from VK2, VK3 and VK5.

Peter VK3PAH called in again, from his mobile, making this his 2nd park contact for the day.  Peter was using an Alinco DX70 and a whip and had a beautiful 5/8 signal.  I managed to get Col in the log again, using the special call of VI50CONV.  My only QRP contact was with Simon VK3SMC who was running his FT-817 and 5 watts into an end fed antenna at Bonnydoon near Lake Eildon.  Another mobile station that called in was Rod VK5KFB who was mobile on his way down to the SERG convention.

After 45 minutes in the park, it was time to pull stumps again and head off to the Messent Conservation Park, just a few km away.  I had a total of 20 contacts in the log.

The following stations were worked:

Greg VK5ZGY; Nev VK5WG; Greg VK5GJ; Nigel VK5NIG; John VK5BJE; Tony VK5FTVR; Dennis VK5HH; Peter VK3PAH/mobile; Amanda VK3FQSO; Col VI50CONV; Simon VK3SMC/p; Tom VK2KF; Norm VK5GI; Hans VK5YX; Larry VK5LY; Albert VK3KLB; John VK2AWJ; Rod VK5KFB/mobile; Brian VK5FMID; and Col VK5HCF.