Sabrina Davis: Our island sanctuary and home

Our island sanctuary and home

Story by Sabrina Davis.

Page left: The feral Tasmanian blue gum wildlings in the western districts of KI are considered weeds and need to be pulled before they seed. Photo by Francois Maritz. Above: Church Road dunnart capture – Kangaroo Island. Photo courtesy of Land for Wildlife.

After escaping the fire ground on 3 January 2020, my husband shared the sad news. ‘Hunny, we lost everything, including the house.’ Over two years have now passed. Yes, fences, sheds and houses have been built, but with a shortage of builders, tradies, timber and way too much Covid-19 around, getting fire-affected families back into their homes has ended up being a much longer journey than anticipated.

Looking back at the craziness Kangaroo Island (KI) has experienced over the past twenty-eight months – with the whole world also thrown into chaos – it’s almost unfathomable how much has been achieved on our road to recovery from the Black Summer fires.

After having only twenty-five square metres to ourselves over that time, this family of four finally moved into a new house just a couple of days before Easter this year. Struggling mentally the entire time, I started a range of purposeful projects to connect and uplift my community and give myself a reason to get out of bed each day. By sharing over a hundred stories of locals, Humans of Kangaroo Island raised over $81,000 for the community and won me ‘Community Champion’ at the SA Woman Awards in 2021. A book, a film festival and a documentary film later, other accolades such as the SA Honour Roll and KI Council’s ‘Project of the Year’ were all fantastic distractions from the mental health issues I am still facing.

And I’m not the only one. At a recent Barn Yarn BBQ I organised with SA Mental Health Commissioner John Mannion, many of the resilient KI locals in attendance admitted they’re only just starting to face their demons. Nightmares are still an ongoing issue for way too many, and as exhaustion and burnout are beginning to settle in deep, the time has come to rebuild ourselves.

With houses popping up everywhere and green shoots outgrowing the blackened branches, the island’s western end is slowly returning to its former glory.

KI’s Southern Ocean Lodge owners are investing fifty million dollars into the lodge’s rebuild, which is expected to re-open around mid2023. The luxury accommodation will add to the island’s offerings as much as the highly anticipated rebuild of the Flinders Chase National Park Visitor Information Centre. KI National Parks and Wildlife Manager Mike Greig is happy to share that the designs for the new centre are close to being finalised and will result in an amazing contemporary building to welcome park visitors. >

Above left: The blue gum threat must be addressed within the next two to three years before they flower and set seed themselves, says Trees for Life CEO Natasha Davis. Right: Sabrina Davis on her Kangaroo Island property. Photographs by Francois Maritz.

Sheep farmers are restocking, agriculture is on the up, and the tourists have certainly kept the island busy recently. Pierre Gregor, deputy chairman of the Kangaroo Island Tourism Alliance, tells me that KI experienced a double-digit decline in visitation numbers following the fires and with the arrival of Covid-19, but ‘there was a considerable improvement in 2021, and we are currently doing well.’ The KI Tourism Alliance utilises Federal Government Recovery for regional tourism grants, and Pierre reports that ‘things are looking positive.’ He’s proud that our local businesses are dedicated and resilient, even though they’ve been doing it tough.

Basket weaving, gardening workshops with Sophie Thomson, first aid training by the Red Cross, a fun school holiday program run by the local community centre, and business development courses hosted by the Kingscote Business Hub – the island’s schedule is brimming. These sorts of opportunities are appreciated on this oftensecluded island. They help us stay connected and teach us new skills. And they also give us hope that we haven’t been forgotten.

‘Like the community trauma, the environmental impact of this catastrophic event will be felt by our biodiversity for a very long time,’ says Caroline Paterson, and how right she is. She’s just one of the people working at the forefront of KI’s wildlife recovery as the Kangaroo Island Bushfire Recovery Project Officer for Birdlife Australia. Some species lost up to eighty per cent of their habitat, and despite positive indications for some, it will be many years until we see the long-term impacts Black Summer has had on our bush birds. Caroline tells me, ‘Ongoing monitoring over many years with community support is needed and will give them their best chance to maintain or recover viable populations.’

The hard work of many groups has helped our wildlife bounce back. With National Parks’ staff working side-by-side with local contractors, ecologists, volunteers and researchers, the rebuilding work continues and it’s fantastic to see some infrastructure like the boardwalk at Remarkable Rocks already back up and running. ‘Bird life, and wildlife, are all active in the parks again,’ says Mike Greig. ‘The fires were a big knock for wildlife, but it’s amazing how they can recover.’

Land for Wildlife’s Heidi Groffen and her team have caught juvenile dunnarts on many private properties and seen a rise in pygmy possum numbers. She credits the intensive efforts post-fire compared to before. Madly writing funding applications to support their projects, Heidi explains how bushfire funding has guaranteed intensive feral cat and pig control in the west end landscape, giving the threatened species a chance of survival. Heidi says, ‘It all seems like a waste to lose the funding and stop those efforts now, only to lose the juveniles to pests again.’

The same can be said for the fight against the feral Tasmanian blue gum wildlings, which, following the fires, have germinated in remnant vegetation within plantation land, national parks and roadside vegetation. Trees for Life volunteers have worked tirelessly with local organisations to remove the wildlings as they are slowly outcompeting the native plants.

‘Tasmanian blue gums are fast growing,’ shares Trees for Life CEO Natasha Davis. ‘Some of the seedlings are now up to five metres in height.’ The blue gum threat must be addressed within the next two to three years before they flower and set seed themselves, but funds will run out soon. ‘To avoid an ecological disaster in the western districts of the island, an urgent injection of funding is required,’ Natasha pleads, ‘as this is a multimillion-dollar recovery effort which has dire consequences if not properly addressed.’

We Kangaroo Islanders are good at recovery – picking ourselves up, brushing off the dust (or ash), rolling up the sleeves and going again. But incredible challenges still remain for the nature, wildlife and humans of KI, and the need for external financial support is ongoing. Let’s hope our combined efforts and strength will soon bring a more carefree future to South Australia’s island sanctuary and our home.