JEWEL OF THE SOUTH ‘STREPERA DREAMING’ ON KANGAROO ISLAND By Phil Bagust
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t’s 2020, and we all need a good news story. An uplifting story. A hopeful story. An inspiring story. This story is
all four. With its pristine coastal beaches and cliff scenery, its wildlife and wilderness-filled western end, and its relatively large areas of intact native bush, Kangaroo Island has always been special. This is reflected in Aboriginal lore, European history and its unique matrix of locally ‘evolved-inisolation’ plants and animals. Long a centre of agriculture, more recently ‘KI’ has seen a renewed focus on ecotourism and private conservation, a resurgence that partners Bev Maxwell and Colin Wilson, along with Bev’s sister Alison and brother-in-law Andrew Jessup, are well and truly part of. Their property, Strepera (named after the waterfall nearby, and the genus name for the iconic Grey Currawong1 often seen there) is 650 hectares of mostly low forest surrounding the Middle River, near the north coast of the island. The quartet have spent many years – with more than a little help from Trees For Life – learning to work and thrive with their land. As I speak to Colin he relates their story. Nearly two decades ago Bev and Colin were living in Darwin when they agreed to act as tour guides for a German friend whose parents were visiting Australia and wanted to visit Kangaroo Island. On seeing
the island the pair were immediately smitten. Before purchasing the property that became Strepera they had little specific knowledge of the local flora and fauna, but the extent of the natural vegetation and the abundant wildlife was obvious. Colin says, "Most of the land was [already] under a Heritage Agreement so was relatively intact native forest. The cleared areas had been mainly used for sheep farming and were heavily infested with capeweed2. Our decision to restore the cleared areas was made pretty much at first sight”. They also knew about the critically low numbers of the nationally endangered Kangaroo Island subspecies of the glossy black-cockatoo3, and were thrilled to find out the property was important ‘glossy’ habitat. Colin describes the natural plant mix on Strepera, which straddles a deep river gorge where there are several different plant associations. “The plateau tops are mainly cup gum4 with stringybark5 interspersed with banksias, hakeas, yaccas6 and lots of prickly things like KI conesticks7 and the rare splendid bush-pea8. There are also significant stands of sugar gum9 and many of the slopes are cloaked in drooping sheoak10”. The native mammal, bird, reptile and insect populations are equally impressive.
Glossy black-cockatoo on KI by Peter Hammond.
…it has been exciting seeing flocks of up to 10 glossy black-cockatoos now feeding almost daily in our planted sheoaks.
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1) Strepera versicolor halmaturina 2) Arctotheca calendula 3) Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus 4) Eucalyptus cosmophylla 5) Eucalypus baxteri 6) Xanthorrhoea sp. 7) Petrophile multisecta 8) Pultenaea villifera var. glabrescens 9) Eucalyptus cladocalyx 10) Allocasuarina verticillata
