NSW WILDERNESS RED INDEX
Published by the Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd
(September 1999)
2/332 Pitt Street Sydney 2000 ph 02 9261 2400; fax 029 299 5713
email keith@colongwilderness.org.au web site colongwilderness.org.au
| NAME: | Kinchega |
| NOMINATED BY: | Not nominated. |
| LOCATION: | 113 Kilometres south-east of Broken Hill. It lies adjacent to Menindee extending 29 kilometres southwards along the western bank of the Darling River. |
| SIZE: | 24,000 ha |
| TENURE: | Kinchega National Park (part): 24,000 ha |
Wilderness Declared:
None
Wilderness Not Declared:
Kinchega National Park (part):
| Size: | 24,000 ha. |
| Percentage of wilderness area: | unknown |
DESCRIPTION:
The wilderness area comprises the southern portion of Kinchega National Park. Kinchega National Park is located on the western bank of the Darling River and embraces Lakes Cawndilla and Menindee. It contains excellent samples of the arid and semi-arid landscape types. The park is dominated by the Darling River and the associated overflow system of lakes, small basins and drainage channels, plus extensive areas of red sandplain.
Average annual rainfall is about 22 cm, while average annual evaporation is 2 metres.
Although outside the wilderness area, the principal features of Kinchega National Park are the large saucer shaped overflow depressions of Lakes Menindee and Cawndilla. These overflow lakes, now subject to a completely artificial water regime, are important breeding, feeding and nesting habitats for a wide range of waterbirds.
The dominant trees of the riparian communities tend to be mono-specific. The Darling River and major effluents are characterised by one or sometimes two layer gallery forest of River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). The adjoining flat black soil flood plain is characterised by a woodland of Black Box (E. largiflorens).
Most of the remainder of the park comprises red sandhill units and red sandplains. Tongues of red sand have been blown across the grey soils of the floodplain. Further river action at flood level has isolated some of these sand ridges. Vegetation of the sand ridges and sandplains has recovered following the removal of stock in 1969. The woodland communities of the red sandhill units are dominated by Rosewood/Belah and by Acacia victorae. Common shrubs are of Kochia sp., Eremophila sp., and Cassia sp. Some areas previously dominated by Kochia sp. (shrub steppe) are now dominated by Stipa sp., Aristida sp., and Danthonia sp.
The river environment contains three large kangaroo species: the Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), the Western Grey Kangaroo (M. giganteus), and the Euro (M. robustus). A number of animals, including the Brush-tailed Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) are found in the tall hollow River Red Gums of the riverine forests.
The red sandhills and sandplains support the Plains or Red Kangaroo (Megaleia rufa). A number of species once found in the area are now considered to be locally extinct. These include: the Dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata), the Kultarr (Antechinomys laniga), the Western Quoll (Dasyurus geoffreii) and Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus).
LAND USE HISTORY:
| Aboriginal | The area displays evidence of historical Aboriginal occupation, in the form of Aboriginal campsites, burials and stone implements. The campsites are characterised by hearths, stone implements and occasionally a scatter of shell. Burials occur in sandy areas often in association with the "grave markers" and "widow's caps". Stone implements are scattered throughout the area. All stone for their manufacture was brought into the area by Aborigines; no country rock is found in the area. |
| Grazing: | The exploration parties of Mitchell (1835), Charles Sturt (1844), and Burke and Wills (1860) passed through the area. Following the explorations of Mitchell and Sturt, pastoralists moved into the land west of the Darling River during the 1850's and 1860's. |
| 1870 | The Kinchega station was among the first large pastoral holdings to be taken up in the west of the state by pioneering families. In 1870 the original Kinchega property was bought by Herbert Bristow Hughes from George Urquhart. It covered more than 400,000 ha, stretching from Menindee west to the Pinnacles. |
| 1927 | The railway link from Sydney to Broken Hill is completed, increasing pastoralist access to western New South Wales. |
HISTORY OF CONSERVATION MEASURES:
| 1965 - 1966 | Mr M.L. Baillieu, Chairman of North Broken
Hill Ltd holds discussions with the Minister for Lands, T. Lewis, regarding preserving the
wetlands environments of the Menindee Lakes as a habitat for waterfowl, and as a site for
recreation for the residents of Broken Hill. The Minister suggests that these aims could
be best achieved by the establishment of a national park in the area. Financial support for the park, to secure Western Lands Leases within Kinchega Station, is provided by Broken Hill mining companies. |
| 1967 | October 1: Kinchega National Park is formally established by the National Parks and Wildlife Act (NP&W Act). |
| 1972 | Kinchega National Park Plan of Management is the first to be released under the NP&W Act. The plan proclaims a wilderness zone of 24,000 ha "in response to a growing awareness that preservation of major samples of arid and semi-arid landscapes for environmental conservation purposes was becoming increasingly necessary as these landscapes altered under human activities, such as grazing". |
| 1997 | A new Draft Plan of Management for Kinchega National Park proposes to replace the wilderness zone with a remote natural area. |
| THREATS: | |
| Feral Animals and 1080 baiting |
Dingo populations within the wilderness are
being controlled with 1080 poison baits. There is some evidence that Critical Body Weight Range (CWR 200-5000g) macropods, such as the Parma Wallaby and Ruffous Bettong which are particularly at risk from fox predation, are able to persist in moist high quality forests in which dingos are present but foxes are absent. One theory suggests that CWR species persist where dingos are common and actively exclude foxes. Although dingos prey upon many macropod species, predation has not been shown to have a regulatory effect on these populations. Baiting reduces numbers of both foxes and dingos, but foxes recover more rapidly and replace dingos in the ecosystem. Baits can also kill other carnivores, such as Tiger Quolls. |
Recommendations: The broad use of 1080 (sodium flouroacetate) baits, which cause death through internal bleeding, convulsions and nervous system collapse over a thirty minute- to two hour period, should be abandoned as a means of Dingo control. Programmes to control dingos should only be undertaken on adjoining properties, only after there is substantial evidence that numbers of sheep are being taken, and that other methods, such as removing lambing ewes from paddocks adjoining the park, have not proved effective.
Conditions of evidence, and examination of alternative methods, should apply to regulating macropod populations within the National Parks and Wildlife Service area and its surroundings.
Rabbits cause serious ecological damage within the park and management of the park should continue to aggressively control their populations.
CONTACT ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd
2/363 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Contact: Keith Muir (Director) Ph: (w) 02 9261 2400
FAX: 02 9261 2144
e-mail: keith@colongwilderness.org.au