Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park; a South Australian coastal glory

It took decades, but this spring I finally got back to this park which was a favourite of mine while I lived in Adelaide. Lou had never seen it and, as a coastal aficionado, was instantly hooked!

Dawn at Shell Beach, Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park

I spent time there in the 1970s (!), some of it while working part-time at the then Torrens Teachers College (now part of the University of South Australia). It had been declared Innes National Park shortly before that, in 1970, primarily to protect populations of endangered Malleefowl and Western Whipbirds. The change to the current name came fifty years later in 2020, when joint management with the Narungga traditional owners began, albeit somewhat belatedly.

It is at the toe of the foot of Yorke Peninsula, the middle leg-like one of the three peninsulas that dominate the South Australian coastline.

Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park is at the end of the red arrow, though even after you
click on it to enlarge it, you'll find it obscured by the label for Adelaide! The next map,
via Google Earth, might be more useful.

Only the dark green on the 'toe' at the end of the arrow is the park. It only covers
9000 hectares of land, but its significance is also made clear on this map, as it is
the only significant area of uncleared land on Yorke Peninsula. The rest has been turned
to wheat production and grazing land. It is worth noting that the larger
Eyre Peninsula to the west has quite a bit more original vegetation,
and a concomitant number of reserves. Map from Google Earth.

This map of the park is taken from the 2023 management plan, very recently adopted. (As is the preference now, it is a fairly slight document compared with its 2003 predecessor, setting out priorities and aims rather than prescriptions.)

The colours refer to the various management zones, which you can look at in the plan
via the link above, but are not very relevant to this post. It might be useful for locating
sites referred to in the following photos, otherwise just ignore it! For the record we
camped at Shell Beach, in the north of the park, the most remote campground we
could find. We would recommend it too.

The current sea level was only reached some 7000 years ago, but immediately prior to that it was 120 metres lower than it currently is. The exposed sands and banks of sea shells were blown by the wind into a blanketing sheet of low dunes, which percolating water transformed over time into aeolianite (ie wind-deposited) limestone. There are still dunes, some loose but most anchored by vegetation, and the underlying limestone can be seen in the cliffs that line the coast, interspersed by sandy beaches.

Ethel Beach (named for a ship that was wrecked there in 1904),
seen from the top of the cliffs.

Looking south from Pondalowie Bay to West Cape with its lighthouse.

An associated feature is the presence of the islets just offshore.

Looking north from West Cape to Pondalowie Bay beyond the headland in the middle of the photo.
Just off the headland is South Islet, and above it is Middle Islet and North Islet (I have to say that
the naming of the coastal features has been less than imaginative, though Pondalowie is the
shining exception).

North Islet (also known as Royston Islet) from Royston Head. This is at the
end of a lovely little walk through the heathland.

Thirty kilometres to the west - about halfway to the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula at the mouth of Spencer Gulf - is Wedge Island, which was farmed from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. It is still in private ownership, but has an important conservation function as a predator-free haven. In particular it supports a translocated population of Critically Endangered Brush-tailed Bettongs (known as Woylies in Western Australia) Bettongia penicillata, from which a population has been recently reestablished in Dhilba Guuranda–Innes, along with Woylies from Western Australia.

Wedge Island, 30km away, from Pondalowie Bay. (On the Google Earth
map above it lies at the end of the upper 'prong' of the red arrow.)

Another result of the earlier inundation of the lowlands by the sea is the series of saline lakes behind the coastal dunes, clearly visible in the park map above. Four of these these lakes supported gypsum mining from 1889 to 1973, and the small town of Inneston from 1927. When the park was declared in 1973 the mined lakes were excluded for possible resumption of mining, and this was still the case by the time of the 2003 management plan. That has since apparently been rectified, but I can't find just when this occurred. 

Lake Brown; it is not named on the map above, but it is almost adjacent to the
Shell Beach campground.

The lakes have locally unique environments, including these samphire flats.

They are fringed with Swamp Paperbarks Melaleuca halmaturorum which,
like the samphire, are highly salt-tolerant.

Stabilised sand dunes are characteristic of the area behind the beaches.

Vegetated dune behind our campsite.

Above the cliffs however are open heathlands, rich in flowering plants.

Heathland splashed yellow with flowering Grounsel Daisy Senecio sp.
at Pondalowie Bay.

Middle Islet in Pondalowie Bay, with flowering Coastal Beard-Heath Leucopogon parviflorus
in the foreground. This large shrub is an important component of the coastal heaths.

Coastal Beard-Heath dominating the walk through the dunes from Shell Beach
campground to the beach.

The interior of the park, which is not readily accessible, is dominated by nine species of mallee eucalypt, some of which also come close to the sea.

Flowering mallee near Shell Beach.

Red Mallee Eucalyptus oleosa by the campground.

At which point I might as well segue into introducing some other flowering plants that we enjoyed, nearly all from different families, starting with a closeup of the Coastal Beard-Heath we met earlier.

Most other beard-heaths that I know are small shrubs, so these huge bushes are most impressive.

    Here are some more conspicuous large shrubs from the heathlands and mallee of the park.

Sea Box Alyxia buxifolia Family Apocyanacae (a large, mostly tropical family with many
highly toxic species). Sea Box is another large shrub found widely in coastal southern Australia.
I love the odd little 'catherine wheel' flowers.

Common Fringe-myrtle Calytrix tetragona. This lovely shrub is found widely in southern
Australia (including our garden), but I never tire of it. Nor apparently do the
numerous insects which are attracted to the flowers.

Coastal Velvet-bush Lasiopetalum discolor Family Malvaceae (in its new vast sense; Lasiopetalum
was formerly in Sterculiaceae). This attractive shrub, common in the park, has an interesting
distribution along the south coast of Western and South Australia, plus north-western Tasmania.

Cocky's Tongue Templetonia retusa, always a favourite of mine with these large glowing
pea flowers, grows in heaths and mallee from south-western WA to as far east in
South Australia as about here  and up to the Flinders Ranges.

The remaining plants I want to share with you are small shrubs or ground covers, and a climber. (What anyone who knows me would also expect are orchids - but sadly, none were to be found. We were there in the third week of September which should have been good, but at the Visitors' Centre we were told that they'd all flowered early and were done! I was looking forward to trying out the excellent-looking new field guide to South Australian orchids, but unfortunately not this time...)

Pigface Carpobrotus rossii, a familiar and tough beach dune sprawler found right along the
Australian south coast.

Sticky Goodenia Goodenia varia; its leathery toothed leaves can be found in coastal
sands and inland mallee across southern Australia.

Coastal Fanflower Scaevola angustata, also in the Family Goodeniaceae, like the goodenia
above. (I had this down as S. linearis, but that is apparently not in the park.)
This species is endemic to South Australia.

Coastal Cushion Bush Leucophyta brownii. This daisy isn't in flower here (though the
Senecio behind it is), but it's a species I remember fondly from my days in this
part of the world. It is so tough, growing out of cracks in the limestone with
the salt spray blowing over it.

Old Man's Beard Clematis microphylla, a familiar, common and widespread climber
in much of Australia, but not to be ignored because of that!

Of the non-feathered animals, the most obvious were the ubiquitous Western Grey Kangaroos Macropus fuliginosus.

 

They are more brown than grey, despite the name. They are found right across southern
Australia from the coast to the semi-arid inland, westward from central NSW and Queensland.
In the east of their range they are seemingly being displaced by the rapidly spreading
Eastern Grey Kangaroos M. robustus.

It was too cold and windy much of the time for reptiles to be active, though the big skinks called Shinglebacks Tiliqua rugosa were starting to move around. We are very fond of these, and I confess that as a child I kept some as pets (in those days it was legal, with no permit required). At one stage in the park I even rescued one that had settled into the shade of someone's camper van, leaving them bemused as they wanted to be moving on.

They are common and unmistakable with their short tail and diamond-shaped head.
They are long-lived and form lifelong pair bonds, most unusually for a reptile.

Which leaves us with the birds, which were many but often a bit on the skulking side. Here are a few to enjoy. The first couple were just by the main road through the park.

This Brush Bronzewing Phaps elegans was the first bird we saw in the park, to my delight.
Not only is it an extremely attractive pigeon, but in my experience it is shy and hard to
approach. It is found both in dense coastal heaths and more inland forests and mallee across
southern Australia, and is always a pleasure to meet.

Emus Dromaius novaehollandiae can be encountered throughout the park, and
clutches of chicks were being tended by their fathers, necessitating even more
than usual care while driving the road. There are actually two clutches here,
and the other somewhat indifferent father (or so I assume) can be seen in the background.
I haven't knowingly seen 'shared parenting' among emus like this before and
a quick search doesn't give me any further information on this behaviour.

The next four species were regulars around the campground.

Fan-tailed Cuckoos Cacomantis flabelliformis call incessantly in spring,
and things were no different in Dhilba Guuranda–Innes!

Grey Currawongs Strepera versicolor in eastern Australia are clearly ashy-grey.
In the mallee lands (from western Victoria to about Adelaide) they are black,
making identification difficult where they overlap with Pied Currawongs.
West of Adelaide this Yorke and Eyre Peninsula subspecies is grey-brown,
and are often called Brown Currawongs.

Male Purple-backed Fairywren Malurus assimilis, a truly glorious bird.
It was long recognised as a separate species, then more recently lumped
with the Variegated Fairywren, but recent more detailed analysis
has returned the situation to where it was from the 19th century.
The Purple-backed is found across a huge area of the inland, while
Variegated is limited to the east coast. The blue-purple on the crown,
which continues onto the back, can be seen here.

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters Acanthagenys rufogularis are found across most of
the inland of Australia, plus the south and west coasts. They are a big honeyeater
with a distinctive and evocative fluting call.

There are three species of fieldwren, all in Australia, generally shy birds of low dense vegetation. Of these the Rufous Fieldwren Calamanthus campestris has by far the biggest range, from western Victoria to the middle western coast of Australia, and from the coast to the inland deserts. This was the first time however that I'd managed to lay camera on one, on the walking track to the West Cape lighthouse.

Rufous Fieldwren sitting up against the sun, checking on the intruders.

This one, with the sun behind me, shows the rufous nicely.

And of course there are seabirds and shorebirds; here are three that we enjoyed, all at Shell Beach, our 'local' while we were there, while we sat quietly either by the rocks at the end of the beach, or on the dunes above it.

It's always a particular pleasure to see Hooded Dotterels (or Plovers) Thinornis cucullatus,
not least because they are a species at risk, especially on the east coast, but also listed
as Vulnerable (ie to extinction) both nationally and here in South Australia.
This was was working Shell Beach early in the morning before visitors arrived.

Sooty Oystercatchers Haematopus fuliginosus are also in trouble on the east coast, but
not so much elsewhere. They are supposed to favour rocky platforms, leaving the beaches
to Pied Oystercatchers, but it's surprising how often birds don't read the books!

Pied Cormorants Phalacrocorax varius aren't at all threatened, but I just like this picture.
Of the four inland Australian cormorants, this is the one most likely to be seen in the ocean.

I hope you now feel that this is a park worth visiting (and on the way there the small Yorke Peninsula towns nearly all have excellent bakeries!); just as further encouragement here are a couple more photos of the sublime beaches.

Browns Beach at the northern end of the park.

Pondalowie Bay again, the southern end.

I hope to see you again in three weeks, when I might have something a bit different. Thanks for visiting.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 14 DECEMBER

I love to receive your comments and in future will be notifying you personally by email when a new posting appears, if you'd like me to. All current subscribers have been added to this mailing list and have already been contacted. This will mean one email every three weeks at the current rate of posting. I promise never to use the list for any other purpose and will never share it.
Should you wish to be added to it, just send me an email at calochilus51@internode.on.net. You can ask to be removed from the list at any time,or could simply mark an email as Spam, so you won't see future ones.
If you do leave a comment - and I love it when you do - please remember to click the
box below your comment that says 'Email follow-up comments to...[your address]'
so you'll know when I reply - and I always do!