Gawler Ranges
Gawler Ranges | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Nukey Bluff |
Elevation | 465 m (1,526 ft) |
Geography | |
Country | Australia |
State | South Australia |
Region | Eyre Peninsula |
Range coordinates | 32°32′S 135°22′E / 32.533°S 135.367°E |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Mesoproterozoic |
Type of rock | Felsic Volcanics |
The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba and Wudinna. The ranges are covered by the Gawler Ranges Native Title Claim.
History
The
The ranges were named by Edward John Eyre after the Governor of South Australia, George Gawler in 1839.[3] This was on one of Eyre's earlier expeditions before his famous crossing of the Nullarbor Plain further west. It was on this expedition that Edward John Eyre made the first recorded sighting of South Australia's floral emblem, the Sturt desert pea, in 1839 during an early exploration of the region.[4]
Stephen Hack explored the range in 1856 and in 1857 the first
The first mail service from Port Augusta to Yardea commenced in 1876, with the telegraph service to Western Australia that passes through the range commencing in 1903[5]
Geology
The rocks within the ranges were formed by volcanic activity between ~1595-1592 Ma, when the
There is much
At approximately 580Ma the Gawler Ranges were impacted by a large
Geomorphology
The highest point is Nukey Bluff at 465 metres (1,526 ft) above sea level. Bornhardts dominate the landscape.[8] Soils are invariably dominated by the weathering products of the volcanics, and are typically red in colour due to abundant oxidised iron weathering in the arid environment. No major rivers drain the ranges, however several internal catchments feed the modern playa lakes Gairdner, Acraman, Everard, McFarlane, Harry and Island Lagoon.
Flora and fauna
Birds
There are some 140 species of birds in the Gawler Ranges, including the
Mammals
The Gawler Ranges are home to several larger mammals, like the southern hairy-nosed wombat[9] and the endangered yellow-footed rock wallaby.[10]
Nature reserve
The Hiltaba Nature Reserve, owned by Nature Foundation, abuts the Gawler Ranges National Park to the north, and works to protect many threatened species.[1]
See also
Notes
- ^ National Parks & Wildlife Service South Australia (October 2017). Gawler Ranges National Park: Management Plan 2017 (PDF). Government of South Australia. p. 6, 13. Retrieved 9 January 2022. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)licence.
- ^ a b Kneebone, Sue; Jones, Philip G.; Knights, Mary (2010), Naturally Disturbed: 6 April - 7 May 2010 (Exhibition catalogue, from an exhibition at the SASA Gallery.), University of South Australia
- ^ "Gawler Ranges National Park" (PDF). Department for Environment and Heritage. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
- ^ a b "South Australia - Gawler Ranges". Archived from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
- ^ a b c "History of the Gawler Ranges". Mt Ive Station. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ^ Pankhurst et al., 2011 A Mesoproterozoic continental flood rhyolite province, the Gawler Ranges, Australia: the end member example of the Large Igneous Province clan
- ^ Agangi, Andrea (2011). Magmatic and volcanic evolution of a silicic large igneous province (SLIP): the Gawler Range Volcanics and Hiltaba Suite, South Australia (PhD). University of Tasmania. Retrieved 9 January 2022. PDF
- ISSN 1440-0952.
- ^ Deborah Furbank (2010): Briefing note on the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat. Yorke Peninsula Natural Resource Management Group PDF Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Informationsbroschüre des Parkverwaltung, engl., pdf Archived 2011-03-14 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Andrewartha, H.G (1972). The Gawler Ranges. Report on a survey by the Nature Conservation Society of South Australia. NCSSA: Adelaide.