The Backwaters Beyond: The Murray Floodplains above Renmark with Keith Conlon
On its waters near the state border, the River Murray's majesty and its fragility are most obvious, as it eases out across floodplains that are precious to its survival.
As the historic Chowilla Station woolshed right on the bank, giant river red gums perched on the edge have seen the river roll by for four or five centuries, perhaps back to the time of Columbus.
It was a sustaining home for aboriginal people who passed by the gums in bark canoes. Captain Charles Sturt, however, found it unpromising as he rowed by in 1830. The sheep runs were there by the 1840's, and from the 1850's the paddle steamers were calling for wool, tying up round the great girths of the river reds.
There's a great family story the current lessee of Chowilla likes to tell. Jack Robertson's great grandfather Robert Robertson built Chowilla homestead on a great bend in 1878. But he wasn't quick enough to the altar - his brother moved in with his new wife instead.
It was eighteen years later when, on the division of the station into Calgerum and Chowilla, that they finally agreed on a deal. So they passed each other on the Murray, on paddle steamers loaded with furniture and possessions and swapped homesteads.
Jock's sheep station is unusual in more ways than one. It is a regional reserve for a start, meaning he looks after conservation values as well as a big flock.
Running 15 km's as the crow flies to the border, it actually fronts 46 km's of meandering river with a giant floodplain. In high river times, a lot of Jock's better paddocks are under water.
Chowilla is also part of the huge internationally supported Bookmark Biosphere Project, which I was to see in action again and again in these parts.
Pilby Creek, for instance, is part of the floodplain near Lock 6, with its weir that maintains a water level for boats and irrigation schemes. Great from them, but it is not such a good idea for wetlands, which need to flood and dry out to maintain their ecosystem. It is vital to the health of the river. The researchers and game shooters who work together on the Pilby Creek Wetlands Management Project say these floodplains are the kidneys of the river - and its fish nursery.
Jock Robertson showed me 'carp gates' on an inlet into the backwater creeks. They are coarse sieves that keep the introduced European Carp pests out of the Pilby Creek lagoon. It has allowed the regeneration of microbic and plant life in the water, and that has given native fish a chance again. And the waterbirds have returned.
It is happening at Lake Merrity too, well off the main course of the Murray. Again, its feeder creeks from the river are screened for carp. I watched a dozen beautiful avocets, wading and feeding, swishing their upturned slender beaks from side to side.
These wetlands are a haven of hope for the health of a mighty and ancient river. It also happens to be Adelaide's main water supply!
Old Calperum Station sits on an elbow of Ral Ral Creek, a side alley of the Murray that wanders off many kilometres from the main stream. Calperum, for instance, is 8 or 9 kilometres up the Ral Ral from the big river town of Renmark.
A couple of kangaroos hopped into the creek for a late afternoon drink as I eased by in a borrowed canoe. The quiet waters of the flats are a good place to contemplate the importance of this environment.
For the last few years, Calperum has become the administrative centre for the huge Bookmark Biosphere Project, a child of UNESCO's concern in the 1960's about our need to relate to our sustaining planet a lot better. Bookmark links in with hundreds of other conservation and sustainable use ventures internationally.
In the Riverland, there are dozens of properties in the scheme - privately owned, National Trust, reserves and national parks. The big Calperum lease was bought in 1993 with Federal Government funds and a gift from the Chicago Zoological Society.
In the new hut - headquarters, 20 or so professional researchers work with hundreds of volunteers and school groups on all kinds of projects, from Frogwatch to feral goat control, from netting native fish for surveys to counting rare butterflies. They are all part of a complex web of life on the floodplain and into the arid lands beyond.
Ecotourism is going to be important to this region, and this week the Bookmark Biosphere Trust has just accredited several informed and responsible ecotour operators who will guarantee an enriching experience in the wetlands (see this week's story, Up the Murray Backwaters).
With the help of one of them Joe Cresp of Bush and Backwater Tours, I found myself miles off the river on a beautiful, vast shallow lagoon flanked by a line of red gums. As the sun set behind them, Postcards 'camro' Jeff Clayfield drifted in Joe's boat as I mused on the bank about this great secret of the Murray.
To this day, very few people would have sighted the three massive-girthed river red gums huddled together on this backwater. They would have emerged from the same flood, perhaps, hundreds of years before.
Up here near the state border, the river still has 600 km to ramble to the Southern Ocean. Yet it is only 20 m above sea level at this point. For every kilometre the crow flies, the Murray takes three to get there. And it spreads out over these vital wetlands.
There are places designated for camping all through here. Chowilla Station Shearer's Quarters are available for hire. The Bookmark Biosphere people are keen to share their understanding with you. And there are tour operators out of Renmark and other river-tours who will take you to their secret places in the backwaters.
The Bookmark Biosphere Office
PO BOX 995
Renmark SA 5341
Email: bookmark@mailbox.sa.ozland.net.auJock Robertson
Chowilla Station, via Renmark SA 5341
Phone: 08 8595 8048
