Kangaroo Island - History of Flinders Chase

There are few places left in South Australia where the eye can scan thick coastal mallee country without interruption except for the occasional road or fire track. Flinders Chase National Park is one of them. Here the mallee runs for miles and miles. And it's largely due to the efforts early conservationists like Samuel Dixon who spent much of his life in battle with various Governments to save the western end of Kangaroo Island. The relentless search for new farming country had swallowed up much of the Island by the turn of the century and only the most committed could save scenes like this for all of us. During the 1890's, Governments of the day didn't see the need for National Parks...Dixon did. "Dixon and others struggled for nearly three decades to have the western end of Kangaroo Island declared a National Park, He saw this as essential to the preservation of much of our local flora and fauna, much of it already having been lost through wholesale land clearance. And he also saw it as essential to the preservation of our own sanity describing this area as a potential sanatorium and playground for tired workers suffering from what he quaintly described as "brain fag" and other forms of overwork." For years Dixon and other members of the Royal Society of South Australia had marvelled at the secrets of the western end of the Island. Finally in 1919, Samuel Dixon succeeded in having an initial parcel of fifty three thousand hectares of native scrub and timber country set aside by an Act of Parliament.

"He considered it a place for people to come to get away from their daily lives as a bit of a sanctuary for those suffering from "brain fag" as he put it and it's a bit of a wildlife sanctuary and it's developed in that way and animals have been introduced that have been considered to be under threat on the mainland." In many ways, Flinders Chase National Park has been an ongoing experiment with endangered mainland animals transplanted here with varying degrees of success. "The Koala once threatened by habitat destruction and hunting on the mainland took to the KI gum trees with relish their increasing numbers causing a dilemma for conservationists and Governments alike. Now many are being shipped back to the mainland in a move which Samuel Dixon would probably have approved. The koala is just one mainland animal to call Flinders Chase home. "Cape Barron Geese were introduced here early on. The platypus and emus were introduced to the park as well. There all animals you can see now when you come to visit the park as well as the species that occur here naturally like kangaroos and wallabies, seals and crimson rosellas." If you match Samuel Dixon's description of a brain fagged worker, then Flinders Chase at the western end of Kangaroo Island is the ideal retreat. Entry into the park is $8 per vehicle.

For more information you can email info@postcards.sa.com.au