Flinders Chase National Park: Ron marvels at some of the wonders of the Kangaroo Island region of South Australia

What would Samuel Dixon think as visitors clamber over Remarkable Rocks for another photographic keepsake from majestic Flinders Chase National Park. It was Dixon - at the turn of last century - who lobbied hard to this land set aside.

He was a true visionary, seeing Flinders Chase as a potential sanctuary for endangered animals from all over the Australian mainland. He also saw it as a haven for us human beings, who he thought through the daily pressures of everyday life - were in danger of suffering what he termed "brain fag".

Last summer this was one of the few safe places to lounge about as fire crews on land and in the air fought to contain a series of devastating bush fires. The 6th of December 2007 will live long in the memory of all islanders. On that day lightning strikes caused fourteen fires across the island and burnt out about twenty percent of the landmass. At Flinders Chase National Park and the Ravine de Casoars Wilderness Protection Area fire burnt out about sixty three percent of this amazing habitat.

One of the people who remembers the events that followed is KI Fire Management Officer, Rob Ellis who, at one point feared the worst - the loss of the Park's Rocky River Visitor Centre as flames licked over a nearby hillside.

The fire crews saved the Visitor Centre but two thirds of the wilderness habitat went up in flames. A good fifteen months on and much of it still looks like a bombed out war zone - the blackened earth testimony to the firestorm that passed through here. And yet the park is bouncing back in its uniquely Australian way.

Rob Ellis, KI Fire Management Officer: "After the fire most of the yakkas in this reserve will put up a spike. The spike itself is impressive as it contains thousands of flowers. Every one of those dots of colour is a flower in it's own right producing an enormous amount of seed."

In the following months many of the yakka seeds have been scattered to the winds and on ash-covered ground patches of spiky green push through.

Rob Ellis: "Fire is integral with our environment and it will continue to occur. Within two years you'd have trouble walking through this area as it would be so thick with a whole range of species that have come up after the fire."

Nearby seedpods from banksias wait for the right combination of wind and rain to trigger another cue for nature to burst into life. The fire tore through the swamp where the bullock drivers once rested their teams when building the telephone line from the north coast to the south back in 1907. As is often the case with bushfire it destroyed the much-needed boardwalk, with cement joists the only physical reminders of its meandering path --- and left the old sign which Rob and his team have long had on the books to replace.

The losers have been the wildlife for which this end of the island is renowned. Many animals were too slow to escape the bushfires' fury. But a short walk from the once threatened Rocky River Visitor Centre the tale of rebirth and renewal at Flinders Chase continues. Just as the fire-ravaged vegetation bounces back so too does the wildlife - literally. Despite the devastation this western end of Kangaroo Island still remains a haven for iconic Australian animals and us 'brain-fagged' workers as Samuel Dixon so aptly put it all those years ago. Flinders Chase National Park is located at the western end of KI. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Flinders Chase National Park
Western end of Kangaroo Island
Park Pass 8553 2381

Published 22nd March 2009