What’s happened to our Annual Working Bee ??

Members have been informed that there are no major projects for FOS at Dalhousie/Witjira in 2025 due to ongoing planning for significantly upgraded campground facilities and we will keep in touch with DEW regarding potential work for 2026 and beyond.

As a Friends Group we still want to remain active in worthwhile projects whilst enjoying the camaraderie of FOS members and the Committee is looking for opportunities for members to undertake smaller projects combined with social campouts.

Cantara Homestead – our fourth visit and we will repeat in 2026

Located near Kingston SE in the Coorong this is popular with our members and we now have 3 other Friends Groups joining us as many FOS members are also active in Great Victoria Desert, Innaminka and Mound Springs projects.  The Rangers responsible for Cantara are amazed at how we tackle their “wish list” and that we actually suggest additional tasks and get those done as well.  The Homestead always looks better for our visit both inside and out.  It’s clear that everyone enjoys getting away and helping to maintain this Homestead whilst having plenty of time to relax and socialize at the daily happy hour.  The consensus is that we plan another visit in 2026 in April/May and hopefully SA ‘s fire ban season will return to normal and we can enjoy sitting around a campfire rather than trying to find shelter from the unusually warm weather we experienced this year.

We have just completed a revegetation project of approximately 1,000 native trees/shrubs propagated by Trees for Life on a privately owned farming property between Keith and Bordertown.

The project enhances existing plantings to extend habitat corridors for local wildlife.  We had access to the owner’s cottage and enjoyed their hospitality (special mention of catering) with plenty of room to camp with 3 nights around a roaring campfire.

Two areas were planted with a random mixture of trees/shrubs in 4 rows along a 600m fenced area (non-irrigated) compared with shrubs only planted in a smaller 75m x 25m fenced area (irrigated) adjacent to the owner’s cottage.

• Trees – Drooping Sheoak and Blue Gum
• Medium low shrubs – Scarlett Bottle Brush, Spoon-leaf Hop-bush, Dryland Tea Tree, Broombush and Violet Honey Myrtle

We were blessed by dry/sunny days and clear cold nights whilst we were camped with 16mm of rain reported the night following the completion of the project.  Perfect timing!

A further highlight included a farm tour which included the large shearing shed, historical buildings and a general overview of the cropping/grazing activities.

If you know of, or come across, a project that you think might interest the group, please contact us and provide a brief outline to our email at [email protected].

Enjoy the photos taken during the revegetation project…..

News from Prior Working Bees

2023 Working Bee Report

To learn of our activities this year, please refer to the link to the full report below

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2022 – Cancelled

2021 – Link to full report below

All participants have safely returned after a successful working bee where our main job was to plant 100 Coolibah trees. We collected “best of” photographs from our participants and a report on all the activities undertaken on our recent working bee can be read by clicking on the download button

And if that’s not enough – here is the report on our working bee in 2020

Hooray – a successful Working Bee in 2020 – despite Covid!

Lots of hard work but also lots of fun.  15 participants in 7 vehicles left Adelaide on Friday the 24^th July to start the working bee at Dalhousie on Monday the 27^th July.

The Graders had been busy so it was a pretty good track to Dalhousie (apart from a few bulldust holes to negotiate just to keep us on our toes)

Perfect weather for working during the day and when the day’s work was completed we relaxed our tired limbs in the hot springs ….

… before meeting for drinks pre dinner in the comfortable shelter we had set up in the camping area.

We started on Monday morning with the usual induction session from Frank and this year we also had  Dean Ah Chee (Aboriginal Elder/Ranger) with us as well. Then it was into the work.

Here is what we did

FOS shed – in 2019 we received Federal Government Grant Funding to build a new shed to store FOS equipment in the newly created work compound

4 days to build the shed, install gutters, water tank and concrete the floor. Hopefully if we get more rain we will have a supply of potable water for the next working bee.

While the shed was being built by a core group here are some of the other things that were worked on around Dalhousie

Date Palm removal – looked for juvenile date palms to remove. 

Kingfisher Trail – renovated and replaced trail markers on this walking trail to better define the track to ensure protection of culturally sensitive areas.

Restoration of damaged part of cultural site – A part of the Kingfisher Trail was crossing a culturally sensitive site. The new trail bypasses that part and Dean (Aboriginal Eder) asked if we could replace some of the rocks on the damaged section.

Removal of redundant HF tower and 2 traffic counters

Maintenance of irrigation system at Dalhousie

Dalhousie campground clean-up – removal overgrown vegetation and general tidy up

Day Visitor car park fencing – installed new bollards and wire

Seed collection for future revegetation projects

Dalhousie ruins – general clean-up and maintenance

Remote area depot shed

The last job to undertake was the erection of a Depot Shed within Witjira.

These are an important part of the infrastructure to maintain the park. In the past few years DEW have fenced the boundary of the park adjoining cattle stations to keep cattle and other non-native animals out of the park. Cattle and other animals like donkeys do enormous damage to the natural vegetation in the park so if we want the natural biodiversity of the park to be maintained we need to control these animals.

The depot sheds are an essential part of maintaining these fences which the Rangers do on a regular basis. When the Rangers go to the remote parts of the park and camp out over several days while they work, it gives them some shelter to live in and store equipment out of the weather.

We had no other jobs to do at this location so all hands tackled the shed and it was completed by Sunday night.

These are some of the tasks left over for next year

• We need a small trailer at Dalhousie. None of us have vehicles suitable for carting tools around the site so we will source a trailer that will be located there.
• The new FOS shed needs shelving
• 3 O’clock Creek – future re-vegetation options
• Date palm removal – continue work started in 2020
• Seed collection will be ongoing to revegetate areas
• Feral cats are a problem in the desert. We are investigating how we can assist in trying to control this pest.
• Improvement of camping facilities for FOS working bees at Dalhousie

Participants were asked to share some of their photo’s and a small selection follows for everyone to enjoy……