Calperum Station, also known as Calperum Reserve, is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

located in the east of the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

about north-west of the town of Renmark and about east of the state capital of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Calperum Station consists of three separate

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

s - Calperum, Calperum Road and Yubalia. The property is a de-stocked pastoral (sheep) station managed by the Australian Landscape Trust. It is managed for public benefit as a site for habitat and species conservation, scientific research and public education. Most of the property is listed as "critical habitat" for a

threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

of bird, the black-eared miner, but it is not an officially-designated

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

. The reserve includes a major part of the Riverland Ramsar site, a

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

of international significance, and Calperum Station is also part of a larger reserve system known as the Riverland Biosphere Reserve. It also includes a major part of the Riverland Ramsar Site. Calperum Station is part of a larger reserve system known as the Riverland Biosphere Reserve.

History

The Calperum

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

is located on a site formerly known as Ral Ral. Ral Ral was named after the Aboriginal king of the area. During the early years of

European settlement of South Australia European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other We ...

, from around 1838 drovers used Ral Ral as a campsite and place to water their livestock (at Ral Ral Creek) as they were being driven down into South Australia. From around 1846 European men were given annual licences to occupy the area and graze their sheep and cattle, until 14 pastoral leases were issued in 1851. One of these was a property which became known as Chowilla and then Chowilla-Bookmark, before being split into two in 1896 – Chowilla and Calperum. John Holland Robertson held the Calperum lease from 1896 until he died in 1909, after which it remained in the family until 1953, and it changed hands a few times, during which time it was split among three brothers, before the lease was sold to the federal government in 1993. Calperum Station consists of three separate

s - Calperum, Calperum Road and Yubalia. These were purchased in 1993 by the

Chicago Zoological Society Brookfield Zoo Chicago, known until 2024 as simply Brookfield Zoo, and also known as the Chicago Zoological Park, is a zoo located in Brookfield, Illinois. Brookfield Zoo is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and is managed by ...

, using funds obtained both from the McCormick Foundation and the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

.Gilligan, 2008, page 2 The leases were subsequently transferred by deed of assignment to the

Director of National Parks Director of National Parks is a Commonwealth corporate entity responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (''EPB ...

to hold in

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...

. Since 2003, the reserve is managed along with the Taylorville Station reserve under

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

by the Australian Landscape Trust Association Inc. (ALT).Gilligan, 2008, page 3 During the financial year 2013–14, the pastoral leases along with those for the Taylorville Station reserve were transferred to Austland Services Pty Ltd, a company owned by ALT, which "will continue to manage the properties in accordance with the trust arrangements."DNP, 2014, page 54

Description

Location, size and vegetation

The reserve is located on the north side of the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

, bounded to its western side by the Taylorville Station reserve and the

Gluepot Reserve Gluepot Reserve is a private protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia in the gazetted locality of Gluepot, South Australia, Gluepot about north of the town of Waikerie, South Australia, Waikerie. History Gluepot was e ...

. The reserve covers an area of and was described in 2008 as follows:

Some 95% of Calperum Station is covered by Mallee vegetation communities growing on the east-west red brown dunes of the Loxton-Parilla Sands. The remaining 5% is occupied by the Murray River floodplain which includes 4 wetlands: Merreti; Woolpolool; Clover; and Woolpolool Swamp, which are part of the 30,600 hectare ‘Riverland’ Ramsar site.

The Riverland Ramsar site was declared a

of international significance under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...

Purpose

The purpose of the reserve is the protection of "Listed Critical Habitat" for the black-eared miner bird species, in conjunction with both the Taylorville Station reserve and the Gluepot Reserve. The reserve, along with Taylorville Station, is also reported as being "important for the conservation of the nationally vulnerable

malleefowl The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...

(''Leipoa ocellata''), the regionally vulnerable

bush stone-curlew The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird Endemism, endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly ...

(''Burhinus grallarius'') and the nationally vulnerable southern bell frog (''Litoria ramiformis'')." The reserve is one of the "key components of the Riverland (formerly Bookmark) Biosphere Reserve." Calperum Station is sometimes referred to as Calperum Reserve. In 2011, the Calperum Mallee SuperSite was established at the reserve. This is part of Australian Flux Network Project, which monitors

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

s and land restoration projects, and is run by a partnership between the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

and Australian Landscape Trust.

Status

Calperum Station has not been classified as an IUCN protected area . It was reported in 2012 that the reserve is being "managed for a broader, additional set of objectives, including environmentally sustainable development such as tourism".

Management

As of 2014, the reserve and the Taylorville Station reserve were managed as one unit by Austland Services Pty Ltd. The management agreement with the Director of National Parks requires that the reserve be used as "a model for the implementation of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Action Plan." In December 2020, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO) and the Australian Landscape Trust entered into a five-year partnership to deliver water for the environment to continue improving the health of the Calperum

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

. It is planned that of water for the environment would be delivered to the Riverland Ramsar site over the following five years, to help provide habitat for the native wildlife. There had been some water delivered previously, in particular during the 2018–2019 drought, with the assistance of the Riverland

Indigenous rangers Indigenous ranger programs enable First Nations people across Australia to protect and manage their land, sea and culture through a combination of traditional knowledge with Western science and conservation practices. Introduced by the Australia ...

. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence.

Archaeological finds

Because Calperum Station lies on a floodplain, it is likely that

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

peoples have been able to access large amounts of resources in the area for a long time, but the

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

of the area had not been investigated in detail before 2014. , archaeologists from

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

in South Australia and

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

have been working in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee and Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal Corporations exploring the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the Murray River, River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria downstream to Blanchetown, South Australia ...

area. They found Aboriginal artefacts, including two

perforated A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...

shells dated to around 600 years ago, and a shell with a

serrated Serration is a saw-like appearance or a row of sharp or tooth-like projections. A serrated cutting edge has many small points of contact with the material being cut. By having less contact area than a smooth blade or other edge, the applied pr ...

edge, dating from around 6,000 years ago, at Calperum Station and Murrawong (near Murray Bridge). Uses for the rare artefacts are still under investigation, but both functional and aesthetic uses are likely.

Footnotes

Citations and references

Citations

References

* * * * * *

External links

Australian Government official webpage

Australian Landscape Trust official webpage

Entry for Calperum Station on Protected Planet
{{Stations of South Australia Protected areas managed by the Australian government Protected areas established in 1993 1993 establishments in Australia Riverland Murray Mallee