Latest news with #FlindersRanges
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Western quolls and brushtail possums thrive in national park a decade after reintroduction
Western quolls (Idnya) and brushtail possums (Virlda), once locally extinct, are flourishing in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges national park 10 years after their reintroduction. 'They're pretty funny. We go spotlighting at night … you can spotlight at the campsite there and see them running around, looking for bits of food,' National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) reintroduction ecologist Talitha Moyle said. 'They can be quite inquisitive, but they can also be shy … some can be bold, it depends on their personality.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In March, NPWS rangers and volunteers caught, scanned and released 135 western quolls and 30 brushtail possums over five nights. The Idnya and Virlda are culturally significant to the Adnyamathanha people of the greater Flinders Ranges area. The quolls lived in the area for centuries, and over about 80% of the continent before European settlement. They were last seen in the Flinders Ranges in the 1880s and are extinct everywhere except part of Western Australia. 'They're a carnivorous marsupial. They scavenge carrion, they eat insects, birds, eggs, reptiles, baby rabbits … any opportunistic things if they can get it and it's the right size to grab,' Moyle said. 'The females are about 800g to 1.2kg and the boys are up to 2.5kg – like a small native cat.' The possums used to be common but are thought to have become extinct in the 1940s, according to the Landscape SA arid lands board. While some consider them a pest in urban areas, their populations are only considered stable in two regions outside Adelaide. The Bounceback program and the Foundation for Australia's Most Endangered Species (Fame) reintroduced the quolls in 2014 and the possums in 2015. They are now breeding in 'safer havens' in the national park, areas where feral animals have been reduced. Through Bounceback, Fame and the environment and water department have established three havens, each about 500 sq km, for endangered species in the state's far north. The Fame chief executive, Tracy McNamara, said it took 'bold action' to return the animals to the Flinders. And she pointed out that it has been done without the need for a fence. Moyle said while fencing could be useful, it was good to have them back in the wild by managing cats, foxes, and grazing pressure. Upcoming SA projects included protecting threatened plants, bilbies, Bassian thrushes and red-tailed phascogales – tiny, carnivorous marsupials. The state environment minister, Susan Close, said the Bounceback program was SA's longest-running, landscape-scale biodiversity program, helping people learn more about the species being reintroduced. 'The western quoll has shown it can be adaptable to harsh conditions if other factors such as boosting biodiversity and feral control are in place,' she said. There are various projects across the country to reintroduce quolls. Last year, the Wild Deserts project saw 20 burrowing bettongs and 20 western quolls released into Sturt national park, in New South Wales, as part of a project to reintroduce seven locally extinct mammals. The Wild Deserts principal ecologist, Dr Rebecca West, said it was 'like time-travelling … going back to what it would have been like 200 years ago if you set up camp in the Strzelecki desert'. In 2016, Australian National University researchers reintroduced the eastern quoll to the mainland after 50 years' absence. In 2022, 50 eastern quolls were released in the Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary in the Great Dividing Range. Eastern quolls were also released to boost the Tasmanian population in March. Moyle said visitors to the Ikara-Flinders national park might be able to see a western quoll in the wild near Wilpena. 'If you are incredibly lucky, your camping trip might go to the next level in terms of spotting endangered wildlife,' she said. 'The key is to be quiet and to use a torch.'
News.com.au
15-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
South Australia's iconic aesthetics inform new Qantas business class lounge at Adelaide Airport
From the curve and shape of the Flinders Ranges to the stark beauty of Kangaroo Island, iconic South Australian aesthetics dominate the new Qantas business class lounge at Adelaide Airport. Culinary legend Maggie Beer, speaking with NewsWire at the airport on Thursday, said the new lounge had 'raised the bar' and would present travellers with the best of South Australia. 'I love the vibrancy, the open space, the feeling of how grown up this place is, as Adelaide is,' she said. 'There is nowhere else like Adelaide and South Australia.' Chef Neil Perry crafted the menu at the lounge, with the city's iconic Central Market a key influence. Ms Beer's produce will also feature. Qantas Group chief executive Qantas International Cam Wallace said the lounge would offer business travellers a 'premium in-flight experience.' 'For the millions of customers that visit our lounges, we know just how important it is to have a premium pre-flight experience and we're so pleased to be bringing this to Adelaide today,' he said. 'The new lounge has been designed based off feedback and the features we know our customers' value the most.' The 1016 sqm lounge can accommodate 190 customers. It features locally sourced furniture, lighting and natural materials.
ABC News
14-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Nuclear future off the agenda in Port Augusta, as locals turn to renewables and mining
From inside his Port Augusta workshop, Colin Versteeg has built a TikTok following of thousands. The mechanic posts videos of himself at work, telling viewers how he replaces particular parts or musing about the day-to-day of car repairs at his Augusta Highway shopfront. While social media had connected him with the world, Mr Versteeg said attracting people to his town had proven more challenging. Mr Versteeg said travellers must pass through Port Augusta on their way from Adelaide to the Eyre Peninsula, Flinders Ranges and the Northern Territory. That should make it an ideally-placed hub for the transport and tourism sectors — but it has not panned out that way. "Everyone's got to go through Port Augusta but, for some reason, no-one stays here, stops here or builds here," he said. Port Augusta was thrust into the national spotlight last year when it was announced as one of the sites earmarked to host a nuclear reactor under a Coalition election pledge. The proposal drew mixed responses within the town, with some welcoming a potential economic boost and others raising concerns around safety, the environment, and the suitability of nuclear for the grid. While the Coalition has not formally abandoned the plan, its resounding defeat at the recent federal election suggested voters did not embrace the idea. Trevor Paynter and his brothers spent decades working at Port Augusta's coal-fired power station, which was decommissioned in 2016. The region has spent recent years transitioning to renewables with mixed success, and has attempted to replace the jobs that were lost with the closure. Like many regional centres, Port Augusta has recorded a slow population decline in recent decades. Mr Paynter, who supported the nuclear plan, said the region's future success hinged on the employment opportunities on offer. He said a nuclear reactor would have created jobs during its construction phase, but the plant would not require a large workforce once it was up and running. Instead, he suggested Port Augusta was well-placed to play a greater role within South Australia's mining industry. "They've got the infrastructure here for some of the heavy industry," he said. "There's a lot of mining going on around the place, [they could] tap into some of the heavy construction maintenance." Greg Bannon felt the region had scarcely settled one nuclear debate — the now-scrapped proposal to build a low-level nuclear waste dump near Kimba — when the Coalition's plan was put forward. "It was really like a punch in the guts," he said. Mr Bannon, who lives 40 kilometres from Port Augusta at Quorn and had campaigned against the dump, said Port Augusta has had to reinvent itself in the past and could do so again. "We also had a very big railway workshop here, it was a huge employer with lots of apprenticeships," he said. "Railways built everything. So that was a big loss when that was taken away and of course the most recent large employer has been the coal-fired power station." He said the transition to renewables had been more economically beneficial than some gave it credit for — and maintained that Port Augusta's future was still in energy generation. "Renewables have provided jobs," he said. "We've got Sundrop Farm down there, which … grows tomatoes from gulf water that's been desalinated and solar mirrors." He said another potential energy source was tidal energy, which he felt had not been fully explored. On the outskirts of Port Augusta sits the Aboriginal community of Davenport — a small population that local Malcolm "Tiger" McKenzie said had the potential to make a big contribution. The Adnyamathanha, Kuyani and Luritja elder said, to ensure the future prosperity of Port Augusta, a focus must be on training and opportunities for young people. He said that should happen in collaboration with current or future industry. "If we all come together as one because there's a lot of mining companies … then we formed a partnership, joint ventures with those mining companies," he said. "We can create like a training hub, a business hub here in Port Augusta to build those opportunities for Aboriginal people and for all people."
