Latest news with #FlindersRanges
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Science
- Yahoo
'Vague' 40-year-old clue helps bring rare species back from the brink of extinction
A native plant has been brought back from the brink of extinction, with its yellow daisy-like flowers once again decorating a remote area where it hasn't been seen in 40 years. The superb groundsel, a 'showy' perennial shrub endemic to South Australia, once thrived throughout the state's central Flinders Ranges, with plants stretching 'all the way down' to the Mount Lofty Ranges. However, by the late 1990s, many of the species' populations were presumed extinct, with only one remaining just north of the bluff known as the Dutchmans Stern. Determined to save the plant from vanishing altogether, officers from the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre (SASCC) ventured out into the field in 2023, after receiving additional funding, with the hope of discovering remnant groups. Using historical records, experts scoured rivers and gorges where they had previously been seen, but were ultimately left empty-handed. Even the population near the Dutchmans Stern 'was a lot lower' than what records portrayed, with only a handful of seedlings spotted, Thai Te, a technical officer for SASCC, told Yahoo News. 'Vague' historical record leads to 'surprising' plant discovery However, after some sleuthing, conservationists learned of a superb groundsel sighting from 1985 in Black Rock, south of Orroroo. '[It was] a very vague location,' Thai said, explaining he and his coworkers didn't expect to find any of the plants in the 'heavily grazed' area. 'We were just walking up the creek line a bit, and then decided to go up a slope and you could see — from 50 metres away — the yellow flowers in the distance.' Curious but still doubtful, the group headed towards the plants for a closer look. 'It was quite a surprise to find that [they were] still hanging on up on top of a hill,' Thai said. After taking a good look around, the SASCC employees were able to identify a total of 34 superb groundsels in the area, from which they took seeds that were later germinated and nurtured at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 'We were able to propagate quite a few plants from [that site],' Thai added. Iconic Aussie park fights to save incredibly rare plant facing 'big threats' Scientists stumble upon 'rare' Aussie bush flower thought extinct for 86 years Friendly competition between cousins solves 20-year mystery Species returns to habitat 40 years after it was last seen This June, after heavy rainfall brought some relief to the state's prolonged drought, 100 of the superb groundsel seedlings were translocated to a property near the Marne River Gorge. The species was last recorded in the area in 1984, with surveys confirming it had disappeared over the subsequent decades. 'There used to be a decent population in there... we've been walking up and down that gorge a few times and haven't found anything… it was a way of trying to re-establish that population,' Thai said. 'Without some effort in trying to maintain these plants, they're just slowly going to disappear.' While there are no domestic livestock on the property — the owner of which has offered to help support conservation efforts — an enclosure was constructed around the seedlings to protect them from grazing goats, kangaroos, feral deer and rabbits. 'This plant does get grazed by goats and other things, and that's why we think it might have disappeared from some of the sites,' Thai told Yahoo, adding that it was an 'exciting moment' being able to reintroduce the native species back into the wild. 'We've got plans to try and put some more out into other sites that are suitable.' Thai and his co-workers' efforts are part of a larger project to protect SA's endangered orchid and flora species, with experts working to bring around 100 'pretty rare' plants back from the brink. To learn more, click here. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
ABC News
a day ago
- Science
- ABC News
Future of world-significant fossil site secured with Nilpena cattle station sale
A quarter of a century ago, Ross and Jane Fargher opened the gates of their cattle station, Nilpena, to a team of palaeontologists to examine fossils found in the property's rocky hills. So began a long love affair with the remote property in South Australia's Flinders Ranges for US palaeontologist Mary Droser and her family. "These rocks capture the dawn of animal life," Dr Droser said. "And so imagine turning over a rock and having those fossils see the light of day for the first time in over half a billion years. Those "crazy things" are fossils of soft-bodied marine organisms that existed before animals had skeletons, when the arid area 530 kilometres north of Adelaide was more ocean that outback. Since Ross Fargher uncovered the fossil site in the mid-1980s, Dr Droser and her team from the University of California, along with experts from the South Australian Museum, have excavated 40 ancient sea beds. The largest one, which they've focused on recently, is known as Fun Bed. "As you look across the surface you can see lots of bumps and squiggles, and every inch of this bed is covered with the fossilised remains of organisms," Dr Droser said. Some are familiar, like the poster child of the Ediacaran period, Dickinsonia, and South Australia's state fossil emblem, Spriggina. Spriggina is named after Australian geologist Reg Sprigg, who discovered these types of fossils in the Ediacara Hills in 1946, inspiring the name of the Ediacaran period. Other fossils on Fun Bed are newer finds, including Obamus coronatus, named after former US president Barack Obama. "This guy here is called Quaestio simpsonorum, which has a question mark in the middle of it," Dr Droser explained as she pointed to the fossil. "This was newly discovered on this bed and we have about 15 on this bed, and it's totally whacky." Someone who has worked and played on these hills almost as long as Mary Droser is her son Ian Hughes, who started coming to Nilpena as a baby. "I love being out here. The people are family and also the science, there's just so many fossils," Mr Hughes said. Now 25, the Harvard University marine biology PhD student dedicates a good deal of his time to Earth's ancient sea creatures including the wormlike Uncus dzaugisi, which he identified last year. "We're really quite confident that it was an early ecdysozoan and so this is a member of a group of animals that includes things like insects and nematode worms, so a really exciting advanced fossil for the Ediacaran." As more rare rocks have been revealed, including what Dr Droser says are the fossilised remains of our oldest relative, researchers are gaining a much clearer view of the big picture. "We're starting to understand how these communities functioned," Dr Droser said. "So yes, I have no plan of ending in the very near future. I have a lot of great students who will continue to work here, because one day it will be very hard for me to make it up these hills." But while Mary Droser's work will continue, the farming family who invited her on to Nilpena are farewelling the property they've called home for more than 40 years. In 2019, the Farghers sold two-thirds of the station to the South Australian government, which turned it into the Nilpena Ediacara National Park. "We were keen to not just sell it as a pastoral lease, because the next people that bought it may not be interested in fossils," Ross Fargher said. And now, as the site attracts more attention, the Farghers are signing over the rest of the property to the government, which is extending the park. "It'll probably hit home when we drive out with our last load of gear from the homestead at the end of the year. At the moment it still feels like it's our place," Mr Fargher said. "Jane and Ross are family … [it's] very sad for us, but I think you have to look at the future and how things move ahead and what's best for everybody," Dr Droser said. It's a legacy that is set to make it onto a very elite list. Nilpena is at the centre of a decade-long bid for the Flinders Ranges to make it onto UNESCO's World Heritage List for its role in telling the story of the dawn of animal life. "World Heritage is a really long process. I'm not sure how many of them I want to do in my lifetime," SA National Parks program director Jason Irving said. "We started this one in 2016, and ideally in 2027, if all goes well, we will be on the World Heritage list." Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.
ABC News
01-08-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Hail creates snow-like scenes in outback towns of South Australia's far north
Parts of outback South Australia looked more like a scene from a European winter yesterday, after a massive hailstorm covered desert terrain in the state's far north in white. It was a sight rarely witnessed in South Australia, especially so far north — much to the amazement of locals and travellers — as temperatures dropped to freezing levels. Kath Acton lives in the Riverland but has been travelling through the Flinders Ranges for a couple of weeks. "We were driving from Wilpena to Rawnsley and it started hailing so we pulled up," she said. "Then the sound on the roof of the car changed and the drops on the windscreen changed and we all realised we were getting snowed on. "The outside temperature dropped to 3 degrees. It was very cold." The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the icy white witnessed in the Flinders Ranges and opal mining town of Andamooka was mostly LASH, which stood for large accumulation of small hail. BOM meteorologist Daniel Sherwin-Simpson said light snowfall was possible, but not confirmed. "We did expect to see some thunderstorms up around the Flinders Ranges, [but] we probably weren't expecting the accumulation of small hail that we got, the LASH. "There were also some decent showers up there with some localised flash flooding, so it'll be interesting to see what actually made it into the rain gauge." Mr Sherwin-Simpson said the bureau had not received the data for Andamooka yet. "It can take two or three days," he said. "The highest we saw was Arkaroola, which received 7 millimetres of rain yesterday." In Andamooka, about 20 minutes north-east of Roxby Downs, the hail arrived just after midday, starting lightly before hammering down. The BOM received many hail reports from the town, where local Leila Day said it sounded "like rocks" on the tin roofs. "We weren't really sure it was hail for a minute, then it got thicker and stronger," she said. "[Now] everyone's out making snow angels." Matthew Kathegan, an Andamooka opal miner, was one of those rolling in the hail while others nearby were making snowballs. "I just had to get into it," he said. "I've seen a little bit of hail in the past before, but nothing that piled up that much and made it look like snow. There was snow on roofs and roads, it was absolutely everywhere." He said the hail rained down for about an hour and a half, and it gathered on the ground in little balls the size of "Tic Tacs". But as quickly as the weather event arrived, it was gone — the hail melted and swept out of town — and everything was "back to getting dry again," Mr Kathegan said. "We were lucky to get out there when we did," he said. "I've only been to the snow once in my life, but it really did feel like snow." Snow in the outback is not completely unheard of, with parts of the Flinders Ranges receiving a light snowfall in 2020. However, the BOM does not expect the snow-like conditions to continue. "There could be a couple of showers about the far-eastern border of the state, up around Moomba," Mr Sherwin-Simpson said. "But nothing like the hail we saw yesterday." According to a University of New South Wales study released earlier this week, the frequency of "giant" hail and the number of hail days in a season could increase substantially for multiple Australian cities as the climate warms. Giant hail has been shown to cause substantial damage to cities, with some of Australia's most expensive insurance disasters caused by hailstorms. The BOM issues warnings when hail is over 2 centimetres in size.
SBS Australia
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
First Nation artist
LISTEN TO SBS Indonesian 07/07/2025 08:19 Indonesian Adnyamathanha, Luritja and Lower Southern Arrernte woman Juanella Donovan sold her first painting at the age of 12, to a tourist in the South Australian Flinders Ranges. Her work is now exhibited internationally, and she's stepped up to front a new Aboriginal art collective that' providing artists with a culturally respectful way to make an income in Port Augusta. Listen to SBS Indonesian every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 3 pm. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to our podcasts .
News.com.au
08-07-2025
- Climate
- News.com.au
Wild winds batter southern Australia, sparking power outages, emergency call-outs
Wild winds have swept across South Australia downing trees, damaging homes and knocking out power to thousands, as emergency services warned the worst may not be over. Authorities are urging people to avoid unnecessary travel with another burst of damaging winds expected on Wednesday. The Bureau of Meteorology reported gusts of up to 102 km/h at Cape Willoughby and warned that a second cold front arriving Wednesday morning could bring further destructive winds, particularly to the West Coast and Flinders Ranges. Emergency services were called to an incident on Warren Road near Williamstown just before 11.30am on Tuesday, where a large gum tree had fallen directly onto a ute that was travelling along the road, trapping the driver and a dog inside. Police said members of the public using a grader and chainsaws assisted emergency crews to remove the tree from the crushed vehicle. 'The driver was taken to hospital by ambulance in a serious condition,' SA Police said. 'The dog appears to have escaped injury and is being cared for.' The road was cleared and police have thanked the local volunteers and community members for their assistance. By 8.30am, the SES had responded to 55 wind-related incidents across Adelaide, the Yorke and Fleurieu peninsulas, including fallen trees, roof damage, and other structure damage. SA Power Networks reported 21 outages affecting more than 5000 customers early on Tuesday morning, with impacted areas including Macclesfield, Salisbury and One Tree Hill. By 4pm, that number had been reduced to six outages, affecting just under 1000 properties. 'What a wild and windy start to the day,' SA Power Networks said in a statement. 'Strong winds have caused damage due to vegetation coming into contact with powerlines.' SA Power Networks urged residents to stay well away from any downed lines and assume they are live. Although Tuesday's cold front has moved east into Victoria and NSW, damaging winds are likely to redevelop early Wednesday, especially across the West Coast. Gusts of up to 90 km/h are expected again in elevated areas, with winds likely to ease late Wednesday evening. Rain will also intensify on Wednesday, with up to 25mm forecast for Adelaide. Victoria was also hit by damaging winds on Tuesday, with BOM issuing severe weather warnings for parts of the state, including the Grampians, Central Ranges, and parts of the Mornington Peninsula. Ballarat and the ski fields were hit with damaging winds up to 100 km/h and blizzard conditions. The SES has issued a public warning urging people to secure loose items around their properties, move cars under cover and stay indoors in severe weather. Melbourne and Canberra will see cool highs about 12 degrees through the week, with showers and windy conditions early on and possible frost. Sydney's highs are forecast to range from 17 to 20 degrees, staying mostly dry and partly cloudy. Perth's temperatures are expected to stay mild, ranging between 17 and 20 degrees with showers early in the week clearing to sunshine. Brisbane is set to remain sunny with a high of 25 on Wednesday. Darwin is forecast a hot and sunny week with highs around 30 degrees, while Hobart and Adelaide will experience cooler conditions, with highs of 11 and occasional showers.
