4feature Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong>’s treasured lighthouse. Photo: Brad Butler 14 <strong>Northern</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Yorke</strong> <strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Resources</strong> Management Board
4feature All h<strong>and</strong>s on Althorpe They come from all over to maintain an isl<strong>and</strong> safe haven <strong>for</strong> bird life <strong>and</strong> human nature. Lance Campbell reports. These days, the Friends of Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong>s Conservation Park fly in by helicopter twice a year. Not bad <strong>for</strong> a bunch of boxthorn grubbers, but theirs is an important job to do out there around the lighthouse in the deep blue sea at the western end of Investigator Strait. They come from all over to the main 92-hectare Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong>, which has been a guiding light to ships at sea <strong>for</strong> 131 years <strong>and</strong> home to mutton birds <strong>and</strong> sea eagles <strong>and</strong> sea lions <strong>and</strong> seals, stormy petrels <strong>and</strong> fairy penguins. Althorpe is 4.5 nautical miles off Cape Spencer on the south coast of <strong>Yorke</strong> Peninsula, with Marion Bay to the west the nearest town. As Friend <strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong>mer lighthouse keeper John Lawley explains, “The remoteness of Althorpe doesn’t lend itself to a local Friends group. So we come from near <strong>and</strong> far – in <strong>and</strong> around Adelaide, interstate <strong>and</strong> overseas. “We’re widespread, cosmopolitan, all volunteers.” The French explorer Nicolas Baudin sighted Althorpe, the smaller Haystack <strong>and</strong> Seal Isl<strong>and</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> islets <strong>and</strong> rocky reefs, in 1802. He named them Isles Vauban, which survives with Vauban Point on the southwest corner. But Matthew Flinders was right on Baudin’s stern, deciding on Omicron Isl<strong>and</strong>. That soon changed to the present name after Viscount Althorpe, a Spencer <strong>and</strong> ancestor of the late Princess Diana. John lived on Althorpe as the lighthouse keeper’s son from 1959 to 1961, <strong>and</strong> as the man in charge from 1978 to 1981. “It’s a majestic place,” he says. “The isl<strong>and</strong> is high, <strong>and</strong> the wide views across Investigator Strait are quite thrilling”. The eye can see south to the cliffs of Kangaroo Isl<strong>and</strong>, west to Wedge Isl<strong>and</strong> in Spencer Gulf <strong>and</strong> on to Port Lincoln, 32 nautical miles away. North is Innes National Park. East is Investigator Strait with the next lighthouse, Troubridge Isl<strong>and</strong>, off Edithburgh at the entrance to Gulf St Vincent. Althorpe is a peaceful place, like a retreat <strong>and</strong> “very good <strong>for</strong> reflection,” John says. The visiting Friends have time <strong>for</strong> that, but they are also there to work. The main trips to Althorpe are in May <strong>and</strong> November, in groups of between five <strong>and</strong> nine. They stay a week to eight days, living in the old lighthouse accommodation, with solar power <strong>and</strong> rainwater from the keepers’ cottage roofs. By day, the Friends go hunting boxthorn, funded by State Government community grants, which includes the cost of the chopper. African boxthorn is rated Australia’s 24 th worst weed, a scourge that invades native vegetation, alters habitat <strong>and</strong> provides haven <strong>for</strong> feral animals. While the feral goats <strong>and</strong> cats of Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong> have been eliminated, getting rid of the boxthorn, introduced in the 1930s, is easier said than done. The Friends completely cover the isl<strong>and</strong> on their visits, but they are up against a tough weed. The feral goats controlled the boxthorn until they went in 1990. Then Cadell Training Centre did much of the early removal work as community service. However, boxthorn will not pass up an opportunity to grow again. If not bio-controlled, poisoned or removed completely, it re-sprouts readily from its deep, woody taproot. “There’s plenty of regeneration from roots, stumps <strong>and</strong> seedlings,” John says. “There’s a seed pool. A good part of our work is tidying up of boxthorn regrowth be<strong>for</strong>e it matures <strong>and</strong> produces seed.” Most South Australians are aware of boxthorn as a pest plant, but in coastal areas such as Althorpe the threat is heightened because its dense thickets can interfere with sea bird breeding. The Environment <strong>and</strong> <strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Resources</strong> Department acknowledges that the isl<strong>and</strong> is an “important habitat <strong>for</strong> marine mammals <strong>and</strong> sea birds.” It is seasonal home to an estimated 22,000 mutton birds, or short tailed shearwaters, which migrate to the Aleutian Isl<strong>and</strong>s in the northern Pacific each Australian winter, be<strong>for</strong>e returning via the west coast of the US to breed in our summer. From the time the light was first switched on in 1879 until it was automated in 1991, the white bellied sea eagle was a common sight on Althorpe. The next biggest raptor in Australian skies after the wedgetail eagle <strong>and</strong> regarded as vulnerable on <strong>Yorke</strong> Peninsula <strong>and</strong> endangered in SA, it disappeared around the same time as the permanent human population returned to the mainl<strong>and</strong>. A theory is that the sea eagle moved to nearby Haystack Isl<strong>and</strong>, perhaps because its Althorpe habitat Above: Volunteers Valerie <strong>and</strong> Rachael Lawley removing boxthorn at Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong>s Conservation Park. Photo: John Lawley became overrun with boxthorn when the people <strong>and</strong> goats left. It may be coincidence, but after the Friends got on the boxthorn case, a pair of sea eagles returned to Althorpe about four years ago. John Lawley also recalls the rare osprey, or sea hawk, on Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong>. As yet the osprey, also endangered in SA, hasn’t come back, but nobody has given up hope. Another 40 native bird species live in the conservation park. Australian sea lions visit the isl<strong>and</strong>, while a colony of New Zeal<strong>and</strong> fur seals, hunted <strong>for</strong> almost 100 years until the end of the 19 th century, thrives in a cove on the eastern side of Althorpe. DENR says that other factors, such as the fishing industry, human disturbance, oil spills <strong>and</strong> disease can still threaten the two species, especially the sea lion. With the spectacular l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> ocean views <strong>and</strong> the wildlife, observed from a sustainable distance, it’s no wonder that John Lawley describes a working visit to Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong> as “an adventure.” He says, “We are isolated out there. We go into a tribal situation, a live-in community where we care <strong>for</strong> each other”. That includes working together, <strong>and</strong> not just on boxthorn control. Also on the tasks list can be other weeds such as tree mallow, repairs to the three heritage listed cottages, maintenance of gravesites, tracks, machinery <strong>and</strong> signs, <strong>and</strong> a herbarium. The Friends of Althorpe Isl<strong>and</strong>s Conservation Park are always looking <strong>for</strong> new members to share their experience. They can contact John Lawley or his wife Erika on 8528 5331 or lawley@sa.chariot.net.au “We have volunteers from all over the world,” John says. “They say, ‘Why didn’t we do this be<strong>for</strong>e?’” <strong>Northern</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Yorke</strong> <strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Resources</strong> Management Board 15
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