Declared Rare and Poorly Known Flora in the Geraldton District

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Reviewing Departmental policy on Declared Rare Flora is the responsibility of the CALM Corporate Executive;Identification of Declared Rare Flora is the initial responsibility of Herbarium staff, but should, with appropriatetraining, become a Regional responsibility also;Locating Declared Rare Flora is the responsibility of Bioconservation Group (CALMScience) staff, WildlifeBranch and the Western Australian Threatened Species and Communities Unit (WATSCU) (NatureConservation Division) and Regional Services Division staff;Determination of land status and preparation of material for notification to landowners is the responsibility ofWildlife Branch;Hand-delivered notification to landowners of Declared Rare Flora populations is the responsibility of Regionalstaff and Wildlife Branch;Maintenance of Declared Rare Flora information and database, and dissemination of these data are theresponsibility of Wildlife Branch;Advice on management prescriptions is the responsibility of staff of Bioconservation Group (CALMScience),Regional Ecologists (Regional Services Division), Wildlife Branch and WATSCU staff;Coordination of Recovery Plans and Interim Recovery Plans for threatened taxa is the responsibility ofWATSCU;Management, protection and regular inspection of Declared Rare Flora populations is the responsibility of staffof the Geraldton District;Enforcement matters relating to the provisions of the Wildlife Conservation Act are the responsibility of WildlifeOfficers in the Midwest Region;Implementation and revision of the Management Program is the responsibility of the Geraldton DistrictThreatened Flora Recovery Team.6. The Geraldton DistrictThe CALM Geraldton District is part of the Midwest Region and extends inland from Geraldton for ca. 540 km to itsmost easterly boundary east of Sandstone near Depot Springs. On the western side it runs north from Dongara to thenorthern boundary of the Kalbarri National Park. The northern boundary extends roughly eastwards from that pointalong the northern boundaries of the Northampton and Mullewa Shires, crossing the Murchison River ca. 100 kminland. It then extends north-east across the Murchison Shire, reaching its most northerly point on the northernboundary of the Cue Shire, crossing the Great Northern Highway about 60 km north-east of Cue. It includes theSandstone Shire and the southern boundary runs from there westwards along the southern boundaries of the Yalgoo,Perenjori and Morowa Shires and along the Midlands Highway from the Mingenew Shire boundary to Dongara. Itswidest point from north to south runs just west of Mt Magnet and Paynes Find and is ca. 330 km long.The south-western part of the District is bounded by CALM’s Moora District, which is also part of the Midwest Region.The Merredin District, part of the Wheatbelt Region, borders the central part of the southern boundary and the easternsection (the Sandstone Shire) is adjacent to the Goldfields Region. Its northern boundary is adjacent to the GascoyneDistrict of the Midwest Region. The District includes the Shires of Sandstone, Cue, Mt Magnet, Yalgoo, Perenjori,Morowa, Mullewa, Greenough, Chapman Valley and Northampton, and part of the Shires of Murchison, Irwin andMingenew.The District covers an area of 137 338 km 2 , with one national park (Kalbarri National Park) of 183 004 hectares, oneconservation park (Coalseam) of 753 hectares, two timber reserves (26 338 hectares), a pastoral lease of 59 908 hectaresand 55 nature reserves (85 284 hectares of conservation reserves) managed by CALM. The area of the District clearedfor farming is relatively small, running from south of the Kalbarri National Park down the western side of the District,extending inland for about 100 km to east of Morowa, Mullewa and Yuna. Most of the conservation reserves areconcentrated in this area, with very few further eastward in the pastoral area which covers a major part of the District.However, Burnerbinmah Station, south-west of Paynes Find, is leasehold in the name of the Executive Director ofCALM.16
The large pastoral proportion of the District is reflected in the fact that most of the Declared Rare Flora are found on itswestern side, with few on the eastern side, which is also less well known and less surveyed botanically. The proportionof Declared Rare Flora populations in the District which occur on road and rail reserves is less (a quarter of the totalnumber of populations, compared to a half in the Moora District), than in other Districts further south, which alsoreflects the difference in land use between this District and those which are mainly within the South-West BotanicalProvince. Even in the north-west of the District most of the Declared Rare Flora populations occur on pastoral leases,the national park or other Crown land.The impact of fungal disease in the District is low. Most of the area has rainfall levels which are too low to supportinfections of Phytophthora species. The south-west corner of the District, where rainfall levels are higher, has largeareas of sandplain over limestone, which are well drained and therefore unlikely to provide suitable conditions for thespread of dieback. An area in the north-west of the District reported to have an infection of a species of Phytophthorain the mid 1980s has been monitored since but the disease has not been reconfirmed there.6.1 ClimateThe climate of the Geraldton District varies considerably from the coastal belt inland to the eastern limit of the District.Rainfall decreases from an annual average of ca. 500 mm in the south-west of the District near the coast to ca. 200 mmin the north-east in the dry inland areas. Near the coast in the Geraldton area the climate is defined as dry warmMediterranean, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers, the rainfall sufficient for four winter months for crops tobe grown, whilst the remaining eight months of the year are generally dry. Further inland in the Yalgoo area, the semidesertclimate still has a winter maximum rainfall and is also Mediterranean, with fairly reliable winter rain and someadditional summer rain from thunderstorms. Further inland, for example, as at Cue, the climate is desert, with bothwinter and summer rainfall peaks. Here the summer rain is received from tropical cyclones moving in a southerly orsouth-easterly direction. Winter rainfall from southern depressions is dependable only along the coastal belt as only thestrongest depressions penetrate far enough inland to bring any effective winter rain, and in this inland area neithersummer or winter rainfall is reliable and in some years, no rain falls.Temperatures in the District vary from a mean February maximum of 32.2° C and a mean July maximum of 19.4° C atGeraldton, to a mean January maximum of 37.7° C and a mean July maximum of 18.4° C at Yalgoo, and at Cue, a meanJanuary maximum of 37.8° C and a mean July maximum of 18.2° C. Mean minimum temperatures range from 8.8° Cin September at Geraldton to 6.1° C in July at Yalgoo and 6.9° C in July at Cue.6.2 Geology, Landforms and SoilsMuch of the eastern part of the District is part of the Archaean Yilgarn Block, which is composed mainly of gneissesand granites, with minor infolded belts of metamorphic sedimentary and igneous rocks. The metamorphic rocks consistof a wide variety of volcanic and sedimentary assemblages, including basalts, lavas and tuffs, banded ironstone,jaspalite and chert, and shale, siltstone, sandstone, greywacke and conglomerate. The mafic (basalt) rocks are known asgreenstones and the sediments as whitestones. The rocks of the metamorphic belts are harder and more resistant thangneiss and granite, so they form ranges of hills, the granites and gneiss underlying sandplains and other plain areas. Themetamorphic rocks are also of economic importance as a result of their mineralisation, and are mined for gold, nickel,copper and iron ore.The western boundary of the Yilgarn Block is mainly formed by the Darling Fault which runs northwards through theDistrict from east of Arrino in the south, to just west of Mullewa and north to the Greenough River near BarraweelbarraHill and thence to the northern boundary of the District just east of the Murchison River at Mulla Mulla Flat. In theDistrict, it does not form a feature visible on the ground as it does nearer Perth.West of the Fault, the edge of the continent has subsided into the Perth Basin, which was submerged and became filledwith sediments. Since the end of the Cretaceous period, the area has been above sea level and has become weatheredand denuded. Part of the Geraldton area did not become submerged with the Perth Basin. This is the NorthamptonBlock, which formed an island of Proterozoic rocks until Mesozoic time when it was covered with a thin sequence offlat Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. The rocks of this Block have been metamorphosed and are mainly of granulites andquartzites, with large intrusions of granite. The rocks deposited in the Perth Basin are sandstones and shales. Some ofthe Permian rock contains coal seams and the youngest Cretaceous rocks consist of radiolarite and chert.A second fault, the Urella Fault, runs parallel to the Darling Fault and lies about 20 km west of the latter in the Dongaraarea. The Irwin Sub-basin lies between the two faults and has a narrow belt of Precambrian metamorphic rocks to the17
Page 2 and 3: Department of Conservation and Land
Page 4 and 5: TABLE OF CONTENTSPagePage4
Page 6: Grevillea fililoba.................
Page 10 and 11: ABBREVIATIONSCoCoorow ShireCVChapma
Page 12 and 13: Figure 1.Location of the Geraldton
Page 14 and 15: Figure 2.The Geraldton District cov
Page 19 and 20: Mingenew areas has loamy soils, whi
Page 22 and 23: (1942b) who was appointed as Govern
Page 24 and 25: PART THREE: PRIORITY FLORA IN THE G
Page 26 and 27: A number of Declared Rare Flora are
Page 28 and 29: disease. Recreation should be contr
Page 30 and 31: Populations in need of linear marki
Page 32 and 33: Drakonorchis barbarella ms 14 1 1 0
Page 34 and 35: TABLE 2.Geraldton District Declared
Page 36 and 37: Gunniopsis rubra 2Homalocalyx chapm
Page 38 and 39: Malleostemon sp. Kalbarri (L.A.Crav
Page 40 and 41: Table 4. Priority Four Taxa in the
Page 42 and 43: DECLARED RARE FLORAConservation cod
Page 44 and 45: Levenhookia octomaculata ..........
Page 46 and 47: Millotia jacksonii.................
Page 48 and 49: GLOSSARYabaxialacheneacuminateacute
Page 50 and 51: cormcorollacorymbcrispedcrowncuneat
Page 52 and 53: herbherbaceoushilumhyalinehybridhyp
Page 54 and 55: paniculatepapillapappuspedicelpedun
Page 56 and 57: simplesinuatesinussolitaryspathespa
Page 58 and 59: valveveinvenationverticillatevesicl
Page 60 and 61: Broadhurst, L.M. & Tan, B.H. (1995)
Page 62 and 63: Erickson, R. & Willis, J.H. (1966).
Page 64 and 65: Keighery, G.J. (1982). Macarthuria
Page 66 and 67:
Napier, A.C., Taylor, A. & Hopper,
Page 68:
Weston, P. (1994). The Western Aust
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Declared Rare and Poorly Known Flora in the Geraldton District

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