Site description:

Physical features:

Stream and spring fed swamps, on a rubbly waste mantle of ferruginous gibbers, sandstone and claystone. Mean annual rainfall 800 mm.

Hydrological features:

Water course: Boat Harbour Creek. Water Sources: Local runoff, spring and channel fed. Water chemistry: pH 5.14 - 7.4; Conductivity 101 - 227 uS/cm; Dissolved Oxygen c. 7.5 ppm; Temperature 7.9 - 15.5 C.

Ecological features:

The sites are composed of closed of wet shrubland and fernland with a range of vegetation assemblages present across the sites. Dominant riparian vegetation includes Leptospermum longitudinale, Leptospermum continentale, Baumea rubiginosa and Lepidosperma longitudinale. Buffer vegetation includes Eucalyptus cosmophylla and Pteridium esculentum.

Significance:

These pristine swamps support a species rich and structurally diverse assemblage of plants and animals. No major disturbance factors are apparent. Fleurieu Peninsula Swamps are a threatened ecological community (EPBC Act 1999). These swamps support a range of threatened flora and the Southern Brown Bandicoot which is threatened at state and national levels (Sv, Ne) and Mount Lofty Ranges Southern Emu-wren which is endangered at state and national levels (Se, Ne).

Notable flora:

These wetlands contain 37 plant species threatened at a regional level and 14 species threatened at a state level, these include:
Boronia parviflora - Sr, Diuris brevifolia - Sr, Drosera binata - Sr, Gonocarpus micranthus ssp. micranthus - Sr, Leucopogon hirsutus - Sr, Microtis atrata - Sr, Myriophyllum amphibium - Sr, Schoenus discifer - Sr, Schoenus laevigatus - Sr, Schoenus lepidosperma ssp. - Sr, lepidosperma - Sr, Sprengelia incarnata - Sr, Viminaria juncea - Sr, Xanthosia tasmanica - Sr, Xyris operculata - Sr.

Notable fauna:

Threatened Species: Southern Brown Bandicoot, Isoodon obesulus obesulus (Sv, Ne) and Mount Lofty Ranges Southern Emu-wren Stipiturus malachurus intermedius (Se, Ne).

Other Fauna:

See Taxon information.

Social and Cultural values:

Unknown.

Land tenure:

Tenure on site: Public and Private; Surrounding Public and Private.

Current land use:

Onsite: Conservation Park, Vacant/Unused and Grazing (Sheep). Surrounding: Conservation Park, Forestry (Pine) and Grazing (Sheep).

Disturbance or threat:

Past/Present: Decreased water regime, fragmentation by roads and nutrient enrichment from agriculture. Potential: Pine forest encroachment, Phytophthora cinnamomi infection.

Conservation measures taken:

Swamps in the lower reches of the area are protected within Deep Creek Conservation Park.

Management authority and jurisdiction:

SA Department for Environment and Heritage, Forestry SA and Private.

References:

(Harding in press) See SA Reference List

Compiler & date:

G Anderson, SA Department for Environment and Heritage, 30/5/05.

Drainage: