Neds Corner 25th to 28th August 2017

Graeme Willis
Aug 27, 2017 · 7 min read

24th August 2017.

Today was a travel day. 643km from Melbourne to Ned’s Corner. We left Melbourne at 9.50am and arrived at 5.30pm. A reasonable drive, but the roads were fine with little traffic.

We are staying at Ned’s Corner Station which is a Trust for Nature property.

The history of the property is as follows:

· Purchased by the Trust for Nature in 2002.

· Previously a sheep station since the late 1800's.

· 73,000 acres (30,000 hectares) and the largest freehold property in Victoria.

· 35 kilometre access to the Murray River.

· Alluvial plain covered with saltbush and bluebush, black box woodlands and sand dunes with remnant Belah, Sugarwood and Murray Pine and river red gum, black box and lignum along the river.

· 217 indigenous plant species, 33 of which are classified as depleted, vulnerable or endangered, 128 species of native birds and 34 species of mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

· Comprises of the Homestead, Manager’s Quarters, Shearing Shed, Shearer’s Quarters and various associated buildings.

Location

· 82 kilometres west of Mildura on Sturt Highway, 16 kilometres north on Neds Corner Road.

· Part of the Murray Darling Basin, the largest and most critical catchment in Australia extending over 1 million square kilometres and containing the three longest Australian rivers — the Murray, Murrumbidgee and the Darling.

· Part of a chain of protected land linking the Murray Sunset National Park to the west and east with the Victoria.

·The station adjoins Mulcra Island which is bounded by the Murray River and Potterwalkagee Creek. Ground-breaking work undertaken by the Murray Darling Basin Authority has restored periodic flooding of the creek as it was prior to the weirs and recreate wetland habitat.

· Mulcra Island is a few hundred metre walk from the homestead.

The importance of Ned’s Corner Station

· The challenge of understanding and restoring the Murray Darling Basin catchment is one of the most important tasks facing Australia from both an environmental and economic point of view.

· Ned’s Corner Station sits in the middle of this catchment and with the assistance of scientists, government, benefactors and the community provides us with a golden opportunity to understand and contribute to solving these issues.

Accommodation

We are staying in a collage as below:

Having arrived at 5.30pm there was little time to have a good look around before nightfall, but did take some photos of the homestead grounds.

The picture above of the “Cottage” was our accommodation — modest and warm.

25th August 2017

Today we travelled to Murray-Sunset National Park. It was a long day’s travel. I did not take a note of the milage, but I suspect it was over 150km on dirt / sandy tracks.

Again some photos of the day. The first four are of a little Brown Songlark who sat on a post and gave us a song. The next four are a grey Butcherbird who was doing his best to be invisible in his mind. The last two are of an Owlet Nightjar which is a nocturnal bird and not often seen during the day.

The last photo is spinifex grass.

26th August 2017

Cold nights and nice sunny days. First two days have been really nice weather wise. Over night down to 3- 4 degree during the day 15 or 16 degree and sunny.

Apostlebirds and female Gilbert’s Whistler. The Apostlebirds are very social always groups of them and plenty of chatter.
Male Gilbert’s Whistler, Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo and early morning Murray River
Murray River and Red-capped Robin
Superb Fairy-wren
Tawny Frogmouth — These guys are the master of disguise. Note the marking on his chest that loolk like leaves.
Wheat Fields. The area has had good rains so far, so most of it looks good.
Willie Wagtail

27th August 2017

Most of the morning was spent around the homestead before leaving for home at mid day.

Emus in the wheat fields and the Murray River at the homestead
Juvanile Variegated Fairy-wren and Lake Tyrrell and Sea Lake
Murray River Red Gums and a Red-capped Robin
Southern Whiteface and a young male Variegated Fairy-wren
Wheat field and White-faced Heron

Ned’s Corner Station has 35km of Murray River frontage. It currently comprises 75,000 acres. Originally it was 477,000 acres and streched all the way to the South Australian border. It’s one of many Trust for Nature’s properties in Victoria. There objective is to return it to its natural state. They provided us with a presentation of the work undertaken to date and it’s clear good progress is being made.

Along the river bank new river Red Gums are starting to regenerate as well as some very old and magnificant Red Gum trees. Some photos taken down by the river.

First photo Ned’s Corner landscape, then some river Red Gums and a Variegated Fairy-wren
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