Warrawong.
Warrawong is an Australian Aboriginal word with two meanings, “a whiting” and “side of a hill”. This is about Warrawong Sanctuary, a wildlife reserve up in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
The wildlife sanctuary was established by Dr John Wamsley, his plan to eradicate introduced species of flora and fauna in the pursuit to conserve endangered Australian wildlife. The property was a degraded dairy farm which he purchased in 1969. He succeeded in eradicating all feral species from the property, fencing the area off to preserve the feral free state. The sanctuary was opened to the public in 1985 to raise money in the hope to set up more of these sanctuaries. A company was also created with a strategy to establish a network of sanctuaries providing conservation across all of Australia’s habitats. Unfortunately after being listed on the stock exchange in 2000, the float being under-subscribed and leaving the company A$10 million short of its projected funds, the company was unable to fulfill it’s goals.
But the sanctuary remained. The place provided families, groups and schools a great opportunity to see Australian flora and fauna just a short drive up into the hills surrounding Adelaide. There were shows during the day where you could learn about the food chain, meet spiders, frogs and lizards. You could book to go on the family feed walk an hour before sunset, following a guide around the sanctuary as they fed the Tammar Wallabies with the chance of spotting a platypus in the pools if you were quiet and just a bit lucky! You could also do a nocturnal walk, seeing animals like the bettongs, wallabies, bandicoots and possums out on their nightly adventures. There was a the Bilby Cafe with large windows to see the beautiful bushland surrounds and you could even book to stay overnight in one of the sanctuaries cabins.
Warrawong was a great educational tool as well as providing a place of conservation for our Australian wildlife. It just wasn’t a commercial success. It closed for a short period in 2005 and was bought by Anthony Miller, the owner of the Gumeracha Toy Factory and Big Rocking Horse, with a commitment to continue operations. The sanctuary went on to be bought by Zoos South Australia and the Ngarrindjerri people in 2010 but within 3 years it was closed due to it being an unsustainable investment.
The school excursions here were great. We filled out our fact sheets and followed our guide all over the property. Listening to them about the animals who lived there and the local plants that sustained them. It was beautiful really. The last time I visited the sanctuary was probably about 2009. We did the nocturnal walk and it was fantastic. We spotted so many animals while we were rugged up against the cold of the Adelaide Hills. It makes me sad that this great place is no longer open as it’s the sort of outing my son would have loved.
A wildlife park that is still open to the public is Urimbirra, close to Victor Harbour. It’s good fun but doesn’t have the same conservation message as Warrawong had, as it’s home to farm animals as well as Australian native species. I have taken my son here with my Mum, Dad and sister which was a fun day. The highlight for my son was seeing his Nan chased by the hungry Alpacas! The time before I was heavily pregnant with my son and it was extremely hot in the Adelaide 2013 summer. My partner and I took Mr M, my partners 9 year old (at the time) and he had a great time feeding the kangaroos, patting a koala and spotting other wildlife.
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