Granite Island Conservation Park

Where is it?: Granite Island Conservation Park is located off the south coast at Victor Harbor. Parking is available in Victor Harbor. Access to the island is via a wooden causeway 632 metres in length. The island is open daily from sunrise to sunset.

Owner: Department for Environment and Water

Property summary: Total area 31 hectares. Hundred of Encounter Bay – Allotment 1 and  Pieces 2-5 (Deposited Plan 43331) and Allotment 100 (Deposited Plan 95138)¹.

Landscape SA Management Region: Hills and Fleurieu

History: On 27 May 1965, Section 374, Hundred of Encounter Bay  was declared a Recreation Reserve under the care, control, and management of the corporation of the town of Victor Harbor. On 11 September 1969 the whole of Granite Island comprising Section 374, Sections 666 and 667 (Harbors Board Reserves), together with Pier No. 2 and slipway, Pier No.3, breakwater and the causeway to the mainland and all those waters of Encounter Bay situate within five chains from low water mark on the said island, piers, slipway, breakwater and causeway were declared a Fauna Sanctuary²

Allotment 1 and pieces 2, 3, 4 and 5 (Deposited Plan) 43331, Hundred of Encounter Bay, extending to low water mark were proclaimed as Granite Island Conservation Park on 30 September 1999³.

It is the most visited park in South Australia.

Habitat: As its name suggests this park is dominated by its large granite boulders. Most of the island is open grassland with some Drooping Sheaok (Allocasuarina verticillata) in sheltered areas.

More information: NPWSSA, Friends of Granite Island

Total Species Recorded to Date: 72 (non-passerines 55, passerines 17)

Common Species: Little Pied Cormorant, Pacific Gull, Silver Gull, Singing Honeyeater, Australian Magpie, Spur-winged Plover

Less Common Species: Australian Boobook, Black-faced Cormorant, Little Penguin, Common Sandpiper

References:
¹ Department for Environment and Water (2019). Protected Areas Information System Property Summary Report (15 March 2019). Adelaide, South Australia. p. 8. 

2 Government of South Australia. (1965). Crown Lands Act, 1929-1960: Hundred of Encounter Bay—Recreation Reserve Dedicated. The South Australian Government Gazette  22: 1299. (27 May 1965).

3 Government of South Australia. (1969). Fauna Conservation Act, 1964-1965: Hundred of Encounter Bay—Fauna Sanctuary Declared. The South Australian Government Gazette  37: 757. (11 September 1969).

4 Government of South Australia. (1999). National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Section
34(1): Constitution of Granite Recreation Park. The South Australian Government Gazette  136: 134. (30 September 1999).

Updated: 20/01/2022