Mount Brown Conservation Park

Where is it?: Mount Brown Conservation Park is situated 20km W of Port Augusta and 15km S of Quorn.

Owner: Department for Environment and Water.

Property summary: Total area 2264 hectares. Hundred of Woolundunga – Sections 150, 151, 163, 209, 212, 230, 238, 246, 256, 324, 353 and 368

Landscape Management Region: South Australian Arid Lands

History: Mount Brown was named by Mathews Flinders and is named after Robert Brown, the expedition botanist, who with Westall and Ferdinand Bauer climbed to the summit on March 10-11 1802, too view the surrounding country. The Nukunu people are traditional custodians of the land. The former forest reserve and came under the care and control of the (then) Minster for Environment and Planning in 1990 when tenure as a forest reserve was withdrawn as a result of Woods and Forests Department rationalisation of its land.  Mount Brown Conservation Park was proclaimed on 4 November 1993. Sections 209, 212, 324 and 353 were added on 4 November 1993.

Habitat: Habitats within the park include

• Tall Open Forest – Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx) over Sweet Bursaria (Bursaria spinosa) and Rock Grass-tree (Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata)
• Open Forest – River Red Gum (E. camaldulensis) over Curry Bush (Cassinia laevis), wattles  (Acacia spp.) and Sticky Hop-bush (Dodonaea viscosa)
• Woodland to Low Open Woodland – Grey Box (E. microcarpa) over Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata), Grass-tree, Curry Bush, +/- Sweet Bursaria, +/- White Cypress-pine (Callitris glaucophylla)
• Woodland to Low Open Woodland – Grey Box over +/- Spear-grass (Austrostipa sp.), +/- Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha), +/- Curry Bush, +/- Sweet Bursaria, +/- Spinifex (Triodia irritans)
• Low Open Forest – Peppermint Box (E. odorata), South Australian Blue Gum (E. leucoxylon),   and Green Mallee (E. viridis) over Curry Bush and Mealy Saltbush (Rhagodia parabolica)
• Low Woodland – Peppermint Box and South Australian Blue Gum over Sweet Bursaria
• Low Open Forest to Low Woodland – Long-leaved Box (E. goniocalyx) over Rock Grass-tree, Curry Bush, +/- Native Cherry (Exocarpos cupressiformis), +/- Sweet Bursaria
• Low Open Forest to Low Woodland – Drooping Sheoak over Grass-tree, +/- Curry Bush
• Low Woodland to Low Open Woodland – White Cypress-pine over Curry Bush, Spinifex, +/- wattles
• Mallee – Beaked Red Mallee (E. socialis), Yorell (E. gracilis) over Dryland Tea-tree (Melaleuca lanceolata)
• Tall Open Shrubland to Low Open Shrubland – Dryland Tea-tree over grasses
• Open Shrubland – Wallowa (Acacia calamifolia), +/-  over Dryland Tea-tree over grasses
• Grassland – Spear-grass over Wallaby-grass (Rytidosperma sp.)
• Hummock Grassland – Spinifex

More information: DEWNR

Total Species Recorded to Date: 74 (non-passerines 26, passerines 48)

Common Species: Flinders Adelaide Rosella, Brown-headed Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Striated Pardalote, Inland Thornbill, Grey Shrikethrush

Less Common Species: Painted Buttonquail, Redthroat, Black-faced Cuckooshrike, Australian Golden Whistler, Jacky Winter

Updated: 26/07/2021