Tumby Island Conservation Park

Where is it?: Tumby Island Conservation Park is off the end of the headland at the southern end of Tumby Bay on Eyre Peninsula.

Owner: Department for Environment and Water.

Property summary: Total area 48 hectares. Out of Hundreds – Section 682 and Allotment 1 (Deposited Plan 31606)¹

Landscape Management Region: Eyre Peninsula

History: Tumby Bay / Island were named by Captain Matthew Flinders after a parish in Lincolnshire, England. Section 682 was proclaimed as a Fauna Reserve on 9 January 1969². It was proclaimed as Tumby Island Conservation Reserve on 27 April 1972³. Allotment 1 was added on 19 December 1991⁴.

Habitat: Marsh Saltbush (Atriplex paludosa ssp. cordata) on the clay and loam flats and Coast Daisy-bush (Olearia axillaris) on the deep sand dunes to a eucalyptus scrubland sheltering a variety of trees and shrubs. Coastal White Mallee (Eucalyptus diversifolia) dominates, forming a low canopy broken by other species such as Ridge-fruited Mallee (E. incrassata), Drooping She-oak (Allocasuarina verticillata), Southern Cypress Pine (Callitris preissii) and Weeping Pittosporum (Pittosporum angustifolium).⁵.

Total Species Recorded to Date: 21 (non-passerines 16, passerines 5)

Common Species: *Feral Pigeon, *Common Starling and Greater Crested Tern

Less Common Species: Black-faced Cormorant and Silver Gull

References
¹ Department for Environment and Water. (2019). Protected Areas Information System. Property Summary Report. 30 March 2019. p. 40.  

 ² Government of South Australia (1969). ‘Fauna Conservation Act, 1964-1965: North Out of Hundreds-Fauna Reserve Declared’. The South Australian Government Gazette, No. 2, 9 January 1969. p. 47.  

 ³ National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 as amended 19 March 2021. (SA) sch 4 p. 4. 

 ⁴ Government of South Australia (1991). ‘National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Sections 29 (3) and 30 (2): Various Conservation Parks—Alteration of Boundaries’. The South Australian Government Gazette, No. 131, 19 December 1991. p. 1907. 

 ⁵ Robinson, A. C.; Canty, P.; Mooney, T.; Rudduck, P. (1996). South Australia’s Offshore Islands. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, South Australia / Australian Heritage Commission. pp. 250-251. 

Updated: 27/06/2021