Celebrating the friends of Willunga Basin

Story by Margret Keath. Photograph by Jason Porter.

Above: Looking out to the Willunga Basin from the Hart Road Wetland.

When our young family first crested the rise along Victor Harbor Road from the north and gazed down into the Southern Vales, the diversity that greeted us conjured images of a promised land. A patchwork vision of pasture, woodlands, cereal crops, almond orchards and settlements was held securely by the rolling undulations of Willunga Escarpment easing to the glimmer of gulf waters in the west.

Thirty-six years on and the view over Willunga Basin, from any angle, still makes my heart lift. But it could easily have been otherwise. I remember a warning letter in the local rag from a southern suburbs resident who wrote lovingly of the creeks, almond orchards and ancient redgums that he’d taken for granted until they were inexorably paved over. He would be gratified to know that the Willunga Basin has attracted plenty of people alive to the necessity for protection of the natural environment. Those individuals with vision, a willingness to act and a talent for collaboration are to thank for the natural diversity of the Basin today.

A group I turned to, Friends of Willunga Basin (FOWB), evolved from a coalition formed to oppose a marina at Silver Sands. We have them to thank for the gloriously uninterrupted stretch of beach and, ultimately, for the protection of the ephemeral wetlands of the Aldinga Washpool. It’s taken many years of advocacy by another coalition of local and Indigenous groups to finally achieve the declaration of a new conservation park. The Park links the Aldinga Scrub with the Washpool and adjoining land that could so easily have been sold for housing.

‘From the start, FOWB was concerned with preventing urban sprawl and the idea of a mega city stretching south,’ David Gill, a founding member of FOWB, tells me. ‘At this time, the community was divided on future choices…There was pressure for development by land speculators and state government population projections assumed that the Willunga Basin would eventually be urbanised. However, the community elected environmentally aware members to the then Willunga Council who helped to change the focus. The Council engaged in a strategic planning process which made a case for conserving land within the Basin.’

Even so, large parcels of land had already been bought for future development along the coast. ‘In the 1990s, the Sunday Estate at Aldinga attracted a lot of opposition, particularly from FOWB. But when it was clear that it was going ahead, FOWB lodged applications for development amendments even though there was no allowance or legal requirement for community feedback at that time,’ David continues. Various design improvements were negotiated including, most importantly, a buffer from the Aldinga Scrub. Concern for hydrology and the effect of increased runoff on the reef resulted in the creation of the Hart Road Wetlands, now a beautiful community asset built and maintained by the Onkaparinga Council.

After 27 years on the executive of FOWB, David sees the achievement of legislative protection for a large area of the Basin as the most memorable and enduring legacy of the group so far. The result is permanent protection of town boundaries east of South Road and restrictions on subdividing agricultural land in the Basin. Members of FOWB collaborated with other groups, including Grape Wine and Tourism, the Willunga Farmers Market, Friends of Port Willunga and Aldinga Bay Residents Association, together with Council and with politicians to achieve this milestone. West of South Road, the land now part of the new conservation park, as well as land on Bowering Hill Road, were added to the protected zone. Whereas the Willunga Basin stretches all the way to the Coast, the protected area stops largely at South Road leaving room for further housing developments to be approved. No doubt these developments will continue to be contentious, but they also offer exciting opportunities for architecture and urban design to enhance the environment of the Basin, particularly with a continuing strong community focus on sustainability. New FOWB members will have no end of fruitful issues to engage with.

Meanwhile, across the Basin, the ‘achingly beautiful’ bald hills of the escarpment have been transformed by the visionary planting efforts of land holders in Willunga Hillsface Landcare. Current groups dedicated to restoring biodiversity and tree cover attract eager handson supporters on regular planting weekends. The gulf waters are still free to roll in along unimpeded stretches of beach and the ephemeral wetlands of the Aldinga Washpool link up with the Aldinga Scrub. Agricultural land in the Willunga Basin has been protected and the Willunga Farmers Market provides an outlet for growers. While grape vines now predominate, ancient trees still stand.

The Willunga Basin may not actually be the land of milk and honey – after all it still has many feral olives to remove, creek lines to restore and ongoing debates about appropriate development – but it’s definitely worth celebrating. And worth fighting for.