May 9, 1950. 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
Page Eleven 
will prove of great value as nesting quarters 
and feeding areas for bird life. 
In order to make these areas still more 
valuable for our native bird life and 
for soil preservation, it has been sug- 
gested that where practicable the reserved 
areas on adjoining blocks should join 
together. For example, it may be possible 
to reserve the 10% area of scrub in the 
adjoining corners of four blocks, thus 
forming quite a good area of protective 
scrub. 
It must be borne in mind that these reser- 
vations are made to prevent erosion of soils 
and are not gazetted for the purpose of pro- 
tecting Fauna and Flora. Now that scrub 
land in the better rainfall areas is being 
cleared for the growing of more or less 
artificial pastures, the timber can be removed 
without so great a danger of erosion, which 
would to some extent be prevented by the 
growing of dense pastures. It may be that 
those in authority may, as they could, relax 
their policy in regard to the reservations 
where they are not considered essential to 
conserve the soils. There is therefore 
urgent need to secure some Reserves or 
sanctuaries in any new localities being or 
likely to be developed for production. It 
could be stressed that it is important to 
conserve some areas of virginal land so that 
the present methods of development may be 
checked and if found wanting further 
research could be undertaken on the original 
soils. 
In the list of Flora and Fauna Reserves, 
there is a large area of virgin country on 
Flinders Peninsula. This land is of such 
low value and of little use other than for 
irregular grazing that the Land Board did 
not reallot it when the leases expired but 
asked that it be declared a Reserve. Adjoin- 
ing this block is a stretch of sea coast and 
lakeside country of rugged splendour. The 
gazetted Flora and Fauna Reserves there 
would form the nucleus of a most attractive 
tourist and health resort within easy distance 
of Port Lincoln. Sleeforth Mere is a 
beautiful permanent water, and its shores 
could be developed for the accommodation 
of visitors. If a few areas could be pur- 
chased, the whole of the Flinders Peninsula 
to Sleeforth Mere would make a splendid 
memorial for Captain Flinders, prove very 
attractive to visitors, and provide a most 
useful haven for our native life. There is a 
movement afoot to create this Memorial, and 
all those interested in the development of 
this beauty spot and in protecting our Fauna 
and Flora should give this all their support. 
In inditing this history of Fauna and 
Flora protection, the writer had perforce to 
consult other works for much of the material 
used. “THE FULL STORY OF FLINDERS 
CHASE,” by Samuel Dixon, deals very fully 
with the long continuous effort to establish 
Flinders Chase on Kangaroo Island, and 
“THE NATIONAL PARK, 5 ’ published by 
the Field Naturalists’ Section of the Royal 
Society contains a wealth of very useful 
information. These two books are well 
worth perusal: they give an excellent idea 
of the amount of work accomplished by a 
few earnest and far-seeing naturalists for the 
benefit of the community and our Fauna and 
Flora. The writer’s thanks are due to Mr. 
A. H. Peters, Director of Lands; Mr. F. W. 
Moorhouse, Chief Inspector of Game and 
Fisheries; Mr. A. J. Baker, Director of the 
Tourist Bureau, and Professor Cleland for 
a fund of detail, without which this article 
could not have been written. 
EXCURSION 
SELLICK’S BEACH SCRUB 
Leader: Prof. J. B. Cleland. 
excursion was held to this interesting 
portion of the original scrub of our 
coastal area on September 3, 1949. For- 
tunately, several of the owners of land adja- 
cent to it, especially Drs. A. P. R. Moore, 
Eric Sims and Jay, are strictly protecting the 
parts owned by them. It is a great pity 
REPORTS 
that the whole area cannot be reserved. 
Many interesting plants are to be found here 
which are rare or whose nearest stations are 
far away. There are large patches of the 
handsome deep blue flowered Dam pier a 
lanceolata with white tomentose branches, 
whose other South Australian localities are 
Murray lands, Kangaroo Island, Minnipa and 
Ooldea. The party found the prickly Epacrid 
Acrotriche affinis , recorded from Coonalpyn 
