Monday 27/02/2023   Sale Game Reserve

                                        Sale, VICTORIA

                                       Brayakooloong Country

                                    

Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies

This is just a short detour off the main road and well worth a visit. The lagoon and drier marshy areas, together with surrounding trees have created a bird paradise with lots of food and shelter. During our short visit, we got to observe a lot of birds enjoying the offerings of the area.

Download file: 20230227.gpx                         Track Info

 

The walk provides plenty of information at a number of different locations. 

After completing our first loop we drove around to the far side of the reserve stopping along the way and viewing a historic bridge with a nice riverside park. Although we did start eagerly walking out along the track from this side we quickly came to the conclusion that this was not going to be anywhere near as prolific in wildlife viewing as what we had already seen. The track on this side was also much more basic and barely maintained compared to the other side. The lagoon itself was also some distance to our west and it looked increasingly as if we would end back almost where we were earlier before the viewing improved significantly.

Photos

 

Information on NSW National Parks signage along the way

Sale Game Reserve

This was once a portion of a much larger area known as the Sale Common, which was available to townspeople for agisting their cattle and horses. The Sale Common State Game Refuge was proclaimed in 1964. It is 308 hectares in size, of which about 70% is freshwater marsh.

Called the Lagoon by early surveyors, this waterway is an ancient remnant of Flooding Creek, the original European name for Sale. Flooding Creek describes the series of branches and billabongs amidst the river flats and morasses on the flood plain of the Thomson River. The water level of the Lagoon rises and falls seasonally in accordance with rainfall and snow melt in the Thomson and Macalister River catchments.

Lagoon Birds

Two significant raptors nest regularly in the taller Eucalypts on the bank opposite. The Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) and the less common and very impressive White bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster).

The surrounding trees and reeds provide a home for many smaller passerine species the most common of which include the Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) and Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata) and from spring to late summer the Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus australis) and the White-browed Scrubwhen (Sericornis frontalis).

Higher in the trees many different varieties of honeyeater can be observed throughout the year along with both the Spotted (Pardalotus punctatus) and Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) which seek lerps in the foliage of the larger eucalypts.

Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) Common Names: Snakebird or Diver

The beautiful Darter nests regularly in large numbers in the I trees on the southern bank of the lagoon and lives in freshwater saline estuaries and swamps. Its feathers are not waterproof and the cormorant spends much time drying its wings in the sun. The area is a favourite habitat for nesting and raising young. The Little Black Cormorants nest in abundance in the low trees on the north side.

Clash of Cultures

The Gúnnai Kúrnai people and their ancestors occ pied Gippsland for hundreds of generations, and many thousands of years. In 1839, prior to European settlement, an estimated 3,000. Kúrnai lived in Gippsland. By 1860 less than 200 individuals had survived. Conflicts between early, settlers and the Kúrhai were common as they resisted occupation and became the victims of the clash of cultures. The local area was like a supermarket for the local Brayakaulung clan providing numerous plants and birds which were the source of food and often raw materials.

THE TRAGEDY OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE YAM-DAISIES OR MURNONG

Bounty from the harvest of unploughed plains Occupation of the Gippsland Plains extends back many thousands of years, to a time when all the human race was living as hunter-gatherers, and to long before the first appearance of agriculture in other parts of the world. Aboriginal people had the duty of preserving the ecological health of their clan territories, to maintain the ability of the land to yield and to continue to yield the resources necessary for their existence.

Early accounts of Aboriginal people in Victoria, before European diseases and malnutrition took hold, described a healthy and well nourished people. For thousands of years Aboriginal people in Victoria had lived on what has been described as “the harvest of unploughed plains”.

Murnong, a nutritious year round food supply

The plains and grassywoodlands provided many important plants and were a sot of many tuberous plants, which were available year round. In addition, the abundance of plains species greatly influenced the availability of animal food.

Vegetable food, mainly roots and tubers, made up about one half of the diet and were a staple food.

The Murnong Yam is the plant most often mentioned in historical records as a preferred food source across Victoria.

In 1841, George Augustus Robinson, the Protector of Aborigines, noted that the basalt plain at nearby Munro, known as Spring Plains, was covered with millions of Murnong and described women:

“spread over the plains as far as could see them and each had a load as much as she could carry”

Mumano was so full that reportedly di in an hour collect enough food to Wed a family for a day.

TODAY.

THIS IMPORTANT AND ONCE ABUNDANT PLaNT. THE MURMONG YAM IS RARE AND HARD TO FIND, AS ARE ITS REMNANT AND EXTINCT HABITATS THE GRASSY PLAINS AND OPEN WOODLANDS OF VICTORIA

Cultivation and use

Victoria’s park like landscape as seen by European explorers two hundred years ago was created by Aboriginal firestick farmers. Fire was their tool to maintain open grassy woodlands and forests. As people travelled through country, they carefully burned the land behind them.

Aboriginal women and children dug up the potato-like tubers using digging sticks. Broken pieces of Murnong were put back into the holes to ensure propagation of further plants. Gathering reduced competition amongst remaining plants, no patch was completely stripped bare. The result was loosening of the soil for seed germination and incorporating litter and ash The washed tubers were put into specially constructed rush baskets and grass ovens and roasted in the coals of a fire. Raw, they are said to be crisp and juicy, roasted slowy, they halve these down into a sweet, coloured juice. Mutone was reportedly corned and traded over travel routes, Available all year, Mmona was sweetest in summer.

Rapid devastation by introduced animals

The introduction of close-cropping, hard hoofed domestic animals into the grassy plains and open woodlands where Murnong was most abundant, rapidly and disastrously reduced its abundance. Sheep learned to root up the yams, preferring to eat them first and bullocks grew fat on them in the first season of grazing.

In 1839, five years after the founding of Melbourne, the following description was given by a Goulburn Aborigine called Moonin Moonin:

There were no ‘param’ or ‘tarook’ at Port Phillip… too many jumbuck” (sheep) and bulgana’ (bullocks, cattle) plenty eat it myrong – all gone mymong.’

By 1841, there were 700,00 sheep in Victoria and by 1843 that number had doubled. Within the first few seasons of grazing. the hard hooves of sheep and cattle compacted the soft soil, which had previously been dug over and made friable by the gatherers.

Changes in the delicate fire regime also influenced the abundance of Murong.

Faced with a drastic reduction of a staple food, Victorian Aborigines had little option but to accept the hand-out of flour and sugar offered by trading Europeans

By the 1860s, Murnong was sufficiently scarce around Melbourne for younger Aborigines to have difficulty recognising it. The tragedy of the disappearance of this valued staple is recorded in a song in the Melbourne dialect in 1862, translated as follows Blackfellows saw flowers, some said they were yam blossoms, some said no. who said they were, so they dug them up.

In many places, the rabbit invasion of the 1870s and 1880s finished off the Murnong entirety.

 

The local flora, fauna, geology, history and some other walks (ChatGPT)

Sale Game Reserve, a beautiful corner of Victoria that was once home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, shaped over thousands of years by the forces of nature.

The flora of the reserve was characterized by a mix of grasses, shrubs, and trees. The grasslands were home to a variety of wildflowers, while the woodlands were dominated by eucalyptus trees, wattles, and banksias. Many of these plants were endemic to the region and had adapted to the unique environment.

As for the fauna, the area was teeming with life, both big and small. Kangaroos, wallabies, and echidnas could be spotted hopping and shuffling through the grasslands, while birdwatchers could delight in the sight of kookaburras, parrots, and rosellas flitting through the trees. The waters of the nearby wetlands were home to an abundance of birdlife, including ducks, swans, and herons.

The geology of Sale Game Reserve was shaped by the winding course of the Thomson River, which carved its way through the landscape over millions of years. The river created a variety of different habitats, from rocky outcrops to sandy riverbanks and lush wetlands.

The history of the reserve is also fascinating. The land was traditionally inhabited by the local indigenous peoples, who lived off the land and the waters of the river. European settlers arrived in the area in the mid-1800s, bringing with them a new way of life that would forever change the landscape and the ecosystem.

Today, visitors can take a number of different walks through the reserve, each offering a unique glimpse into the region’s natural and cultural history. The Banksia walk, for example, takes visitors through a grove of banksia trees, while the River walk offers a chance to explore the riverbanks and wetlands.

Overall, Sale Game Reserve is a truly remarkable place, offering a glimpse into the natural and cultural history of this part of Victoria. While the flora and fauna may have changed over the years, the beauty and wonder of the landscape and the river remain as awe-inspiring as ever.

Map View

Clickable icons on this world map will open the related trip report

Contents

A detailed, searchable trip list with links to reports, photo galleries and other content