Death in Paradise – Montecollina Bore, S.A.

Meet Mal Mulgara

This is Mal Mulgara, he’s a native Australian ‘Crested Tailed Mulgara’ or Ampurta to the locals, a close relation of the Tasmanian Devil and the Quoll. He is a small marsupial, a seemingly cute mouse-like animal who is notorious for sucking out the brains of his prey, enjoying the squishy remains of mammals, reptiles and occasionally birds. The population of Crested Tailed Mulgara had been dropping since the 1930’s and now Mal and his mates are listed a ‘near threatened’ under Federal Legislation.

Mal’s not cuddly like a koala and is rarely sighted by humans, so he does not have a lot of supporters and could easily be forgotten, however, he is every bit as important.

The South Australian Govt. through ‘Landscape South Australia, SA Arid Lands’ has committed considerable resources “….to ensure a sustainable approach to the management, protection and restoration of our soil, water, native plants and animals”. In January 2015 there was great excitement and even some fanfare when the SA Arid Lands Scientific Service team found Mal’s burrows and his distinctive tracks at Montecollina Bore located midway down the Strzelecki Track. Signalling the Mulgara is making a comeback at they had not been identified in the area in previous studies.

This is Montecollina Bore a very small water catchment area created from the fountain of hot, mineral underground water issuing forth and until recently this was Mal’s home. A true oasis in the stark desert. Sunk over 100 years ago, the wetlands that surrounded Montecollina were a mecca for bird life, aquatic life and little critters like Mike. We visited Montecollina in May 2019 and it was without doubt one of the more outstanding, unique camps we had the pleasure to come across on our 6-week trek through the deserts. Unlike many of the hundreds of uncapped bores throughout the outback this one had created something very special. The wetlands not only a godsend for the flora and fauna but a fantastic oasis and sight for our desert scorched eyes.

Just like Mike, Montecollina Bore is also under the care of SA Arid Lands and just weeks after our visit SA Arid Lands capped the bore starving it and its inhabitants of precious life preserving water. The wetlands have been left to dry out, the aquatic life left to die a miserable death, many of the bird have just left and as for poor old Mal, we just don’t know his fate.

I spoke to Aaron Smith a water research officer with SA Arid Lands. He informed me they had identified that maintenance was needed on the bore and a financial decision was made to cap the bore, as it was a lot cheaper than the maintenance. So rather than leave the bore run and the wildlife thrive, the very people charged with the protection of the wildlife have cut their water off so to speak. Mike said there was small chance of reopening the bore in the future, but I guess that like the wetlands the chances of that have also dried. If common sense does eventually prevail, just how long will it take for Mal and his mates to return, if indeed that’s even a possibility.

Bitter Irony

The headline article in the very same issue of the SA Arid Lands ‘Across the Outback’ that fan faired the return of Mal Mulgara was this! ‘Well maintained bores last longer’ with a photo of none other than Montecollina Bore.

This decision signals an end to one of the great desert stopovers for many a desert parched traveller. Montecollina remains sadly missed by man and marsupial alike.