6 things you might not know about the Coorong

The Coorong’s nat­ur­al beau­ty, abun­dant wildlife and unspoilt coast­line make it one of South Australia’s most vis­it­ed tourist destinations.

It’s locat­ed at the end of the Riv­er Mur­ray, where the riv­er meets the South­ern Ocean (near the Mur­ray Mouth) and stretch­es around 200 kilo­me­tres to Kingston in the south-east of the state.

Learn more about this sig­nif­i­cant eco­log­i­cal area with these six facts about the Coorong:

1. It’s a Ram­sar-list­ed wet­land of inter­na­tion­al importance

The Coorong is a nation­al trea­sure. The area, includ­ing lakes Albert and Alexan­d­ri­na, is recog­nised under the Ram­sar Con­ven­tion as a wet­land of inter­na­tion­al importance.

The area’s wet­lands pro­vide habi­tat for many local species as well as for migra­to­ry wad­ing birds – many fly­ing in from as far away as Alaska.

The Con­ven­tion means the area has inter­na­tion­al atten­tion and rules to ensure its conservation.

2. The area used to be one of the most dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed areas in Australia

The low­er Riv­er Mur­ray, includ­ing the Coorong and lakes Albert and Alexan­d­ri­na, were one of the most dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed areas of Aus­tralia pri­or to Euro­pean settlement.

The Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers, the Ngar­rind­jeri peo­ple, have lived in the area for many thou­sands of years. The Coorong remains an intrin­sic part of their cul­ture, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and identity.

3. The name Coorong comes from the Ngar­rind­jeri name ​‘kur­rangk’

The word ​‘kur­rangk’ means long, nar­row neck and it was giv­en to the area by the Ngar­rind­jeri people.

4. Coorong Nation­al Park is more than 50 years old

Coorong Nation­al Park was estab­lished in 1966 and its lagoons are pro­tect­ed from the South­ern Ocean by the sweep­ing sand dunes of the Young Hus­band Peninsula.

There’s lots to do in the park, such as camp­ing on the edge of the wild ocean, kayak­ing in the lagoons, explor­ing the sand dunes, 4WD-ing, bird­watch­ing and fish­ing – or sim­ply relaxing.

The park also pro­vides habi­tat for nation­al­ly threat­ened species like the orange-bel­lied par­rot, freck­led duck, Mur­ray hardy­head and south­ern bell frog.

5. Mr Per­ci­val exists, but there’s more than one

The orig­i­nal book Storm Boy was writ­ten by Col­in Thiele and pub­lished in 1964 about a boy’s rela­tion­ship with a pel­i­can called Mr Percival.

The sto­ry raised the pro­file of the Coorong after the release of the Storm Boy movie in 1977, which was filmed in and around the area. A Storm Boy remake will be released in 2019.

The Coorong is an impor­tant breed­ing ground for pel­i­cans. Thou­sands of Aus­tralian pel­i­cans call the Coorong home, thanks to the area’s abun­dance and diver­si­ty of fish.

6. The ecosys­tem of the Coorong is slow­ly mending

The Coorong has shown pos­i­tive signs of recov­ery fol­low­ing the dev­as­tat­ing impacts of the Mil­len­ni­um Drought, and years of basin-wide over water allo­ca­tion, but more work is need­ed to restore it back to health.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The intro­duc­tion of envi­ron­men­tal water has increased fish species like the lam­prey and con­gol­li, and some aquat­ic plants are also bounc­ing back.

Lean more about the Riv­er Mur­ray by read­ing up about oth­er wet­lands to vis­it, fun things to do and 5 great camp­ing spots.

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in June 2018.