SERIES 29 | Episode 34
Costa visits a park that's being revegetated to improve the groundwater
Costa's on the eastern edge of the Todd River, near Alice Springs, visiting 'Ankerre Ankerre' - 60 hectares of wooded wetland known as the Coolibah Swamp.
"These are Coolibahs (Eucalyptus coolabah and Eucalyptus intertexta)," says Costa, from within a stand of these gnarled trees, "beautiful and iconic Australian trees. Early settlers sang about them, Jolly Swagmen sat beneath them, but their real significance goes back much further."
Doris Kngwarraye Stuart is one of the senior custodians of the area and says "The story for this place is the travelling caterpillars that came from the west to meet up here - the same species as the local caterpillars - for big, big celebrations. They were able to dance and that's why these trees are in the (twisted) shapes that they are today. Even when the young ones come up, they'll take on the same shape, like they're really dancing."
"This area is important because of what it means being an Aboriginal person who belongs to the country, who has responsibility for the country and it must continue on," says Doris.
Doris wants to make sure this special place is cared for, so she's getting help from volunteers like Jodie Clarkson. "It's a little remnant landscape," says Jodie. "It's an inland wetland - it's like the kidneys of Alice Springs. It does that filtering of water that's coming through the landscape. It's been degraded, mostly because of the encroachment of the urbanisation around it. But probably the biggest issue is the drainage, because houses have been put up, roads have been put in and now there are two drains that dissect the swamp. That's messing with the swamp's ability to do its job as a filter."
Jodie explains the impact of the huge drains. "When the rains come, instead of the water being able to lie in the swamp for a while and the trees taking it up, all of the water washes into a big drain and out into the river."
Invasive grasses like Couch and Buffel Grass are also taking over the area, crowding out native species. Some of the natives that have survived are also producing in an unbalanced state. "The saltbush (Old Man Saltbush, Atriplex nummularia) belongs here, but there's way too much. It was planted here to try and stop the dust problems in the 1960s and to stop the salt levels rising in the swamp."
For the last 15 years, Jodie and the other volunteers have been working hard to get the area back to its natural state. "We managed to get our little group together and get involved in Alice Springs Landcare and work with them. I've been friends with Doris and her family for many, many years so that's all sort of come together nicely," she says.
"There's no recipe book on inland wetland restoration so it's very much learning together and learning as we're going. This is an area where we've removed the Buffel and the Couch and voila - you can see what happens. It's like magic." Jodie points out the flowers that are popping up in place of the removed weeds. "Some tiny little daisies over here (Minnie Daisy, Minuria leptophylla) and these little Bluebells (Wahlenbergia queenslandica) and this one's a Swainsona (Grey Swainsona, Swainsona canescens)."
The flowers should prevent evaporation, erosion and runoff, as well as helping the Coolibah trees themselves get back on their feet. "They're the big grand-daddies of the swamp. The most important thing about this swamp is that these big trees stay here, can survive here, because they've got those big root systems underneath the ground that are bringing the water up and getting the water out. They're the heart of the swamp."
The Coolibah Swamp is now attracting visitors and tourists.
"It's just great to see these children loving this place and engaging in this place and call it the Beautiful Swamp," says Jodie. "That's a real mind shift from the dirty old dumping-ground swamp."
Doris Kngwarraye Stuart is optimistic. "We hope everybody can pull together and say, 'Ok, we'll help you,' you know - just keep this going for us. That's what gives us all hope, I think."