A Unique Environmental Studies Program - at the Little Desert Nature Lodge

A Unique Environmental
 Little Desert Nature Lodge Environmental Studies Program

   Studies Program
        at the Little Desert Nature Lodge

History of the Little Desert

                                             Little Desert Nature Lodge
 © Little Desert Nature Lodge Pty Ltd 2009   Whimpey’s Tours
                                             Phone (03) 5391 5232
                                             Fax (03) 5391 5217             1
                                             www.littledesertlodge.com.au

Little Desert Nature Lodge Environmental Studies Program
                         PROTECTING AND EXPERIENCING
                            "THE DESERT THAT ISN'T"
Perhaps we could say it was "by accident" that the Little Desert Lodge and Tours began in the
early 1970s. While working at Nhill’s Bullen Brothers GMH garage in July 1969, Raymond
"Whimpey" Reichelt injured his eye and was forced to take a two month break. As he recovered
at home, "Whimpey" took in radio reports about state government plans to carve up the Little
Desert wilderness for agriculture. Believing the area was unique and would make poor farmland
Whimpey set himself the challenge of protecting the desert and sharing it with others. Whimpey
and Maureen Reichelt bought "Bertha" - their first four wheel drive - later that year and the
Transport Regulations Board granted them a tour licence in April 1970.

By escorting relatives over newly graded tracks on weekends and holidays, Little Desert Tours
was born. The couple have many people to thank for their advice and encouragement during the
early 1970s, including Kaniva's Alex Hicks, Nhill' s Clive Crouch, main tour driver, the late "Pop"
Moll and Reg Johnson. Early growth meant that by 1973, four vehicles were being used to escort
93 visitors over the Easter break.

Four years later the Little Desert Lodge was opened as an educational centre on freehold land,
next to the present National Park. Here, guests could stay in the environment they had come to
see, rather than stay in distant motels or caravan parks. A wildlife shelter permit was soon
granted to the Lodge, as politicians and officials inspected it and the surrounding areas.

Whimpey and Maureen developed a special environmental studies program for people of all ages.
Such ideas earned tourism awards for the enterprise, and even status as a '"Victorian Living
Treasure" for Whimpey himself in 1985. Two years later the lodge took the familiar shape it is
today, with extensions to the accommodation area and conference facilities.

Since that time, Whimpey has been made known all over Australia, with appearances on BTV6's
"Kids Only", "The Great Outdoors", "A Current Affair", "Hidden Oasis", "Talk to the Animals"
and the Lowan Shire's promotional video featuring Glenn Ridge.

In June 2003, Whimpey was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) from the Australian
Government for his service to nature conservation and in particular protection of the Malleefowl.
The OAM is a formal recognition of Whimpey’s many years of dedication towards conservation
of the Little Desert and sharing his appreciation of the region’s natural value to people of all ages
and from all parts of the world.

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Little Desert Nature Lodge Environmental Studies Program
The Little Desert National Park

A description and history of the Little Desert - by George Eliot.

Some quotes about the Little Desert environment……….

"Sand and sand of ancient marine origin, windblown and often humped in east-west dunes,
with barren laterites or iron and aridity and hard sparse sandstone ridges"

"….an infinite world of aggression and retreat, survival and oblivion, regeneration and
death…"

"Heat of the sun is dreadful…Our course took an east-south-east direction across a
heath-sand, and bad travelling; Mount Arapiles bearing south-east….slow travelling, heavy
sand; this I regret to say continued for fifteen miles….(traveller/explorer in the 1850's)".

"Save a piece of country like that intact, and it does not matter in the slightest that only a
few people every year will go into it. That is precisely its value. Roads would be a
desecration, crowds would ruin it…."

"…We need to put into effect, for its preservation, some other principle than the principles
of exploitation or usefulness or even recreation. We simply need that wild country
available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a
means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope".

"But  spring is in the heart of the magic of the Little Desert, and September and October
can be miraculous months….Spring ranges so spectacularly across the Little Desert that the
list of its wildflowers areas like a floriculturists guide book:-

        snow myrtle, parrot peas, golden pennants, grevilleas, woolly everlasting, creamy candles of
        Stackhousia, Banksia, rice-flower, stork's bill and over 600 varieties besides."

"It is such a festival of life, this queer reluctant desert, such a celebration of growth and
regeneration in the cycle of the seasons, that one never ceases to wonder at the miracle of
its survival. For only a few kilometres to the north lies the Melbourne-Adelaide highway
with its roaring engines and whining tyres flashing over the bitumen in an endless empty
blur. And only 375 kilometres south-east lies the insatiable maw of Melbourne".

"Lack of vision, thirst for "development", ignorance of its unique ecology blunted
sensibility….these are the kinds of human frailties that have menaced it in the past and
which threaten it still."

"And the Malleefowl has a distinctiveness and beauty of his own. No one lucky enough to
see him working at close quarters, and it is the male who does most of the work - could
ever forget him. There is too much about him that is unforgettable; his design, his stance,
his dignity, his incredible industry, his wisdom…he walks rather than flies although he may
take to the air for a hundred metres or so in times of sudden danger or alarm."

"Paradoxically, after all those monumental labours, neither parent takes any further interest

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Little Desert Nature Lodge Environmental Studies Program
in the young (Malleefowl chick).        Having created them they leave them to take their
chance".

"One likes to think that the Australian children of the 21st century will still be able to see
this wonderful creature (the Malleefowl)".

"In 1967 (as well as 1982 and 2002) the drought was so severe that no breeding could
occur. What is less well known is that 1968 was even worse, and the Lowans (Malleefowl)
had to be fed by hand to survive…."

"The Parks Victoria Authority has listed over 229 species of birds that have been sighted
officially in the Little Desert - about half of the total number recorded for the whole State.
Nothing could reveal more tellingly the inestimable value of this ancient tract of land."

"But the most celebrated of the mammals likes to have the desert above him rather than
below. This is the silky desert mouse…"

"…there should be some unknown regions preserved as hunting grounds for the poetic
imagination".

General information

The Little Desert National Park and Victoria's other national parks are special places
permanently reserved by the Government of Victoria to protect parts of our natural
environment for the benefit of people now and in the future. Parks Victoria manages these
parks and Rangers are there to help you enjoy your visit and they are glad to help visitors
in any way they can.

There are regulations designed to protect National Parks. Dogs, cats and firearms are not
permitted and no fires may be lit except in the fireplaces provided. All plants and animals
are protected and may not be harmed or removed. By observing these commonsense
regulations, you will help Parks Victoria keep these areas unspoiled for your children - and
theirs.

The Desert that Isn't

The Little Desert National Park - a desert in name only - is situated 375kms from
Melbourne. The northern part of the park is best approached from the Little Desert
Lodge, Harrow Road, Nhill.

The first section of the park to be reserved was the Kiata Lowan Sanctuary. It was set
aside to protect the Malleefowl - a remarkable mound building bird.

In 1968, when a small parcel of land was added to the Sanctuary to become a National
Park, the government announced that 80,000ha of the Little Desert was to be subdivided
and cleared for agriculture. Conservationists debated the issue, arguing that the land would

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Little Desert Nature Lodge Environmental Studies Program
be more valuable in the long term in its natural state. The economic viability of the scheme was
also seriously questioned. Finally, in 1969, under pressure from both conservationists and
economists, the government allocated a much larger area of land to the Little Desert National
Park, bringing the total area of 35,300ha. In 1988, the remaining crown land was declared a
National Park, bringing the total area to 132,000 ha.

The rainfall, averaging about 400mm each year is higher than that of true arid regions - so it isn't
really a desert. Spring, winter and autumn are all popular seasons for visitors.

Extract from NHILL FREE PRESS, Thursday, May 1, 1969

"Naturalist claims: NATIONAL PARK SITED WHERE SOIL POOREST"

West Wimmera Field Naturalist, Mr Clive Crouch of Nhill, on Tuesday night attacked Sir William
McDonald's motives behind the actual selection of the area for an 80,000 acre National Park in
the Little Desert.

Mr Crouch asked the Minister of Lands if it were not true that the area selected for the proposed
national park was selected because it was an area of the poorest soil type and was reserved for
that reason, rather than for the preservation of flora and fauna? Mr Crouch was asking Sir
William a question during question time at a public meeting held in Wesley Hall. Referring to the
coloured areas on a map of the Little Desert, Mr Crouch said the desert had four specific species
and soil types. The area coloured blue represented yellow-gum, the green, mallee; the yellow,
stringy-bark; and the grey, heath. Mr Crouch told Sir William that the 80,000 acre Kiata National
Park did not have any blue or green areas. Mr Crouch went on: "you stated that the national
park area was reserved because it contained a good representation of the species of all Little
Desert flora and fauna. The national park area colour is predominantly yellow and grey. These
colours represent stringy-bark and heath respectively". "One does not have to study ecology to
any great depth to find that both these vegetation types grown on areas of deep sand. When
answering the question, Sir William referred Mr Crouch to page 8 of his Special Land Bill booklet,
which indicated that all but six of the vegetation types occurred in the national park and three of
these types were found at the Crater, which was to be reserved.

Mr Crouch further alleged that Silky Ti-Tree supplied the food requirements of the Desert
Mouse, which was only found in the Little Desert. As this Ti-tree was more predominant in
other areas of the desert than the national park, the Desert Mouse could face extinction.

   © Little Desert Nature Lodge Pty Ltd 2009

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