General News
7 February, 2025
Barry's Corner
Western Victoria has lost a great nature-oriented asset that will leave a serious hole in education and tourism opportunities.
The Little Desert Lodge was lost in the late January bushfires, a complete loss to the owners, community, and fabric of the region. This was a business built over decades by the owners, Whimpey and Maureen Reichelt of Nhill.
It started as a small-scale tourism operation and grew incrementally over the years from a guided four-wheel-drive tour into the Little Desert.
Mallee Fowl were of great interest to the tourists.
Dreaming of a more useful enterprise, they started building a camp that would suit schools, university students, and researchers.
After years of hard work, the unforgiving fires have snatched away the dreams of a family and left nothing except memories. Fires have always been known to steal dreams and create havoc, erasing years of hard work. Whether the Lodge will be rebuilt depends on several factors, such as finance, energy, foresight, and cooperation—and it may never happen. That would be a tragedy.
An international symposium was held a few years ago, where megapodes were featured and explained by researchers and scientists from around the globe. It was an impressive gathering of specialists for the various forms of megapodes. I saw an oversight, and that forum led me to start a Victoria-focused Mallee Fowl recovery group.
Fires can set back Mallee Fowl survival by several years by destroying the vegetation that provides shelter, much of the food source, and the litter the birds rely on for egg-laying.
The Gariwerd fires will have burned a significant percentage of the park and the Little Desert almost entirely, and it will take years to recover.
Important human assets have been destroyed by fire in the past couple of years, including homesteads, woolsheds, yards, livestock, and haystacks. It is a great leveller we could do without.
There will be some exposed hills for a couple of years, and there will be a need to monitor bare hillsides and paddocks prone to scouring until some vegetation returns.
As for the vegetation, most ground and mid-level grasses have been lost. Many trees have been killed, and we will have to wait for regeneration to take place.