Talia South Australia Restoration Project

About our Talia South Australia ACCU restoration project

Native Vegetation Groups: Mallee Woodland over Shrub/Grasslands
Drooping Sheoak Grassy Woodland

Bioregion: Eyre Yorke Block

Talia is a 2,000-hectare property located on the western side of the remote Eyre Peninsula in South Australia - a large promontory about 320km (200 miles) on each side that projects into the Indian Ocean. The name Talia is derived from the Aboriginal word meaning near water.

Eyre Peninsula has a unique combination of fauna and flora. Quite a few endemic species exist here that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Many of them are vulnerable or face extinction.

Historically used for grazing, the property features multiple vegetation types, with the dominant native community being degraded Sheoak Woodland.

Site history

In the 1850s, the Traditional Owners of Talia, the Wirangu Nauo, were displaced and European settlers started grazing sheep on the property.

Most native vegetation was particularly palatable to sheep, especially Sheoak, and when old plants died they weren't replaced - causing a slow, gradual death of habitat. Here's a picture of how overgrazing, and the First Peoples loss of access and custodianship of Talia across 170+ years, has left the site in a state of degradation.

Site objective

Carbon Sequestration: 107,417 tCO2

Methodology: Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings – FullCAM method (2024)

This project will restore 648 hectares of the site to address extensive land degradation and mitigate climate change; support the whole landscape to cope with climate-induced weather events; and reestablish biodiverse, resilient ecosystems.

Restoring the Drooping Sheoak woodland

Ninety-five percent of Sheoaks have been cleared throughout Eyre Peninsula.

If this ecological crisis is not addressed through mass reforestation, an entire vegetation class will disappear from the state. And all the species that use that vegetation type as habitat will disappear with it. Already, there are no longer Glossy black-cockatoos left on mainland South Australia - their population has been completely wiped out as they only feed on Sheoaks.

Building biolinks

With Kulliparu National Park adjacent to Talia, the site is perfectly positioned to form part of a large north-south biolink from the Gawler Ranges in the north to the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula.

Working with Traditional Owners

In addition to climate and biodiversity impact, this ACCU project includes opportunities to work closely with the Traditional Owners of Talia.

For around 65,000 years, Talia was home to the Wirangu and Nauo First Peoples. The landscape was a flourishing and healthy ecosystem providing shelter, food, medicine and implements for survival. However, since European settlement in the 1850s, Talia's Indigenous custodians were forced off their land and many people lost their lives.

Displaced and disconnected, generations of Wirangu and Nauo have sought access to their home and sacred connections to heritage and ancestors. Over the last 170+ years, they've watched this rich landscape become degraded - leaving it depleted and its native flora and fauna vulnerable and at threat of extinction.

In the early stages of identifying this nature restoration opportunity, Land Life and our partner Cassinia Environmental Opens in a new tab.actively began meeting with the Wirangu and Nauo Aboriginal Corporation (WNAC) to identify ways of working together.

Positive outcomes of this restoration project currently include:

• Access to the land for Elders to teach their youth cultural heritage and connection to Country, which has been lost over generations
• Employment opportunities across the project, including restoration land management activities

Future opportunities we hope to achieve include the reintroduction of Traditional land management activities (eg. fire management) and facilitation of long-term commercial business enterprises.

About the restoration

This project aims to revegetate approximately 648 hectares using the Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings – FullCAM method (2024).

A site inspection by Land Life identified 32 tree and shrub species characteristic of the Drooping Sheoak Grassy Woodland ecological community. The species selection aligns with the Environmental Plantings 2024 Method, ensuring local provenance, ecological suitability, and appropriate structural diversity.

Revegetation will be conducted exclusively through direct seeding, utilizing machine seeding to distribute native seeds along furrows created by tines.

Seeding is scheduled for May 2025, following the first seasonal rains. To enhance germination success, pre-treatment of select seeds will be undertaken, and a one-metre-wide weed control zone on either side of the seeding lines will be maintained using glyphosate application.

This project is designed to restore native vegetation structure, enhance biodiversity, and achieve forest cover targets as specified in the Environmental Plantings 2024 Method.

Biodiversity gains

Over a third of the Eyre Peninsula's native animal species have a conservation rating, which means that unless we address the threats that face these species, they will become extinct.

Highlights of the initiative will include:

• Restoring vital native habitats for Australian mammals such as Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat and the Western Pygmy Possum
• Ensuring the right native trees are planted to support threatened bird species such as the Diamond Firetail, Hooded Robin, Malleefowl, Blue-winged Parrot and Purple-gaped Honeyeater
• Supporting flora such as West Coast Mintbush (vulnerable to extinction) and critically endangered Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina
  verticillata)