Kununurra: An Environmental Scan

Kununurra:An Environmental Scan Produced by Mr Nicol’s Year 10 Science Class

Kununurra Kununurra isn’t a very large town, the population of the town is approximately 6000 people but it is the second largest town in the Kimberley. Kununurra provides services to surrounding agriculture and mining industries as well as a number of aboriginal communities

Kununurra has lots of its people working at the worlds biggest diamond mine. (Argyle Diamond Mine). • There are around 950 students in this school Primary and Secondary together. • There are a number of community services in and around Kununurra.

Who are the local indigenous people??? • The local indigenous people of Kununurra are the Mirrawong people. They have been here for centuries and are still here today. Local Aboriginal Art

What places are important to The Mirrawong people and why? • Hidden Valley national park:significant place to the men. • Ivanhoe Crossing: Has been a place for families to swim and fish. • The sleeping Buddha:The "Sleeping Buddha" is visible from almost any where in and around Kununurra. It is of particular importance to aboriginal people is an aboriginal art site.

Tourism in Kununurra • Kununurra is a good place for tourism because we have lots of fun things to do such as swimming, fishing, hiking at Kelly's knob, bush walking, looking at various rock paintings and also boat cruises on the lake argyle. • All the activities that you can do suit the weather here in Kununurra, it’s not to hot and its not too cold at times. Lots of tourist come to Kununurra in the middle of the year. They also come to Kununurra to see the boab trees.

Places You Can Visit In Kununurra: MIRIMA NATIONAL PARK (hidden valley) DRYSDALE RIVER NATIONAL PARK PARRY LAGOONS NATURE RESERVE ORD RIVER KELLY’S KNOB LOOK OUT IVANHOE CROSSING LAKE ARGYLE HOMESTEAD AND MANY MORE EXCITING PLACES!!!

Places You can Fish At In Kununurra!! • Kununurra is known by the local mirrawong people as ‘gananoorrang.’ • The lake Kununurra has plenty of different water activities on offer which a popular water activity is fishing, which everyone mainly fishes at these places where you can catch barramundi: lower dam, Ivanhoe crossing and along the Ord river. You shouldn’t swim in the river at these places however as there are crocodiles.

Native Animals There are a number of endemic species (only found) in Kununurra and the surrounding areas of the Kimberley. Fish: There are believed to be 18 species of fish endemic to the region. Some species restricted to the upper Fitzroy River include the Barnett river Gudgeon and Greenway’s Grunter. A great picture of the Wailing Frog The Cave Dwelling frog Frogs: There are 10 endemic species of frog in the Kimberley and one; the Wailing Frog (Cyclorana Vagitatus) is confined to our very own Ord and Fitzroy valleys.

Mammals: The Scaly-tailed Possum (Wyulda Squamicaudata) is confined to the Northern ranges of the Kimberly, as well as three species of wallaby. The Scaly-tailed Possum There are also many species of lizards, snakes birds and geckoes that are also native to the Kimberley and all love the area because of its perfect habitat and large amount of bushland.

The Kimberley feral animals Over the past 200 years, many people have bought to Australia a huge number of animals, mainly mammals that did no evolve here. The results of these introduction have dramatic, changing the natural environment because of the newcomers, generally animals and plants that were brought here for no reason. But now there are some animals that have escaped from human control and started self sustaining feral populations. This is especially true of the areas surrounding Kununurra

Examples of feral animals: Many of the best known feral animals introduced and their effects come from southern and central Australia. Tropical Australia is a huge area of great conservation, agricultural and tourism potential, but it is now home to the following 'alien' species: • Asian water buffalo • Donkeys • Pigs • Horses • Cane toads • Cats • Feral (unbranded) cattle • Australia’s biggest scourge, the rabbit, is rare in the semi-arid tropics, but feral pigs are plentiful. Many experts see wild pigs as the biggest threat to the natural ecology of the north of the country.

Introduction to Australia. • The Cane Toad (also known as Bufo marinus) was introduced to Australia 1935 to defeat the cane Beatle, which is a great pest toward the Cane grass grown in the Northern parts of Australia. • People in these places such as Normanton, Burketown, and in northern New South Wales deliberately released the cane toad into the wild. Scientists warned the farmers not to bring the cane toad to Australia but the farmers did not listen and brought them in anyway.

Cane toads are having a great impact on the environment because they produce a poisonous fluid which if swallowed by any living creature will cause death. While some birds and a few other native predators have learned to avoid the poison glands of adult toads, almost anything that eats the toad dies rapidly from heart failure. The poison is absorbed through body tissues such as those of the eyes, mouth and nose, so that even mouthing the toad can cause death. Impact on the environment:

Possible Distribution This picture shows the future distribution of the cane toads. Scientist believe that in a short period of time they will have spread all over the top end of Australia! This is of great concern to the Kununurra people because of the agriculture, wildlife and the water systems.

Native East-Kimberley Flora The best known tree in the Kimberley region is the unusual Boab tree. There are many different types of trees these include: • Bauhinia tree • Eucalyptus trees • Palms and pandanus trees • Bush lily • various wattles

Introduced plants in the Kimberley These plants were introduced the Kimberly in different ways but all have affects in the long run for example the Calotropis is poisonous to live stock and some grasses are good to stop erosion but very quickly take over native grasses and wipe them out for example Buffel grass. Other feral plants include: • Kapok bush • Nagoora burr • Calotropis • Buffel grass

Land forms in the Kimberley Kununurra is 1057km east of Broome and over 3000km north of Perth, depending on which the road travelled. The east Kimberley town of Kununurra, is the springboard into various natural and man made wonders these include, The Bungle Bungles and Purnululu National Park the man made Lake Argyle at 9.5 times the size of Sydney Harbour, The Ord River, The Ord River Irrigation Scheme and Lake Kununurra.

The Bungle Bungles The Bungle Bugle formation is located in the Purnululu National Park and was created at the same time as most of the Kimberley scenery, around 350 million years ago. A scenic flight is the best way to gain a perspective of its beauty.

climate Kununurra has two seasons, the Wet and the Dry. With an arid-tropical climate, Kununurra's climate can be summed up as hot and humid. The wet season is during the southern summer and the dry is during the southern winter. Below is a table displaying the average temperatures, rainfall, clear days and rainy days in Kununurra.

Wet Season and the Build Up From about November on the weather changes dramatically, the temperature rises to around the 40 degree mark and the nights remain warm. The humidity also rises at this time, a time locally referred to as the "build up". A time of the year that sees the build up of storm clouds and threatening skies but little rain. The wettest months are in January and February and although not the ideal time to be travelling, these months offer some of the most spectacular sights of raging waterfalls, roaring rivers and a land replenished by the rains.

Dry Season Between May and September low humidity and rainfall is brought on by dry southeast winds to create the dry season. During the dry season many waterholes and creeks dry up completely, and grasslands turn brown. Bushfires are common in the dry, but this is usually natural.

How Water Effects Landforms Water can effect landforms in different ways. Rain can cause things such as erosion and can make extravagant waterfalls and also popular swimming holes. Rain causes erosion which causes landforms such as mountains which water can run down. Every landform is different and it makes every waterfall and swimming hole exceptionality good to visit. Uniqueness is a key to landforms here because once you see something once you will want to see it again!

How Water Effects Landforms What are waterfalls and swimming holes used for? Waterfalls and swimming holes are used for recreation. Some recreational activities include things like swimming. Some waterfalls use rivers to make the waterfalls run. Some swimming holes are used for fishing. There are many waterfalls around Kununurra and many in the East Kimberley area and each of them are different! When do waterfalls run? Waterfalls usually run during the wet season which is during summer. If rain occurs in the dry season, then they may run. Swimming holes are really popular during the hotter months of the year.

ORD RIVER - LOWER • The Lower Ord River near Kununurra in Western Australia offers the adventurous sport fisherman a unique environment in which to target the famous barramundi. One of the best guides for fishing is Micks Kimberly Sports Fishing • Barramundi and Crocodiles are the main animals that you’ll find along the Lower Ord, but the birds and cattle are also common, Catfish and other fish are in there too.

lower ord – things to do The Lower Ord is a pristine environmental wilderness Sight seeing is very popular as the Lower Ord has a wide selection of environments and animals to see, like the Saltwater Crocodiles, the Brolgas and Jabirus.

Lake Argyle Lake argyle has an average surface area of about 1000 square kilometres. The storage capacity, to the top of the spillway is about 10’763’000 mega litres The Lake Argyle Dam was finished in 1972 and supplies hydro electricity to Kununurra and the Argyle Diamond Mine.

Lake argyle is used for many different things, like boating, fishing, fish farming, hydro electricity and there is also a picnic area and resort there. Water from lake argyle flows into the Ord river which also has many recreational and environmental uses.

Power Resources There are to main power resources in Kununurra and the Kimberly…these are Hydro, supplied by Lake Argyle into the Ord river and Diesel. The Hydro plant is the Main resource, but if it fails we have a back up of the Diesel tanks located Next to the 24 hour BP on the corner of the Highway and Messmate Way

Hydro Supplied Power Hydro power is electricity created from the force of running water. It is less expensive than mining fossil fuels and does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Unlike other renewable sources like the sun or wind, water can be stored which makes it a great way to create electricity. Rivers, dams and waterfalls can be used to generate hydro-electricity, Hydro power can be used for irrigation milling of grain and textile.

Comparison Even though we sometimes we use both electricity stations both have advantages and disadvantages, Hydro doesn’t produce any pollution but it takes up a lot of room i.e. a dam. Diesel is reliable but makes lots of pollution and is expensive to run, if you have a constant natural water supply, like we do, then hydro is cheaper and easier to run.

Irrigation There are various methods of irrigation in and around Kununurra. The main source of irrigation in Kununurra is the Ord River which supplies water for irrigation in and around the Ord Valley. Various types of irrigation techniques differ in how the water obtained from the source is distributed within the field. In general, the goal is to supply the entire field uniformly with water, so that each plant has the amount of water it needs, neither too much nor too little.

Methods of irrigation in Kununurra Drippers Syphons Overhead sprinklers

There are many different types of agricultural activities in Kununurra. Some of the more well known plantations are: Mangoes Sugar Cane Sandalwood Perennial crops Many years ago when Kununurra first started farming, cotton was grown but didn’t grow successfully. Peanuts and rice were grown commercially after cotton and also stopped not long after. Agriculture in Kununurra

KNX Agriculture in the Present • The main crops grown in Kununurra include: • melons (rock, water, champagne, & honeydew). • Pumpkins, butternut pumpkins, zucchini & squash • Stringless beans, hybird seed • Sandalwood, sesbania, • Cathormium Chickpeas • Raw sugar (brown sugar) • Bananas, maize, sorghum, sunflower & mangoes

Kununurra Research Station The Research Station is designed for researching on plants, cotton, fruit, water, animals and much more.

Projects they are conducting • Cotton/Sugar – The workers are doing trials on pesticides with the cotton and sugar to see which works best. They are also testing new seeds to find which type is better.

Projects they are conducting • Mangoes- New varieties of mangoes are being trialled to investigate different characteristics such as taste, looks, which ones are healthier and much more.

INDIAN SANDALWOOD(Santalum Album) The Indian Sandalwood is farmed in and around the Kununurra region and is used for many different purposes like cosmetics and perfumes. This tree was becoming rare until around June 2006 when there was a boom in the Indian sandalwood industry in the Kimberley. The Indian Sandalwood is farmed differently than other trees as it needs another tree to grow off. The tree is considered parasitic

Stations Northern Australia Stations in the top end of northern Australia export 4% of the worlds beef to over 100 countries around the world. The gross value that Australia turns over a year is $6.9 billion & the Wyndham port plays a great role in the exportation of cattle. This is important to Kununurra because Wyndham is about 100km north west on the Victoria highway. Kununurra plays an important support role in the town of Wyndham

Interesting facts • On average the average Australian eats 37kgs of meat a year. • The Japanese & the Americans buy more than 75% of Australia's exported beef. • Beef is the second favorite meat to be consumed & chicken is the first in the world. • There is an estimated 27 million head of cattle in the whole of Australia

Kununurra: An Environmental Scan