Drovers' Rest Project
About Hills Biodiversity
The Drovers’ Rest Project – Progress Report
18 Feb 2026
In May 2024, Hills Biodiversity took custodianship of a 1Ha creekside site in Mt Barker Springs. This was a highly degraded area so the risk of failure was high, but the resilience of the Aussie bush supplemented with human effort, has seen the beginning of its ecological restoration.
Since Hills Biodiversity started operations in the Mt Barker area, a few trusted people expressed concern about the 'Water Reserve' or 'alpaca site'. They had observed the degradation of the site from (weed-compromised) native grassland to bare paddock. It is one of very few areas of land in the region that has not been cultivated and when an opportunity to take responsibility for the land arose, Hills Biodiversity knew this was work our members cared about.
Day 1 we were confronted with an overgrazed paddock with a few remnant native trees and heavily-weeded creekside. Using trusted bush regeneration methodology, we commissioned a Biodiversity Action Plan, marked out our ‘good area’, established photo points, and conducted bio surveys of birds, arthropods and plant species.
Hills Biodiversity vols and the local community joined forces and we hoed into the woody weeds and opened up the site. Once the season broke, Codan, a local SA technology company became involved and planted five hundred plants along the roadside as a screen and soil improvement strategy. Then the awesome folks at Jurlique Farm jumped in and threw themselves into slashing and hand weeding. We were away!
The spring and summer of 2024 were hot and dry. Where we were hoping to see regeneration of native grasses, almost nothing happened! There were some good wins with a few species, but widespread evidence of native vegetation was sparse. If we didn't have an organisational ban on despondency, it could have kicked in hard… Was it too late for this piece of country? Were there no native grass seed in the soil? Worst of all, were we wasting our volunteers' precious time? As a wise person once told us, "The knowledge is in the soil"
Undeterred, over 2024/25 we put in many more hours slashing, hand weeding, more slashing, more hand weeding, watering and feeding the revegetation plantings.
Come December 2025, it happened … grasses germinated … kangaroo grass, spear grasses, wallaby grasses, weeping grass … the land is now visibly recovering.
We have many years of work ahead until the site starts to look like natural bushland, but the early signs of success are there. We are especially looking forward to the possibility of a Council-managed cool burns to help regenerate native grasses and destroy the annual weed seeds.
Our aim is to build a rare place where conservation and protection of nature is the #1 priority. What recovers here will also better inform and spawn our target revegetation species for our Springs to Summit project.
With support from, and much thanks to:
- Our awesome volunteers
- The Springs neighbourhood
- Two B U S H I E S
- Phil Barron
- Geoff 'the bug guy' Cox
- JL Landscapes and Greenkeeping
- BioBlitz volunteers
- Codan
- Jurlique
- Mount Barker District Council
- Landcare Australia
- Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu
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Drovers' Rest Project
New life for Mt Barker Springs ‘Water Reserve’
Media Release May 2024
A special site in Mt Barker Springs is about to undergo significant regeneration. With work commencing in coming weeks championed by a group of locals and Adelaide Hills volunteer organisation, Hills Biodiversity. The collective vision is for the site to be restored to native grassland and subsequently enhance local biodiversity. The aim is to reinvigorate this community asset where biodiversity can be enjoyed, studied and celebrated.
Much of Australia’s grasslands are severely threatened. These grasslands are integral to biodiversity preservation, but they also play a major part in climate change mitigation relating to carbon storage and carbon sequestration.
Thirty years ago, the Mt Barker Springs site, affectionately known as Drovers Rest, was thriving with native grasses, forbs and sedges, including a ‘speedwell’ that is now locally extinct. Going back further in history, the block was a reserve where passing drovers could water their stock. Before that it was recorded to be at the end of the row of Peramangk camps that stretched along the creek to the Mt Barker township. More recently, the land has been heavily grazed leaving scant native vegetation, enabling exotic plants to thrive, the soil degraded and local species of flora and fauna meager.
Hills Biodiversity launched The Drovers’ Rest Project after being contacted by local residents.
“As we were conducting other works in the area, several concerned neighbours approached us about this site”. It was shocking to see the state of the site now compared to the stories of how it once was”, says Warren Hilton, Chairperson of Hills Biodiversity. “Our aim is to return this site to a wonderful community asset where biodiversity can be enjoyed, studied and celebrated”.
Senior Stewardship Officer, Dana Miles from Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu is excited to know the site will be regenerated with community support.
‘Drover’s Rest is a special place and is an annual monitoring site for our Bremer Waterbug Bioblitz. We anticipate positive environmental benefits as the land and river recover following several years of heavy grazing, including an increase in macroinvertebrates and the natural regeneration of native vegetation. We look forward to sharing these outcomes with the community as we continue monitoring the site.’
Being close to the Mt Barker Summit Reserve, one of the district’s most important conservation areas, this project will extend valuable biodiversity, including some of the region’s most threatened plants and animals, in the area and the community will reap the benefits. A treasured place of historical, geological and cultural significance with enhanced biodiversity.
“We hope that some of indigenous seedbank may still be viable on the site making natural regeneration a possibility,” says Hilton. “If this happens, it will be a valuable seed resource for ongoing revegetation efforts along Mt Barker Creek.”
Over the cooler months, Hills Biodiversity will conduct a working bee to clear exotic plants to make space for natural regeneration that will hopefully germinate with the winter rains. Small plantings in the more heavily degraded areas will help to stop erosion and rebuild the soil structure. If you would like to be involved head to www.hillsbiodiversity.org.au where all associated events will be published.
‘Drovers’ Rest’ is part of the larger Springs-to-Summit project by Hills Biodiversity that has driven creekside revegetation through local farms: Howards Vineyards, Eastbrook Farms, Ngeringa, and the Mountain Pony Club. The project is supported in part by Landscapes SA Hills and Fleurieu Grassroots Grants program.
For further information or volunteer opportunities please contact: info@hillsbiodiversity.org.au
