AUBURN RIVER

Scenic river with large boulders in open woodland country

Access

The park is located 32 kilometres south-west of Mundubberra. Access can be gained by travelling along the main Hawkwood road from Mundubberra for approximately 28 kilometres and then turning off, down a bush track. The park is 7 kilometres down this road.

Activities

Auburn River is an ideal place for a day visit. A walk along the bank of the river or a scramble amongst some of the boulders will give you an opportunity to look at some of the wildlife. There are some old mine diggings in the park which you may also like to look at.

History

In the early part of the nineteenth century, relations between the early settlers and the local Aborigines were strained to say the least. Much of this misunderstanding was due to the fact that opinions and beliefs were passed on like rumours, and hearsay soon became gospel. The result was a lot of bad feeling and often bloody fighting between both parties. On 27 October 1857 the Hornet Bank massacre occurred on the Dawson River. In the massacre Aborigines apparently murdered three station hands, a station manager, his wife and six children.

After killing them, the Aborigines split up and went in several directions. One group was caught on the western side of Mount Narayen, near the Auburn River. Many were shot down and the rest were captured alive. Those that were captured were then handcuffed around a large bottle tree and put to death.

The other Aborigines involved in the massacre were all eventually rounded up and shot or hanged. Some years later other Aborigines collected the bones of those shot around the bottle tree, then cut a hole in that same tree and placed the bones inside. Over a period of time that hole has grown over. Unfortunately the Aborigines’ side of this story cannot be told and so it remains a dark spot in the history of this area.

Features

The vegetation surrounding Auburn River is a dry open woodland. Some of the trees found in this woodland include the silver-leaved ironbark [Eucalyptus melanophoia) and the forest red gum [E. tereticornis). On the northern side of the river the vegetation becomes thicker and some scrub species start to occur. These include bottle trees [Brachychiton rupestre), blackthorn [Bursaria spinosa) and elkhorn ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum), which are found growing on the rock faces.

Some of the birds found in the park include the channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) and the spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus), The channel-billed cuckoo does not build its own nest. Like most other members of the cuckoo family it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, usually those of crows or magpies. The eggs are then hatched and fed by the crows or magpies. Early settlers believed that the arrival of the channel-billed cuckoo in their area meant that rain was coming.