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Bowman Park is a public park in South Australia located on the Crystal Brook about 5 km northeast of the township of Crystal Brook and 200 km north of the capital city of Adelaide. The park has an area of about 40ha and is in the Mid North region of the state of South Australia, and named for the Bowman Brothers who settled in the area around 1850. [1]
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. National parks and Country parks are green spaces used for recreation in the countryside. State parks and Provincial parks are administered by sub-national government states and agencies. Parks may consist of grassy areas, rocks, soil and trees, but may also contain buildings and other artifacts such as monuments, fountains or playground structures. Many parks have fields for playing sports such as soccer, baseball and football, and paved areas for games such as basketball. Many parks have trails for walking, biking and other activities. Some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses and may comprise a beach or boat dock area. Urban parks often have benches for sitting and may contain picnic tables and barbecue grills.
South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres (379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and fifth largest by population. It has a total of 1.7 million people, and its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second largest centre, has a population of 28,684.
The Crystal Brook is an ephemeral stream located in the Mid North region of the Australian state of South Australia.
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It is open to the public from sunrise to sunset. Toilets and gas fired barbecues are available, dogs are allowed on leashes.
The brook (or more typically Australian, 'creek') is fed by a permanent spring on the northern side of Bowman Park. In most other places the Crystal Brook is normally dry.
The long distance Heysen Trail passes through Bowman Park and there is a lodge for walkers' accommodation within the park.
The Heysen Trail is a long distance walking trail in South Australia. It runs from Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) in length.
Kangaroos can often be seen in and near the park, especially mornings and evenings. There is some evidence of echidna activity.
The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae. In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus: the red kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia. The Australian government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2011, up from 25.1 million one year earlier.
Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. The four extant species, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of the order Monotremata, and are the only living mammals that lay eggs. The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas. Echidnas live in Australia and New Guinea.
There are a number of weed species in the park: Pepper trees ( Schinus molle ), olive trees, box thorn, horehound, fennel, and others. In 2005 a program to greatly reduce the number of pepper trees was under way. A problem is that the Port Pirie Regional Council do not have any policy specifying which species in the park should be considered weeds. Other species that some people would consider inappropriate in this environment are willows and (non native) pines.
Schinus molle is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters. It is native to the Peruvian Andes. The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as "pink peppercorns" although S. molle is unrelated to true pepper. The tree is host to Bombycomorpha bifascia, known as the pepper-tree moth.
The Port Pirie Regional Council (PPRC) is a local government area in South Australia, focused on the city of Port Pirie. It has a population of about 18,000 people. The council's main administrative facilities and works depot can be found in Port Pirie; it also have a rural office in Crystal Brook. In addition to Port Pirie, the municipality also includes the surrounding towns and localities of Bungama, Collinsfield, Coonamia, Crystal Brook, Koolunga, Lower Broughton, Merriton, Napperby, Nelshaby, Pirie East, Port Davis, Port Pirie South, Port Pirie West, Redhill, Risdon Park, Risdon Park South, Solomontown, Wandearah East, Wandearah West and Warnertown, and part of Clements Gap, and Mundoora.
