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Kangaroo Island Region

Walking along the coast

Kangaroo Island is situated 15 km off the mainland coast of South Australia, and is the third largest of Australia's islands at 4,500 km2. The island is promoted as a world-class nature-based tourist destination and is regarded as a key attraction in the continued development of the state and national tourism industry. It attracts approximately 150,000 visitors per year, which includes a large proportion of international travellers.

Private property comprises significant areas of remnant native vegetation combined with cleared and semi-cleared improved pastures. The local economy is based upon nature-based tourism and primary production centred on grazing, crops, fishing, aquaculture, viticulture and forestry.

Kangaroo Island experiences warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters with summer temperatures averaging between 20-25 ° Celsius and winter temperatures between 13-15 ° Celsius. Annual rainfall varies markedly across the Island ranging from 450-1,000 mm with two thirds of annual rainfall occurring between May and September.

Accommodation at Cape du Couedic

The island features 28 protected areas covering over 116,000 ha (or 25%) and managed by us. Important protected areas include Flinders Chase National Park, Seal Bay Conservation Park, Kelly Hill Conservation Park, Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area and Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area.

The Kangaroo Island Region encompasses all of Kangaroo Island and the surrounding marine environment, including the offshore Pages islands.

See Map of region with reserves and Marine Protected Areas

The marine environment of Kangaroo Island is spectacular and of great significance for biodiversity conservation, aquaculture, fishing, and other recreational uses. Important Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are The Pages Conservation Park (7,000 ha) (managed by DEH), and Seal Bay, Bales Bay and Pelican Lagoon Aquatic Reserves (managed by Primary Industries and Resources SA).

There are approximately over 90 staff employed in the region.

Our staff are located in Kingscote and Cape Borda Lightstation, Flinders Chase National Park, Cape Willoughby Lightstation, Seal Bay Conservation Park and Kelly Hill Conservation Park.

Land and Marine Systems

The region is diverse both in terms of the land and marine systems that exist and the activities that are conducted in association with these systems.

Land Systems
Marine and Coastal Systems

Visitor Information

Tour Groups for Schools

Our staff have developed specific educational tours for school groups visiting key Kangaroo Island park sites. The tours are aligned with the South Australian Curriculum, Standards & Accountability Framework and Learning Bands Early Years R-2, Primary Years 3-5 and Middle Years 6-9. The tours cover concepts from the Science and Society & Environment Scope and key ecological concepts (diversity, change, adaptation, energy, cycles, community and interrelationships). A cover page has been developed for each tour indicating the tour theme, key messages, pre and post visit activities and facilities available at the site.

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School Group Tour Fees

We offer a discounted price structure for guided tours offered to school groups*. This discounted fee is the fee payable by the student and no further discounts apply to third parties who may be bringing the students to the site. Fees applying to tours on Kangaroo Island for school groups* are as follows:

	1 July 2006 - 31 March 2008
Seal Bay - beach tour	$ 6.75
Seal Bay - boardwalk	$ 4.75
Kelly Hill Caves - showcave	$ 6.50
Cape Borda light station	$ 6.50
Cape Willoughby light station	$ 6.50

Park Entry Fees

We offer school groups free entry into parks throughout South Australia that charge a park entry fee. So in the case of Flinders Chase National Park, entry is deemed as free for school groups*

* We define school groups as students of an Australian school, college, university or any other educational institution participating in an educational excursion or activity organised by that same Australian school, college, university or other educational institution.

Click on the link below to access the School Group Tours currently available:

Seal Bay Conservation Park School Group tours

School group tours not yet available but coming soon are:

Kelly Hill Caves
Cape Borda Lightstation
Cape Willoughby Lightstation
Black Creek Swamp Fossils, Flinders Chase National Park

Kangaroo Island Flora and Faune Notes

Fauna

Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Cape Willoughby Lightstation - Bird list (50Kb PDF)
Flinders Chase National Park - Mammal list (50Kb PDF), Bird list (200Kb PDF) and
Frog and reptile list (50Kb PDF)
Cape Barren Goose (50Kb PDF)
Common Brushtail Possum (100Kb PDF)
Heath Goanna (250Kb PDF)
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo (50Kb PDF)
Koala (200Kb PDF)
Little Penguin (350Kb PDF)
New Zealand Fur-seal (50Kb PDF)
Platypus (150Kb PDF)
Short-beaked Echidna (150Kb PDF)
Tammar Wallaby (150Kb PDF)

Flora

Flinders Chase National Park - Flora list Alphabetical (200Kb PDF) and by Family (250Kb PDF)

Major Programs and Responsibilities

The region supports a number of diverse, high profile activities of considerable environmental, economic and social value to South Australia. There is considerable local, national and international interest in many of these programs and the agency accordingly has a high public and media profile.

Information on major programs and responsibilities of DEH (50Kb PDF) throughout the region such as Protected Area Management, Biodiversity Conservation, Cultural Resource Management, Tourism and Recreation Management and Commercial Operations Management are provided as links.

See Kangaroo Island Long Term Ecological Research website

Major Tourism Attractions

Seal Bay - located on the south coast of Kangaroo Island offers a wildlife experience with the wild colony of the rare Australian Sea-lion. Guided tours are conducted daily.

Cape Willoughby Lighthouse

Flinders Chase - located at the western end of Kangaroo Island encompasses stunning coastal landscapes, extensive areas of important mallee woodlands and highly visible terrestrial and marine wildlife.

Step back in time. Take a guided tour at Cape Borda Lightstation. Don't miss the daily firing of the restored signal cannon! Nearby are the historic lightkeepers' cemetery and original landing site for stores at Harveys Return.

Kelly Hill Caves - experience the mysterious beauty of these unusually formed limestone caves on a guided tour (conducted daily). For the more intrepid park visitor, an adventure caving tour may prove irresistible.

Cape Willoughby Lightstation - tours of this historic lightstation are provided daily.

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TOMM (Tourism Optimisation Management Model)

The Tourism Optimisation Management Model (TOMM) is a community-based monitoring initiative responsible for monitoring the long term sustainability of tourism on Kangaroo Island.

TOMM is used to help change the culture of the tourism industry and its stakeholders, by generating tangible evidence that the viability of the industry is dependent upon the quality of the visitor experience it generates, and the condition of the natural, cultural and social resources upon which it relies.

In its broadest sense, TOMM is an indicators program with the long term aim of initiating attitudinal change regarding sustainability and the role of the individual, within a tourism focus.

TOMM is designed to monitor tourism activity. It collects information about:

the health of the economy;
the number and type of tourists visiting;
the health of the environment;
the type of experience visitors are having;
the health of the Kangaroo Island community.

TOMM then presents the information in a simple way to show whether the current situation is a healthy one or not. If some aspect is not healthy, TOMM suggests what sort of things could be done to solve the problem.

Kangaroo Island is the first place to have a system that looks at such a wide range of aspects of tourism, and it is creating interest in Canada, Scotland and England.

A management committee of key stakeholders oversees and guides the TOMM project, with representation from us, South Australian Tourism Commission, Tourism Kangaroo Island, Kangaroo Island Development Board and Kangaroo Island Council.

Friends of Parks

Three active Friends Groups operate within protected areas on Kangaroo Island. The Friends of Cape Gantheaume, Friends of Kangaroo Island West District Parks and Friends of Dudley Peninsula Parks are actively involved in a variety of projects in conjunction with our staff.

Commercial Tour Operators Newsletters

See Current CTOs Newsletter (Inside Parks)

Related links