Wara Wayingga-Tennyson Dunes Conservation Reserve

Open dai­ly.

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, book­ings and park management:

Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office
Phone: (+61) 7133 7300
Email: DEW.​NPWSNorthLofty@​sa.​gov.​au

Emer­gency contacts:

Med­ical, fire (includ­ing bush­fire) and police emer­gency sit­u­a­tions
Phone: Triple Zero (000)

Police Assis­tance
Phone: 131 444 for non-urgent police assistance

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA – Emer­gency After Hours Duty Offi­cer (voice mes­sages only, text mes­sages are unavail­able to be received)
Phone: 0427 556 676

Injured wildlife:

With­in the park
Please con­tact Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office on (+61) 7133 7300 or the duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676

Out­side of the park
Please con­tact a local wildlife res­cue group

Marine mam­mals
If you find a sick or strand­ed marine mam­mal (includ­ing whales, seals, sea lions and dol­phins), please con­tact Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office on (+61) 7133 7300 or the duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676

Ten­nyson Dunes are great to vis­it any time of year. Vis­it in sum­mer and pack your beach tow­el and sun hut, in win­ter embrace the brisk sea air.

You can access Wara Way­ing­ga-Ten­nyson Dunes Con­ser­va­tion Reserve via Mil­i­tary Rd, Ten­nyson. There are sev­er­al places to park on Mil­i­tary Rd, you can then enter the dunes via the trails which start to the west of the carparks. 

If you’re in your own vehi­cle, you can find this park on the map.

• Park map

There is also pub­lic trans­port to this park from the Ade­laide city centre. 

• Ade­laide Metro bus and train services

This area is the Coun­try of the Kau­r­na (pro­nounced ​‘Gar-na’) peo­ple. Kau­r­na peo­ple are the tra­di­tion­al own­ers and cus­to­di­ans of the Ade­laide Plains, an area that stretch­es from Cape Jervis in the south, Crys­tal Brook in the north, Mount Lofty Ranges to the east and St Vin­cent Gulf in the west. Kau­r­na Elder Frank Wangutya Wan­ga­neen wel­comes you to the dunes and Kau­r­na country.

The Ten­nyson Dunes are a place of great sig­nif­i­cance to the Kau­r­na peo­ple who spent their sum­mers here feast­ing on water­birds, fish and shell­fish over thou­sands of years. A place where Kau­r­na Elders passed on sto­ries to the next gen­er­a­tion about their peo­ple and their Coun­try. Among them was the sto­ry of the Milky Way, ​‘Wardli­pari’.

Since the ear­ly days of Euro­pean set­tle­ment in Ade­laide, human asso­ci­a­tion with the Ten­nyson Dunes has caused sig­nif­i­cant changes to the area. From the build­ing of Est­court House in the 1880s to the major devel­op­ment of West Lakes, the dunes have, at times, been at risk of being built over. His­tor­i­cal activ­i­ties such as sand min­ing and the intro­duc­tion of pest plants and ani­mals have also placed pres­sure on the dunes and the del­i­cate ecosys­tems that exist here. In the 1970s the fate of the dunes began to change as pas­sion­ate locals want­ed to pro­tect what was left.

Along a coast­line dom­i­nat­ed by hous­es and indus­try, the Ten­nyson Dunes stand as tes­ta­ment to the deter­mi­na­tion of these pas­sion­ate locals. In recent years, the Ten­nyson Dunes Group and oth­er com­mu­ni­ty organ­i­sa­tions have invest­ed thou­sands of hours in restor­ing the habi­tat of the dunes and min­imis­ing threats to its plants and ani­mals. Today the dunes are pro­tect­ed as a con­ser­va­tion reserve, and with the ongo­ing efforts of the local com­mu­ni­ty, the future looks bright. 

• Mobile phone cov­er­age is good
• Impor­tant: Col­lec­tion of fire­wood with­in nation­al parks is prohibited
• Parks man­age­ment plans
• Bio­di­ver­si­ty Action Plan
• SA Marine Parks

Dogs are wel­come in this park.

Please ensure you:

• Keep your dog under con­trol and on a lead no more than two metres in length.
• Stick to des­ig­nat­ed walk­ing trails.
• Bring dis­pos­able bags to clean up your dog’s fae­ces (please be aware there are no bins in nation­al parks).

Dis­cov­er oth­er parks you can walk your dog in on our find a park tool or read 12 dog-friend­ly walks in Ade­laide Parks by Good Liv­ing for inspiration.

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves. Assis­tance dogs must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times while in a park or reserve.

As per the dogs in parks and reserves pol­i­cy, if the dog is not an accred­it­ed assis­tance dog, they must be trained to assist a per­son with a dis­abil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate that dis­abil­i­ty and meet stan­dards of hygiene and behav­iour appro­pri­ate for a dog in a pub­lic place. How­ev­er, refusal may be giv­en if the per­son with the dis­abil­i­ty is unable to pro­duce evi­dence the dog is an assis­tance dog with the appro­pri­ate training.

Before tak­ing your assis­tance dog into a park that does not nor­mal­ly allow dogs, it is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact us so we can pro­vide you with the lat­est infor­ma­tion on any poten­tial haz­ards with­in spe­cif­ic parks that may affect your dog. Please con­tact the park via the con­tact details pro­vid­ed under the con­tact tab or con­tact the vis­i­tor ser­vice cen­tre via email or on Face­book.

There are no facil­i­ties with­in the park. 

The green island that is Ten­nyson Dunes can be thought of as Adelaide’s fourth botan­i­cal gar­den as it encom­pass­es so many of the impor­tant plants of this region. Of the 52 orig­i­nal species that are found here, 16 are of con­ser­va­tion sig­nif­i­cance, includ­ing the rare and spec­tac­u­lar look­ing cush­ion fan­flower. Many of these plants only grow in a par­tic­u­lar and very lim­it­ed area, mak­ing them incred­i­bly vul­ner­a­ble to change and all the more dif­fi­cult to protect.

Please don’t pick or remove any plants from the Con­ser­va­tion Reserve. 

Dune colonis­ers

The plants of the Ten­nyson Dunes are coastal spe­cial­ists that have adapt­ed to thrive under the harsh con­di­tions of this tough and blus­tery land­scape. In fact, with­out plants the dunes as we know them wouldn’t be here at all. Ten­nyson Dunes Group coor­di­na­tor Nick Crouch takes us through some of the species that can be found in each tier of the three tiered dune sys­tem and the role they play in sta­bil­is­ing the dunes.

Bloom­ing beautiful

From the late 1830s the dunes attract­ed a suc­ces­sion of botan­i­cal experts that were eager to cat­a­logue the plants of a new land. Many of the plants they dis­cov­ered, and that can still be found here, were spec­tac­u­lar look­ing with stun­ning flow­ers and bird attract­ing berries.

Cush­ion fan­flower (Scaevola crassifolia)

This front­line coastal dweller has light green fleshy foliage and fra­grant fan-shaped flow­ers that occur most­ly in spring. It is an impor­tant host plant for the cater­pil­lars of the mead­ow argus but­ter­fly. You’ll find it grow­ing in the swale and hind dune.

Coastal beard­ed-heath (Leu­co­pogan paviflorus)

The green foliage of this dense shrub is enhanced in spring when white flow­ers grow in clus­ters at the end of its branch­es. The pale white berries that fol­low pro­vide a food source that is a par­tic­u­lar favourite of the singing hon­eyeater. You’ll find it grow­ing in the swale and hind dune. 

Coast daisy-bush ​‘Blue­bush’ (Olearia axillaris)

This hardy shrub was tra­di­tion­al­ly used by Kau­r­na peo­ple for smok­ing pur­pos­es to pro­vide pro­tec­tion on fish­ing expe­di­tions. You’ll find it grow­ing through­out the dunes. 

Sea box (Alyx­ia buxifolia)

This slow grow­ing shrub has glossy ever­green foliage, fra­grant white ​‘pin­wheel’ flow­ers that appear in sum­mer and bright red berries that are favoured by the local birds. You’ll find it grow­ing in the swale and hind dune.

Pig­face ​‘Karkalla’ (Car­po­bro­tus rossii)

Kau­r­na peo­ple have long used the ​‘Karkalla’ for med­i­c­i­nal pur­pos­es along with eat­ing the flow­ers that appear from August through to Octo­ber. You’ll find it grow­ing through­out the dunes, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the swale.

Coast salt­bush (Atriplex cinerea)

The grey-green leaves of this bushy shrub are an impor­tant food for the cater­pil­lars of the salt­bush blue but­ter­fly. This is a front­line bush that is fast grow­ing and plays a crit­i­cal role in sta­bil­is­ing the fore­dune, which is where you will find it growing.

Coast bit­ter­bush (Adri­ana quadripartita)

This com­pact shrub has sep­a­rate male and female plants with dis­tinc­tive flow­ers on each that occur most­ly from win­ter through to mid-sum­mer. The cater­pil­lars of the rare bit­ter­bush blue but­ter­fly feed exclu­sive­ly on the leaves and flow­ers of the male plant. You’ll find it grow­ing in the swale and hind dune.

Coastal lignum (Muehlen­beck­ia gunnii)

This climb­ing plant has tiny cream flow­ers and shiny arrow-shaped leaves. It is an impor­tant plant for wildlife, with its berries eat­en by birds and rep­tiles. You’ll find it grow­ing in the swale and hind dune.

Native juniper (Myopo­rum insulare)

This long-lived plant offers nest­ing habi­tat for var­i­ous birds and its clumps of white or pale pink flow­ers pro­vide nec­tar for but­ter­flies. You’ll find it grow­ing in the swale and hind dune.

Droop­ing sheoak ​‘Karko’ (Allo­ca­sua­r­i­na verticillata)

This long lived tree was used by Kau­r­na peo­ple for mak­ing cul­tur­al arte­facts and to quench thirst by suck­ing on leaves when going on long jour­neys. You’ll find it grow­ing on the hind dune. 

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​‘Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​‘Flo­ra Tools’ or ​‘Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps.

Birds

With around 50 species of bird occur­ring here through­out the year, the Ten­nyson Dunes are a bird lover’s par­adise. Some birds are per­ma­nent res­i­dents, like the musi­cal singing hon­eyeater. Oth­ers come from far off places to spend the sum­mer and clock up thou­sands of kilo­me­tres in their jour­ney to get here. 

Birds of prey

Look to the sky dur­ing your vis­it today and you might be reward­ed with a spec­tac­u­lar aer­i­al dis­play by the dunes’ res­i­dent birds of prey. The black-shoul­dered kite (Elanus axil­laris) and nan­keen kestrel (Fal­co cenchroides) can often be seen hov­er­ing over the dunes as they hunt for small ter­res­tri­al mam­mals, insects and rep­tiles. Call: Black-shoul­dered kite ​‘chee’ ​‘skairr’, ​‘kik, kik, kik’, Nan­keen kestrel ​‘kee­kee­kee­kee­kee’, ​‘keer, keer, keer’. 

Singing hon­eyeater

The musi­cal tweets of the singing hon­eyeater (Lichenos­to­mus virescens) are a sig­na­ture sound of the Ten­nyson Dunes. Lis­ten for them with­in the dense shrubs at the heart of the dunes and pro­ceed qui­et­ly for your best chance at sight­ing these shy res­i­dents. Call: ​‘prrit, prrit, pritt’, ​‘crik-crik­it-crik­it-crik­it’, ​‘scree’.

Rep­tiles

Of the 50 species of rep­tiles that occur in the Ade­laide and Mount Lofty Ranges, at least 10 to 15 can be found here in the dunes. Many are small and shy, like the icon­ic paint­ed drag­on. Oth­ers are quite large, includ­ing one that you might pre­fer not to come across! 

The sun-lov­ing rep­tiles of Ten­nyson are most like­ly to reveal them­selves to you in the morn­ing and after­noon as they warm them­selves along the trail, on fence posts and atop bushes. 

Paint­ed dragon

The paint­ed drag­on (Ctenopho­rus pic­tus) is the icon­ic species of the Ten­nyson Dunes, which come alive with these spec­tac­u­lar look­ing lizards all through the spring and sum­mer. Look for them bask­ing in the sun along the trail or perched on the branch­es of low lying shrubs. 

East­ern beard­ed dragon 

The largest lizard that you will find in the dunes is the east­ern beard­ed drag­on (Pog­o­na bar­ba­ta). If you get too close it will puff up its char­ac­ter­is­tic beard in a warn­ing to keep your dis­tance. They are quick and agile climbers and will often perch on fence posts or bush­es as they warm them­selves in the sun or look for prey. 

East­ern brown snake

The east­ern brown snake (Pseudon­a­ja tex­tilis) often gets a bad rap because it is high­ly ven­omous, but it is a very shy snake and will usu­al­ly keep out of your way. It is an essen­tial part of the dune’s ecol­o­gy and ful­fills the impor­tant role of keep­ing mice and rat pop­u­la­tions in check. Keep lis­ten­ing for Kau­r­na Elder Frank Wangutya Wanganeen’s insight on the species of rep­tile that the brown snake tends to avoid.

Inver­te­brates

The hun­dreds of species of inver­te­brates that live in the dunes are part of an ancient group of ani­mals that have been on earth for at least 360 mil­lion years. Most of these ​‘minibeasts’ go about their dai­ly busi­ness unno­ticed, but the ser­vices they pro­vide are vital to the dunes and the plants and ani­mals that live here. 

Sug­ar ant

The ants of the dunes are often the eas­i­est inver­te­brates to spot as they go about their dai­ly busi­ness. They deliv­er a whole host of impor­tant ser­vices, but one of the most inter­est­ing is the sug­ar ants (Cam­pono­tus con­so­bri­nus) role as atten­dant and pro­tec­tor of the dunes’ res­i­dent caterpillars. 

Pie-dish bee­tle

The pie-dish bee­tle (Halea sp.) is a dune spe­cial­ist with a body craft­ed to plane through the sand. These night time for­agers feed most­ly on decay­ing veg­e­ta­tion and are most abun­dant in the sum­mer months. 

Antlion

The antlion (Myrmeleon sp.) is best known for the fierce preda­to­ry habits of its lar­vae which build con­i­cal pits to trap pass­ing ants and oth­er prey. Look for these death traps in the soft sand along the edges of the walk­ing trail. 

Spi­ders

There are a whole host of spi­ders that inhab­it the dunes, from prim­i­tive spi­ders with heavy set bod­ies and large fangs to more cryp­tic species with excep­tion­al cam­ou­flage abil­i­ties. Wher­ev­er you are in the dunes, there is a spi­der nearby. 

Pol­li­na­tors

The pol­li­nat­ing inver­te­brates that inhab­it the dunes are vital in cre­at­ing and main­tain­ing the habi­tat that oth­er ani­mals rely on for food and shel­ter. Among the species found here are buzz pol­li­na­tors like the spec­tac­u­lar look­ing native blue band­ed bee (Amegilla cin­gu­la­ta). Draw your eye to the tops of bush­es and shrubs in flower for your best chance at spot­ting these insects. 

Mole crick­et

Some of the most vocal of the inver­te­brates found at the dunes only reveal them­selves at night, like the loud and per­sis­tent mole crick­et (Gryl­lotalp­i­dae sp.). The con­tin­u­ous song of this crick­et is a recog­nis­able sound of sum­mer, which is the time of year when they are most active.

But­ter­flies and moths

A great num­ber of but­ter­fly and moth species inhab­it the dunes. Some are more daz­zling in their appear­ance than oth­ers, but all play an essen­tial role in the ecosys­tem here. They can be dif­fi­cult to spot when they are rest­ing, so look instead for flash­es of colour as they take flight. 

Pray­ing mantis

The pray­ing man­tis (Man­tis reli­giosa) is a for­mi­da­ble preda­tor of the dunes that ambush­es or patient­ly stalks its prey. When it is ready to strike it does so with light­ning speed, attack­ing with large rap­to­r­i­al arms that pin their vic­tim in place. These nim­ble car­ni­vores have mas­tered the art of cam­ou­flage, so look close­ly among the twigs and stems of the plants of the dunes for a chance at spot­ting this charis­mat­ic creature.

Gall wasp

You don’t often see the adult gall wasp (Cynip­i­dae sp.) fly­ing about the dunes, but you are like­ly to come across its lar­vae hid­ing in plain sight. Look for fun­ny look­ing galls or cal­lus­es on var­i­ous plants that form in response to the pres­ence of the wasp’s feed­ing larvae. 

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​‘Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​‘Flo­ra Tools’ or ​‘Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps.

The sand dunes along the Ade­laide coast formed after the last ice age when the melt­ing of glob­al glac­i­ers caused sea lev­els to rise and Gulf St Vin­cent was flood­ed. Sand was then pushed from the gulf onto the beach over thou­sands of years to cre­ate the dunes you see today.

The fine white sand of the Ten­nyson Dunes makes its way here from as far off as Maslin Beach, mov­ing north due to the process known as long shore drifts, pushed along by blus­tery south west­er­ly winds.