River Bend Heritage Trail Hike (28km)

Mowan­tjie Willauwar Con­ser­va­tion Park is locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly six kilo­me­tres south-west of Tailem Bend and con­serves 143 hectares of south­ern cypress pine for­est. The for­est is home to two nation­al­ly threat­ened orchid species, the vul­ner­a­ble sand­hill green­hood orchid and the endan­gered metal­lic sun-orchid, with the pop­u­la­tion of sand­hill green­hood orchids being one of the nine remain­ing in our state.

Vis­i­tors wish­ing to escape the hus­tle can walk along the peace­ful Mur­ray Coorong Trail or Riv­er Bend Her­itage Trail, which fol­low the same sec­tion through the south-west and north-east cor­ners of the park. This part of the trail was once the Princes High­way, and now mean­ders through south­ern cypress pine for­est, mallee box wood­land, droop­ing sheoak wood­land and scent­ed iron­grass grass­land. If you have a keen eye, you may be reward­ed with the sight­ings of the rare striped hon­eyeater or rest­less fly­catch­er. A vari­ety of oth­er species have been record­ed in the park, includ­ing the white-browed bab­bler, var­ie­gat­ed fairy-wren, yel­low thorn­bill and red-capped robin.

The park was named in recog­ni­tion of the Ngar­rind­jeri peo­ple. ​‘Mowan­tjie’ is the name for the native pine found in the area, while ​‘Willauwar’ is a plur­al word mean­ing ​‘for­est of species’. There­fore the name ​‘Mowan­tjie Willauwar’ means ​‘Native Pine For­est’, which accu­rate­ly describes the park.