Skip to content

Digging deep to harvest rainwater

Published 30 Sep 2020 by Jessica Stingemore (Reserve Manager)

Water is a vital and scarce resource in the midwest rangelands of WA, and here at Charles Darwin Reserve we're constantly looking for ways to improve our rainwater capture.

So earlier this Winter a small but skilled group of volunteers dug deep to harvest rainwater – an excellent way to save not only water but also money and the environment.

Several years ago most of the gutters on the reserve buildings were connected to downpipes and water tanks to capture as much water as possible.

But over time it became apparent that even more water could be harvested with a few modifications and additions.

Also requiring attention was the bore-water storage tank – which had a collapsed roof after being damaged in a storm, which resulted in the water becoming contaminated and the overflow switch not working. 

Now, anyone who has ever faced the task of digging trenches to lay pipes would be familiar with the dread of hitting an existing pipe or (worse still) an electrical cable, but thankfully we had underground plans on hand and some important knowledge from some of our long-term volunteers who had actually laid the initial pipes many years ago!

It has been another dry year to date at Charles Darwin Reserve (only 200 mm of rainfall), so the ground was rock hard and everyone was sore at the end of each day.

But teamwork prevailed and we got the trenches dug, the pipes laid, the connections attached, and the tanks joined.

And with a bit of thrifty thinking, upcycling of old materials and coordinated chaos, the bore tank was not only repaired but moved in line with the other water tanks and away from the homestead entrance. 

While the focus of the working bee was saving water, the homestead chicken coop also got a makeover – tripling the size of the old coop and preventing the local goshawk from preying on the birds. With six hens – no wait, five hens and one rooster – eggs are in plentiful supply and quiche is now a firm favourite morning tea treat! 

Finally, a big ‘shout-out’ to our local post office Wubin Trading – who managed to find and deliver the extra parts we needed to complete the job on time. Actually, not just on time but ahead of schedule – which meant more time to explore the reserve and all its ecological wonders! 
 

Digging a trench to connect the homestead gutters. Digging a trench to connect the homestead gutters.
On a roll and moving the repaired bore tank. On a roll and moving the repaired bore tank.
That is one straight trench line and a lot of hard work. That is one straight trench line and a lot of hard work.
The upgraded chicken coop. The upgraded chicken coop.

Stories from Charles Darwin

BUSHTRACKS 13/06/2023

Returning to Country

In Western Australia's Southwest Botanical Province, when Badimia, Bimarra and Barna come together, great things happen.

Read More

BLOG 02/06/2023

Reduce, reuse, recycle this World Environment Day

For people living in cities and towns, rubbish removal is one of the many conveniences of life that we take for granted. We pop waste in our various bins and then wheel the bins out onto the road for the council trucks to pick up. But what about those who live remotely?

Read More

BLOG 06/01/2022

Restoration improves biodiversity & soil

Vegetation clearing for new agricultural land continues to cause environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and increased carbon emissions. But there are also large swathes of land no longer used for agriculture with potential to be remediated.

Read More

BLOG 02/07/2021

We must heal Country together

This NAIDOC Week we celebrate the flow and connectedness of People and Country, highlighting the relationship Bush Heritage holds with the Badimia Traditional Owners of the Midwest-Gascoyne region in Western Australia.

Read More
ichard McLellan is monitoring Sandalwood at Hamelin Reserve. Photo Shayne Thomson.

BUSHTRACKS 18/06/2021

The Great Sandalwood Transect

Across a 1500km arc from the Gibson Desert to Shark Bay, researcher Richard McLellan is uncovering the ecological and cultural value of sandalwood.

Read More

BLOG 19/01/2021

Why walk when you can hop?

I see all sorts of wildlife every day at Charles Darwin Reserve, but it is only once a year that Bush Heritage partakes in the small animal trapping on the Reserve. And I must say it is definitely one of my favourite times of year. A weeklong adventure of early mornings, peering down into dark traps never knowing what creatures might be hiding inside – and the utter joy of seeing a native animal staring back at you. A joy only surpassed by releasing the animal unharmed back into the wild.

Read More

BLOG 09/12/2020

Malleefowl – these birds like it hot, hot, hot!

Before I started as Reserve Manager at Charles Darwin Reserve, I was an avid volunteer for Bush Heritage – and have been monitoring the Malleefowl mounds here on Badimia Country for the past five years. In 2016, myself and a team of other keen volunteers went bush on one of the annual mound monitoring surveys and visited hundreds of potential Malleefowl mound locations that needed to be ‘ground-truthed’ after LIDAR analysis. Every year since, I have returned to Charles Darwin Reserve to monitor the Malleefowl mounds we identified.

Read More

BLOG 30/09/2020

Digging deep to harvest rainwater

Water is a vital and scarce resource in the midwest rangelands of WA, and here at Charles Darwin Reserve we are constantly looking for ways to improve our rainwater capture. So earlier this Winter a small but skilled group of volunteers dug deep to harvest rainwater – an excellent way to save not only water but also money and the environment.

Read More

BLOG 28/08/2020

Removing Paterson's Curse

With its vibrant purple flowers, Paterson’s Curse is often mistaken for a native wildflower but is in fact one of the most conspicuous weeds in paddocks and roadsides throughout Australia. Supposedly named after the Paterson family of Cumberoona, New South Wales - who planted it in their garden in the 1880s – the weed is now highly competitive in disturbed land, competing with agricultural crops and pastures, and unique and fragile native species. It was introduced to Australia from Europe.

Read More

BLOG 28/07/2020

There be dragons

Children learn a lot about the world through imaginative play and what better place to imagine than at Charles Darwin Reserve. The first two weeks of July are school holidays here in WA and with COVID restrictions easing – our families have been able to visit for the first time. It's always great to see family, but to be able to share the magic of Charles Darwin Reserve with not only our siblings, but also their children, is a unique and special experience.

Read More

BLOG 01/05/2020

Mystery of the soap stealing crow

Whilst our volunteers aren't able to get out onto Reserve, we've asked them to recount some of their previous adventures. Long term Western Australian volunteer Bob Ruscoe recounts an incident whilst Caretaking on Charles Darwin Reserve.

Read More

BLOG 27/02/2020

Getting froggy with it

And once the rain stopped and the thunder had passed, a new noise entered the landscape — a distinctive long, low trill that could be heard from some distance away. With our head-torches on, we ventured outside to the house dam, which at this stage was filling up with not just water, but also hundreds of protruding eyes and webbed feet — frogs!

Read More

BLOG 27/12/2019

Annual Malleefowl monitoring

Earlier this year I joined eight other volunteers to conduct an annual survey of Malleefowl activity on the vast Charles Darwin Reserve.

Read More

BLOG 30/10/2019

Plucking weeds from the wildflowers

Charles Darwin Reserve has once again celebrated its annual spring weeding session. A group of enthusiastic weeders donned their armor and attacked the inevitable, but diminishing crops of Patterson’s Curse, Double Gees and Brassicas.

Read More

BLOG 01/07/2019

Swept away by Santalaceae

Ecologist Georgina Gould-Hardwick writes about her time spent submersing herself into Santalaceae science at our Eurardy and Charles Darwin Reserves.

Read More

BLOG 13/06/2019

A gathering on Badimia Country

Bush Heritage staff and Badimia Bandi Barna Aboriginal Corporation directors gathered together in the shearing shed to discuss current and planned activities on Charles Darwin Reserve, Badimia aspirations and cultural heritage site management on the reserve.

Read More

BUSHTRACKS 22/03/2019

My happy place (Will Hansen)

"When I look at her, I often find myself thinking about the things this old tree must have seen. For hundreds of years, it has been providing life-giving habitat, food and shade for countless species.”

Read More

BUSHTRACKS 11/12/2018

Darwin’s legacy

Fifteen years ago, two men sat on a log and talked long into the night. Their conversation would shape the future of the land upon which they rested.

Read More

BLOG 16/11/2018

Fauna monitoring on Charles Darwin

One thing I can say about volunteering with Bush Heritage Australia is that it's never boring. And I've just had the most action-packed week that I've had for a long time, helping-out with this year's fauna monitoring surveys on Charles Darwin Reserve in midwest Australia.

Read More

BLOG 31/10/2018

Monitoring Malleefowl mounds

Boots? Check. Gloves? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Wide-brimmed hat? Check. Shin and ankle gaiters? Check. Thorn-proof, long-sleeved shirt and trousers? Hmm... is there any such thing? As it turns out, the answer to that question is 'No' - as this year's hardy bunch of staff and volunteers discovered when we were out conducting the annual Malleefowl mound monitoring surveys on Charles Darwin Reserve.

Read More

BLOG 03/10/2018

Ecotours at Blues for the Bush

There were certainly a lot of highlights at this year's Blues for the Bush music festival at Charles Darwin Reserve, but for me, and many other festival-goers, easily one of the stand-out, most-popular events on offer were the ecotours around the reserve.

Read More

BLOG 27/09/2018

Move over Hollywood

Move over Hollywood! 'Cos while Tinseltown may be famous for having the Blues Brothers, here at Charles Darwin Reserve, we've got something bigger and better: an entire Blues Family.

Read More

BLOG 10/08/2018

The restorative power of poo

This one was produced by an emu and is full of Sandalwood seeds. The species was harvested extensively but is now regenerating.

Read More

BLOG 27/07/2018

Goodbye city lights… hello outback

Precisely a week after my husband Will, our nine-month-old son Hamish, and I had moved from Sydney to Charles Darwin Reserve in remote Western Australia, I sat crying in our new house.

Read More

BUSHTRACKS 27/03/2018

Eye in the sky

On Charles Darwin and Eurardy reserves in Western Australia, the innovative use of a remote sensing technology is marking the start of a new era in Malleefowl monitoring.

Read More

BLOG 24/11/2017

Let it rain – refilling a natural water tank

This experience made my week! We had rangers Vaughan Lane and Lindsey Callow, both Badimaya men from the Midwest Aboriginal Ranger Program who are working in partnership with the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council and Western Mulga, out at Charles Darwin Reserve in Western Australia recently to clear out a rock hole. What happened next was just extraordinary.

Read More

BLOG 23/05/2017

Sandpad monitoring at Charles Darwin

Brian Martin and Brian Crute are valued Bush Heritage volunteers who help with the seasonal sand pad monitoring on Charles Darwin Reserve in Western Australia. Here Brian Martin provides an account of this autumn's sand pad monitoring.

Read More

BLOG 28/02/2017

LiDAR mapping for Malleefowl

As part of a collaborative project we used the latest technology – LiDAR – to map new Malleefowl mounds in the region and in Spring we went and visited hundreds of these potential mound locations.

Read More

BLOG 27/09/2016

Blues for the Bush 2016

Delights of the beautiful Charles Darwin Reserve were shared with over 1,400 people on the weekend at Blues for the Bush 2016. This fantastic event brought together people from around WA and further afield to learn about our conservation effort in the rangelands and to be inspired by nature, amazing art, music, food and creativity.

Read More

BLOG 27/07/2016

Climate change study at Charles Darwin

Dr Nic Dunlop from the Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) has been running a citizen science program on Charles Darwin Reserve for the past 10 years. Here Nic discusses the science program and how Charles Darwin Reserve has become a meeting place for the scientific community.

Read More

BLOG 24/04/2016

A week volunteering at CDR

Mick and Kerry Moylan have been volunteering for Bush Heritage Australia for the past 5 years. Based in Victoria they regularly volunteer on different reserves around the country. In the past couple of years they've worked on reserves in New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. The following article was written by Mick after he and Kerry spent a week at Charles Darwin Reserve in Western Australia helping Reserve Manager, Fiona Stewart.

Read More
Loading...
{{itemsInCart}} Items - {{formatCurrency(grandTotal)}}