Torrens Island Conservation Park

There is no pub­lic vehi­cle access to this park. The pub­lic can access some parts of the park via small water­craft. There are no jet­ties or moor­ing facil­i­ties for boats.

Recre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties in the adja­cent Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary include dol­phin watch­ing, kayak­ing and boating.

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, book­ings and park management:

Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office
Phone: (+61 8) (+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

Tor­rens Island is with­in an impor­tant nat­ur­al area that extends from Light Riv­er to the Port Riv­er Estu­ary. The island is part of an 822ha ecosys­tem-unit which includes the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary and the Bark­er Inlet/​St Kil­da Aquat­ic Reserve (list­ed as a wet­land of nation­al impor­tance). It sup­ports a num­ber of veg­e­ta­tion com­mu­ni­ties, most notably man­groves, sam­phire and coastal dunes, which pro­vide impor­tant habi­tat for a range of native fau­na species, includ­ing 69 bird species of con­ser­va­tion significance. 

Tor­rens Island pro­vides one of the very few areas of unde­vel­oped coast­line in the Port Riv­er estu­ary, and its dense fringe of man­groves, com­pris­ing approx­i­mate­ly 60% of the island, are impor­tant nurs­ery habi­tat for fish species, assist move­ment of fish at high tide, pro­vide shel­ter and nest­ing sites for birds, pro­vide a major role in the bal­ance between ero­sion and depo­si­tion of sed­i­ments along the coast and cre­ate clear­er water. This envi­ron­ment sup­ports the Indo-Pacif­ic Bot­tlenose Dol­phin pop­u­la­tion, which also uses this area for habitat. 

Tor­rens Island also sup­ports large areas of sam­phire salt­marsh­es which pro­vide high-tide feed­ing and roost­ing areas for a wide range of bird species, includ­ing migra­to­ry species, as well as impor­tant breed­ing habi­tat for res­i­dent shore­bird species. 

Cauler­pa taxifolia 

Cauler­pa tax­i­fo­lia has been iden­ti­fied through­out the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary. This is a high­ly inva­sive pest algae species with the poten­tial to spread through to Gulf St Vincent. 

There are a num­ber of ways you can help stop the spread. 

The Kau­r­na Peo­ple have lived in the Tor­rens Island area for thou­sands of years. The area con­tin­ues to hold impor­tant val­ues for the Kau­r­na Peo­ple. His­tor­i­cal and cur­rent asso­ci­a­tions are still in place and need to be pro­tect­ed. Sev­er­al tra­di­tion­al sto­ries are con­nect­ed with this area, includ­ing The Wan­der­ings of Tjirbruke.

Friends of Tor­rens Island 

Friends of Tor­rens Island​’s aim is to pre­serve, con­serve, pro­mote and enhance the envi­ron­men­tal, his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al her­itage of Tor­rens Island. 

This group runs work­ing bees and tours of the Tor­rens Island Quar­an­tine Sta­tion, which is locat­ed adja­cent to Tor­rens Island Con­ser­va­tion Park. Fol­low them on Face­book.

Estu­ary Care Foundation 

Estu­ary Care Foun­da­tion is a not-for-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion that aims pro­mote the pro­tec­tion of the ecol­o­gy and shore­lines of South Australia’s Port Riv­er and Bark­er Inlet. 

On their web­site you can find infor­ma­tion about the foun­da­tion, their projects and how to get involved. 

Estu­ary Care Foun­da­tion

Can I have a fire or barbecue?

• Ensure you are famil­iar with the fire restric­tions for this park.
  

Clo­sures and safety

This park is closed on days of Cat­a­stroph­ic Fire Dan­ger and may also be closed on days of Extreme Fire Danger.

You can deter­mine the cur­rent fire dan­ger rat­ing by check­ing the Fire Ban Dis­trict map on the CFS website.

Check the CFS web­site or call the CFS Bush­fire Infor­ma­tion Hot­line 1800 362 361 for:

• Infor­ma­tion on fire bans and cur­rent fire conditions
• Cur­rent CFS warn­ings and incidents
• Infor­ma­tion on what to do in the event of a fire.

Lis­ten to your local area radio sta­tion for the lat­est updates and infor­ma­tion on fire safety.