Description
My Australian landscape painting is frequently inspired by an area in the mid north of South Australia. This painting is from the area around Peterborough.
The Mid North is a region of South Australia, north of the Adelaide Plains
The Mid North stretches from Adelaide up to Port Augusta It is generally accepted to extend from Spencer Gulf east to the Barrier Highway, including the coastal plain, the southern part of the Flinders Ranges, and the northern part of the Mount Lofty Ranges.
Towns of the mid north include Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Port Germain, Clare, Auburn, Burra, Jamestown, Booloroo Centre, Melrose, Orroroo, Peterborough and smaller places like Wilmington, Appila, Stone hut, Peking and Yongala.
South Australia’s mid north is mostly farming land, producing wheat, wine and wool. The pretty historic towns are set amongst gorgeous landscape.
The region has been extensively cleared for agriculture and only 13.1% of the original native vegetation remains. Much of the remnant native vegetation in the region is generally confined to small, highly fragmented islands in a sea of agricultural land.
Much of this remnant vegetation is mallee or samphire shrubland, low woodlands, coastal shrublands and sedgelands.
The Mid North and Southern Flinders Ranges also lie across a transition zone between the arid and Mediterranean climatic regions and, as a result, will suffer disproportionately from any shifts in climatic patterns brought about by climate change.