GENERAL ARTICLES
Swimming in Sand – Frogs and Sand-Mining at Smiths Lake
By Dr Arthur White
Smiths Lake – a biological Paradise
I first went to Smiths Lake as a uni student in 1974 . The University of New South Wales had leased a small field station on the edge of the Myall Lakes National Park , about 350 kilometres north of Sydney . As a student we undertook a series of ecological studies at Smiths Lake , in the lake itself , in the swamps and across the towering high dunes . That first introduction to Smiths Lake was enough to shock my senses – there was so much wildlife , and the landscapes were fascinating . Firstly , there was a serene lake ( Fig . 1 ) that teemed with interesting aquatic animals ; behind the field station was an acid swamp that was also alive ( especially with frogs at night ), and nearby the sand wall that was the Bridge Hill sand dune . This dune was stunning – its size and steepness were impressive , but it was fully forested – how could this be ?
Figure 2 : Basic accommodation – old army tents . Image A . White .
Back to Smiths Lake
Having been hooked on the beauty and abundance of wildlife at Smiths Lake I returned as often as I could . I started doing trapping studies , and began collating a list of the vertebrate animals of the area . I assumed that my enjoyment of the place would go on forever , and that the area would not be stained by commercial development . Sadly I was wrong .
Myall Lakes National Park
Figure 1 : Smiths Lake – a biological paradise . Image A . White .
In 1974 the Smiths Lake field station was quite basic compared to the modern version . As students we slept in old army tents ( Fig . 2 ) that leaked whenever it rained . There was a concrete area where we could sit and eat , and a tiny laboratory where the field microscopes and sampling gear were stored , and a very basic toilet / shower block – and that was it . The tents were so poor that many of the students took to sleeping in the fishermens ' net shed at the end of the property .
Modern day Myall Lakes National Park is rather different from the park that existed in the 1970s . The park began in 1972 when a small area of land between Myall Lake and the ocean was set aside as a national park . This land had been strip-mined for rutile , and the area that was to become a park was revegetated . However , there were plans to extend the park to include land on the western side of Myall Lake and to the north as far as Smiths Lake ( Fig . 3 ).
38 SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 66 NO 4