TWO WELLS GOLF CLUB

The Hon. P.L. WHITE (Taylor) (15:23): Today I inform the house that recently I handed over a cheque on behalf of the state government to the Two Wells Golf Club. It was money provided under one of the programs run by the Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing and, although only a rather small amount of money in the scheme of things, I want to let the parliament and the minister know about the value of these small amounts of money in the hands of our sporting and recreation clubs.

You could say that the Two Wells Golf Club runs on the smell of an oily rag. It is quite a good course—all run by volunteer effort—and the $2000 or $5000 cheques that come along from time to time from the state government make such a difference to clubs like the Two Wells Golf Club. As I said, it is a lovely course. People do not often think of going to a course like the Two Wells golf course, if they are used to the metro courses, but it is not only a peaceful, delightful and varied terrain to play golf: it is also a club that is involved in a lot of activities.

Back in 2005, I presented a cheque to this club (it was a very small amount of money), and the club carried out some renovations to its clubhouse and, since that time, club membership has doubled. So, it has been a very effective resource from the state government. The latest money granted to them was for more golfing equipment and the like.

Something that did surprise me when I last visited the golf club a few weeks ago was that the golf club is involved in a whole range of activities of an environmental nature as well. For example, the club is involved, along with the South Australian Urban Forest Biodiversity Development Program, in trying to prevent the extinction and provide protection of the potential habitat of the yellowish sedge-skipper butterfly.

Until I visited the club recently, I did not know what that was, but it is a yellow and brown butterfly that is very, very rare and regarded as endangered by the Conservation Council of South Australia. The habitat, the larval food plant, is a particular thatching grass called Gahnia filum, I understand, that used to be prevalent on the Northern Adelaide Plains. There used to be a very small colony of this type of butterfly on Yorke Peninsula as well, but it has since become fairly extinct.

Back in March 2000, the South Australian Urban Forest Biodiversity Development Program put some money into coming up with a local recovery plan for South Australia, and we have gone from a situation where there had not been any of these particular butterflies found in the Northern Adelaide Plains in the mid-1990s to a situation now where there has been some rehabilitation of their habitat going on and an attempt to protect those potential habitat areas. This particular thatching grass has a particular shape that only these butterflies will breed in, apparently, and it is only found in swampy, coastal areas around the Bolivar and Virginia area.

So, amongst all the work these volunteers from the Two Wells Golf Club are doing, they are involved in the SA Urban Forest Biodiversity Development Program and some others in regenerating a habitat for this local butterfly. These are the things you learn as a local MP about your area and about the good work that volunteers do. I commend the work of the Two Wells Golf Club, and I know that the money the state government gives will be well used.