Ravine Des Casoars Wilderness Area - SA

Ravine Des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area is a protected area located on the west end of Kangaroo Island in South Australia about 80 km (50 mi) west of Kingscote. It was established in 1993 on land previously part of the Flinders Chase National Park.

The wilderness protection area occupies a parcel of land which is bounded to the south by the West Bay Road and the West Melrose Track, to the east by the West End Highway, the north in part by the Playford Highway and the remainder being the coastline down to mean low water mark from Harvey’s Return in the north-east to West Bay in the west. The coastline boundary, however, does exclude the former lighthouse reserve at Cape Borda which is part of the Flinders Chase National Park.

The wilderness protection area was proclaimed on 15 October 1993, "in order to protect and preserve the outstandingly high wilderness qualities of the area." It was named after the Ravine des Casoars, a valley and associated drainage basin located in the northern half of the wilderness protection area. Previously, the land had been part of the Flinders Chase National Park and its predecessors since 1919. Prior to being part of a protected area, the land which had never been cleared by European colonists for agricultural or any other purpose appears to have supported Aboriginal people on the basis of archaeological evidence. As of 1999, radiocarbon dating of material recovered via archaeological excavation from sites at Cape du Couedic and Rocky River just outside the wilderness protection area's southern boundary suggest Aboriginal presence from approximately 7,500 years BP to as recent as 350–400 years BP.