A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here:  https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/DCK003.html

This track consists of multiple recordings made around the rocky crossing of the creek which runs downstream about a hundred metres from the Deep Creek waterfall. As mentioned in the waterfall field notes from this same trip, the recent rainfall across the region had resulted in the tributaries and creeks flowing more than usual for mid-Summer.

FKISM: Creek crossing downstream from Deep Creek Waterfall, Deep Creek National Park, January 2024

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here:  https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/DCK002.html

Consisting of two recordings - one made at a distance facing the waterfall, the other closer to the cascade and at its side - this track documents the Deep Creek waterfall on a cool and misty day around lunchtime. Given that it had been an unusually wet start to Summer (both December and January recorder about 40mm above average rainfall respectively), there was a considerable amount of water running through the various tributaries which feed into the valleys and culminate in an especially vibrant cascade where the waterfall meets the lower sections of creek.

FKISM: Deep Creek Waterfall, Deep Creek National Park, January 2024

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here: https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/GRA004.html

The oddly named 'Bridal Spray' is a barrier constructed from large rocks which is located near the large breakwater that stretches out from the easternmost side of the island. It is from the south that the island receives the brunt of the ocean, where strong waves regularly lash the rocks, boulders and cliffs.

With a stereo mic rig deployed a couple of metres back from the barrier, this recording documents the loud roil of the ocean to the south, occasionally interspersed by the sound of waves striking the barrier, exploding with jets of white foam and dripping within the rocky crevices of the barrier.

FKISM: "Bridal Spray", Granite Island (Nulcoowarra), August 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here: https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/GRA006.html

The Space Steeple was part of the recreation infrastructure on the island, along with the famous chairlift that ran from the northern ridge up to the summit of the island. Whilst documentation on the chairlift is pretty comprehensive (it operated from the mid-1960s to its removal in 1996), information regarding the Space Steeple remains scant at best. Since finding a couple of small photos online, the structure looked like a skeletal refinery platform crossed with a rocket tower. Visitors could take a tiny - visibly questionable - lift about 20 metres up to the Steeple's summit and take in the view. It is unknown when or why the Steeple was removed, though it could be concluded that it disappeared long before the chairlift, going by photos of the chairlift where the Steeple is conspicuously absent.

By August 2023, the foundations of the Steeple consist of a concrete slab, surrounded by wind-worn sheoaks and an array of large lichen-covered boulders. Dried shoeak needle cover the concrete slab and the rusted stubs of the Steeple's foundation burst with bright green shoots of grass. A persistent breeze whips around the area, as insects chirp nearby and the ocean churns away in the distance.

FKISM: Space Steeple site, Granite Island (Nulcoowarra), August 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here:  https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/GRA003.html

The Screwpile Jetty (built in 1881) is located at the south-western corner of Nulcoowarra, just a short walk from the island's kiosk. 

This recording is made at one of the jetty's landings, just above the surface of the water, where lower level gratings allow points for launching. Two Aquarian hydrophones were deployed on either side of the landing at about a depth of two metres. The turbulence from the choppy conditions can be heard in the unstable currents that course, slosh and churn around the landing. Above this activity, snapping shrimp crackle throughout.

FKISM: Screwpile Jetty landing, Granite Island (Nulcoowarra), August 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here: https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/GRA007.html

Beneath Umbrella Rock on the western edge of the island, the waves beat against rocks far below. Wind whips around the huge rock I'm sheltering against. Above in the sky, I occasionally sight Pacific Gulls wheeling about against the glaring grey afternoon skies.

FKISM: Umbrella Rock, Granite Island (Nulcoowarra), August 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here: https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/GRA005.html

From a gravel path leading up to a large clearing in the centre of the island, the recording rig is positioned to record the surrounding soundscape. In the distance, the ocean continuously roars to the south, whilst from either side of the path, the discrete shear of wind through sheoaks and the calls of wattlebirds and Singing Honeyeaters can be heard.

FKISM: Sheoak ambience, Granite Island (Nulcoowarra), August 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here:  https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/NRM014.html

Following the Bungala River upstream from the previous recording site (https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/NRM013.html), here a greater immediate ambience is present. Further removed from the sounds of the main road and partially enveloped by trees and steep banks that follow a sharp bend in the river's course. With another dense tract of reeds, their rustling - along with the susseration of eucalypts - dominates the recording, whilst wattle birds, lorikeets and wrens call out nearby.

FKISM: Bungala River reed bank ambience, Bungala Park, Normanville, October 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here:  https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/NRM013.html

Positioned down a slope next to the footbridge passing over the Bungala River, the distinctive calls of reed warblers can be heard. A light breeze occasionally passes through the reeds, its sibilant hiss mingling with the distant ambience of traffic passing through Normanville along the main street.

FKISM: Reed bank with Reed Warblers, Bungala Park, Normanville, October 2023

A Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island Sound Map (FKISM) site, added in September 2024. Read more here:  https://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/NRM012.html

A clear and breezy day at Normanville Beach. Situated about thirty metres from the shoreline and facing the sea to the west, in this recording you can hear the waves breaking along the beach, whilst the faint sounds of angle grinders and machinery can be heard to the north where the new kiosk and surf life saving club are under construction. In between this, small clumps of vegetation twitch in the wind and the calls of seagulls and flock of galahs fill the air.

FKISM: Distant shore, Normanville Beach, October 2023

Tristan Louth-Robins is a South Australian artist working principally in the medium of sound art and field recording. Ideas of sound and its signification are key elements in Louth-Robins' practice, traversing the space between the visual and aural his work is realised through the mediums of recordings, installation, visual art and performance. He is interested in sound and its associative implications - including its relationship to objects, technology, urban space, memory and the natural world. 


Since 2005, Louth-Robins has presented work in Australia and internationally as a solo artist, whilst also collaborating with artists, writers, researchers, musicians and performers. 

Working across a vast array of activities encompassing composition, sound design, installation art, field recording and workshops, his work has been featured in events such as the Adelaide Festival of Arts (2006), The National Regional Arts Festival (2012), Mildura-Wentworth Arts Festival (2013), Fairfax Festival (2013) and Adelaide Fringe Festival (2014); and selected works exhibited at galleries including The Australian Experimental Art Foundation (2009), SASA Gallery (2012, 2015), Light Square Gallery (2012) and FELT Space (2015). His audio works have been broadcast on radio including Radio National, Classic FM, The BBC (UK), Acoustic Frontiers (USA) and RBB (Germany).

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