Glancing past local limestone walls to the clifftop view, Southern Ocean Lodge general manager John Hird says the site’s resident kangaroo – nicknamed SOL after his home – will be on hand to welcome visitors back in December.

Hird says that the day after a devastating bushfire destroyed the previous Lodge, the kangaroo raised by staff onsite “just appeared and came up so close to me, he was so shocked… now I see him every day”.

There are more signs of life after the fires scorched 38 per cent of the island, with those who witnessed the shocking “moonscape” of burned buildings and blackened land now working toward building something new.

Hird says the Lodge designed by South Australian architect Max Pritchard is returning, with high-end tweaks from furniture created by famed South Australian craftsman Khai Liew, to a new premium suite with four rooms and its own infinity pool and jacuzzi overlooking the bay.

Gordon “Gordo” Parry is another who has been drawn back to the island lodge. He was tracked down living in Mount Gambier by builders Gildail when they took on the job of its rebuild. The project leader knew Gordo when they worked together on the first southern ocean lodge incarnation in 2007.

“When I first drove up in February last year my heart sank and it was so eerie,” Parry says about first seeing the burned buildings, “but once we got here and started building and the first wall went up, I went, ‘yeah’, I love the place you see”.

Other local staff are keen to return to work at the lodge. Former chef Tom Saliba is already back on site preparing to serve guests dishes inspired by local seafood, honey, oysters, olive oil, alongside South Australian wines and a gin called Baillies 9 created especially for lodge guests by KI Spirits.

Premier Peter Malinauskas at the new Southern Ocean Lodge under construction on Kangaroo Island. Photo: Belinda Willis/InDaily

Premier Peter Malinauskas toured the lodge yesterday, saying its reopening would help mark the island’s re-growth: “It’s an icon, it’s a beacon and it’s something we are very excited to have come back to life later this year,” he said.

Kangaroo Island residents saw around 38 per cent of their home burn in the 2019-2020 fires.

Photo: AAP/David Mariuz

Two people died, 87 homes were destroyed and 59,730 livestock animals were lost, along with much native fauna and flora.

But on an island where about half the jobs are supported by a tourism industry worth $187 million, the Premier believes it is now at a turning point.

He announced the State Government has reached a commercial-in-confidence agreement for Qantas to increase flights from the mainland to Kangaroo Island from six return flights a week in winter to nine, and nine return flights in summer to 12.

Malinauskas believes the island is “a prime drawcard for international and interstate tourists to come to South Australia” and needs the State Government’s support in providing more flights after being “through a challenging few years”.

The building work to get 25 new suites opened by December 6 reflects activity at other sites dotted throughout the island.

A multi-million-dollar development of The Cliffs Golf Course is expected to open next year, while other buildings destroyed by fire are being re-built. There has been new work at Remarkable Rocks, camp areas at Rocky River, buildings at Kelly Hill Caves, and KI Wilderness Trail will soon receive attention.

Two state heritage-listed cottages burned in the bushfires – May’s Homestead and Postman’s Cottage – have been restored and reopened as accommodation in Flinders Chase National Park.

Inside the Park,  national parks director Mike Williams checked on the new visitor centre under construction, noting vegetation and animals are coming back to the western end of the island that is expected to see visitor numbers grow to 500,000 people a year.

“All the species impacted during those fires are showing signs of coming back, even threatened species,” he says.

In heavy rain yesterday, Environment Minister Susan Close said work is progressing on the new $16 million Flinders Chase National Park visitor information centre that replaces yet another building lost in the fires.

Environment Minister Susan Close and National Parks director Mike Williams at the new Flinders Chase National Park visitors’ centre. Photo: Belinda Willis/InDaily

The building at the western end of the island being designed by Troppo Architect is due to be finished next year with a café, art gallery and room for Adelaide University researchers.

It is a building designed with the past in mind. A ring of 30 metres will remain cleared around the building to protect it from fire, while another 70 metres will remain with only low-load vegetation. Low flammability hardwoods are being used in the build, there are bushfire sprinklers and two large tanks filled with water for fighting fires.

“The previous building was burnt completely when we lost so much of this national park in the summer of 2020,” Close says.

The former Flinders Chase Visitors Centre was destroyed by the 2019/20 bushfires. Photo: David Mariuz/AAP

“This loss of so much nature and wildlife it is slowly receding into the past as we rebuild and the revegetation springs back.”