Glenthorne Farm & Southern Adelaide Biodiverse Carbon Rehabilitation

Glenthorne Farm & Southern Adelaide Biodiverse Carbon Rehabilitation is an environmental planting project located at O'Halloran Hill in the City of Marion, approximately 15km south of the Adelaide CBD in South Australia. It was registered in January 2019 and covers 540.84 ha.

Environmental planting projects involve establishing and maintaining permanent plantings of a mix of native tree species on land that was predominantly used for agricultural purposes for at least five years prior. These projects require planting tree species native to the local area at a sufficient density to eventually achieve full forest cover. In May 2026, the project updated its methodology to the latest Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) (Reforestation by Environmental or Mallee Plantings, FullCAM) Methodology Determination 2024.

The City of Marion and Southern Adelaide area is predominantly residential today, though historically it supported agricultural operations including the farming of vegetables, almonds, stone fruits, and grapes. The region experiences a Mediterranean climate with mild, winter-dominant rainfall averaging around 540mm annually. Soils in the broader Adelaide region generally include calcareous loams (Calcarosols) and clay soils that can be susceptible to wind and water erosion.

This project takes place across the historic Glenthorne Farm property, an area of outstanding environmental and heritage significance that is actively being transformed from a former small-scale commercial farm into a community conservation asset. In an interesting complementary sustainability effort within the region, feral olive trees from the nearby Glenthorne National Park area have been removed and converted into biochar, which is then supplied to local McLaren Vale vineyards to improve soil structure and increase water-holding capacity.