’s ecological wonderland ... the Dawn Road Reserve

NESTLED against a decent stretch of the Albany Creek waterway, on the Native fauna sighted in northern outskirts of , a precious parcel of remnant urban bushland Dawn Road Reserve is arguably the most biologically diverse tract of land remaining in the Koala . Echidna Situated to the south of Albany Creek Road, and to the west of Beckett Road, Brushtail possum the 51.4-hectare, almost flat Dawn Road Reserve lies just inside the Moreton Ringtail possum Bay Regional Council’s boundary with the . Squirrel glider A century and a half ago, when Albany Creek was first settled, the forest was Dingo (from Bunyaville Forest?) bordered mostly by farms and orchards. Today it is surrounded by four Eastern long-necked turtle residential estates filled with modern homes – Albany Parkside, Woodland, Long-nosed bandicoot Country Club and Clarendon, the latter being in Bridgeman Downs – as well as Red-necked wallaby a sportsfield, the crematorium and the archery club. Black-striped wallaby Antechinus (type unknown) Clarendon residents of 15 years, Ken and Joan Webster, remain delighted to Eastern brown snake overlook the southern perimeter of the Reserve and see the parade of birdlife Red-bellied black snake and wildlife that visits daily. Olive green tree snake “To be this close to the city and have remnant bushland and plenty of wildlife Whip snake Bandy Bandy snake is magnificent,” Ken explains. The best thing, they both agree, is that – in Carpet python recent years – “the animal life has been able to flourish”. Lace monitor Covered by open forest with several layers of vegetation, from tall trees down Eastern water dragon to delicate groundcovers, the Reserve is a significant patch of urban green Bearded dragon belt that is part of a larger ecological corridor stretching from treed Blue-tongued lizard Geckoes & skinks mountains in the west to estuary mangroves in the east. The Reserve’s ecosystem is described as dry sclerophyll by its newest custodians, the MBRC.

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Birds sighted in Dawn Road Reserve Laughing kookaburra Brush turkey Pheasant coucal (Swamp pheasant) Crested hawk (Pacific baza) Barn owl Powerful owl Spotted turtle dove Crested pigeon Bar-shouldered dove Rainbow lorikeet Scaly breasted lorikeet Sulphur-crested white cockatoo Yellow-crested black cockatoo Corella Long-billed corella Its open canopy allows dappled light to reach tall shrubs, vines and smaller Galah trees as well as grasses, smaller shrubs, herbaceous plants and, in moister King parrot pockets, ferns. Red-winged parrot Superb parrot Local Bushcare volunteer leader Janet Mangan says the most impressive Pale-headed rosella aspect of the Reserve is that its groundcover is “so diverse and intact, as is Channel-billed cuckoo its understorey”. Sacred kingfisher Eastern whipbird “You won’t find another place in Moreton Bay with such diversity,” Janet Noisy friarbird says. “We’ve probably got all the species of lomandra and there are just so Noisy miner many different grasses and groundcovers.” Lewin’s honeyeater Magpie Because the forest is dominated by a wide variety of tall gums and other Pied butcherbirds large trees that have reached 35m or more, the Reserve is properly Grey butcherbirds described as a “very tall dry sclerophyll forest” dotted with small stands of Pied Currawong pioneer rainforest species. Crow Red-backed fairy wren It is also home to a large and growing variety of native animals, native and Quail migratory birds, insects and frogs. Common koel “We’ve got wallabies and koalas, both very vulnerable species that are not Pacific black duck common in suburbia, and there have been platypus sightings too,” Janet Indian runner duck explains. Wood duck Spangled drongo “At first look, some areas of the Reserve appear a bit shabby to the White-headed pigeon untrained eye, with lots of lantana, but that denser, low vegetation Bush stone curlew provides valuable shelter for small wildlife.” Swamp hen Superb blue wren But has this block of bushland, now surrounded by suburbia, always been Peregrine falcon appreciated for its considerable ecological values? Osprey Little eagle Not always. Grey-headed flying fox Look back over the past century and a half, and beyond. Over that time Black flying fox the land has been traversed by indigenous tribes, pioneering gold-rush Masked lapwing traffic, early settlers, farmers and orchardists, horse-riders, residents, their (Masked plover) children and their visitors. Many probably would have given this bushland little thought but, in the past 10-15 years, various groups of people have begun to survey, document and preserve the forest’s incredible biodiversity.

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Streets with frontages directly on to sections of Dawn Road Reserve

Fred Campbell Drive Albany Parkside estate Albany Creek Jessie Court Albany Parkside estate Albany Creek Jullyann Street Albany Parkside estate Albany Creek McConachie Court Albany Parkside estate Albany Creek In that time, though, two groups have caused considerable concern to Rufus Court those who have grown to love and respect the Dawn Road Reserve. Woodlands estate One – backed by the incumbent Labor State Government of the day and Albany Creek eager developers – wanted the bushland bulldozed for a blend of private Hengis Court Woodlands estate and public housing. Albany Creek The other, more recently, has seen the wanton destruction of significant Dawn Road tracts of ecologically sensitive land and damage to important fire access Country Club estate trails by illegal motorbike riders. Albany Creek St Georges Court Back in the mid-1990s, those who were eager to subdivide the bushland Country Club estate for medium- and high-density small lot and unit-type dwellings didn’t Albany Creek bargain on vociferous and influential objections from hundreds of Albany Champions Court Creek and nearby Bridgeman Downs residents. Country Club estate Albany Creek The residents – backed by the then Liberal Member for Aspley, John Goss Huntingdale Court – fought the proposal on a number of fronts, eventually seeing the land Country Club estate pass from State ownership to local government responsibility. Two of the Albany Creek residents who campaigned throughout this period to save the bushland Gleneagles Crescent from sub-division were the Websters. Country Club estate Albany Creek “Some residents objected on safety grounds, but others – like us – simply (provides access via powerline didn’t want to lose the bush because of its ecological values,” Joan corridor into Reserve) Webster explains. Glenside Place Clarendon estate “In 1995, the then Labor Member for Everton, Rod Welford, was all for the Bridgeman Downs Housing Commission selling the land to a developer and Cosme Place seeing it developed as a housing estate with around 17 per cent set aside Clarendon estate for public housing in a joint-venture arrangement.” Bridgeman Downs Parkview Place Their campaign saw Clarendon and Country Club residents lobby first Mr Clarendon estate Welford, then other State Labor and Coalition MPs and then their Federal Bridgeman Downs counterparts to demonstrate the real value of the bushland and the (faces BCC parkland at strong level of local support for it to remain in its natural state. southeast edge of Reserve After nearly two years of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the then new & southeast entrance to Reserve) Borbidge Coalition Government instructed the QHC to transfer ownership Darien Street of the land to the then Pine Rivers Shire Council – selling off a small Clarendon estate portion facing Keong Road to cover council’s costs – and to keep the forest Bridgeman Downs as a Reserve. The PRSC itself would later, in 2008, become part of the (access point for sportsfield amalgamated Moreton Bay Regional Council. which has the southeast edge of the Reserve as its western perimeter)

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Adjacent greenbelt and watercourse areas Since 2008, a group of keen local residents has been attending monthly To the north: Bushcare activities under the auspices of Mahaca Park the MBRC’s Bushcare officers Adam Abuts the northwestern edge of the reserve & Christison and Wendy Heath. sees two tributaries of Albany Creek join here Along with local Bushcare volunteer & cross under Albany Creek Road. leader Janet Mangan, a long-term Albany Creek resident, the group identifies plant Wolter Park life and weeds, encourages regeneration, An isolated green area through which Albany Creek flows plants trees, pulls invasive weeds as well & on into at Scouts Crossing. as fosters and protects sensitive habitats. Sandy Creek Reserve Working on different pockets of bush Sandy Creek runs parallel to Albany Creek each month, the group has attacked (a small distance to the west) infestations of pest weeds including & empties into South Pine River at Leitchs Crossing. madiera vine, glycine, ochna serrulata (Mickey Mouse plant), Easter cassia, South Pine River climbing and creeping asparagus and This river rises at in the west and travels down to the sea lantana thickets. through the suburbs of Highvale, Wights Mountain, Samford Village, Over the past year, it’s been hard for the Yugar, Draper, Eatons Hill, Bunya, Albany Creek, Brendale, group, local residents and council to see, Bridgeman Downs, Strathpine and Bald Hills where it joins and hear, young males repeatedly the North Pine River to become the Pine River from where it passes illegally hooning through the forest on the Tinchi Tamba Wetlands Reserve on its way into Bramble Bay trail and quad bikes. at the mouth of the river at Brighton. The Pine River also has Bald Hills Creek feeding into it just before the bridge from Brighton to Clontarf Defying the law, these vandals are on the Redcliffe Peninsula. Bramble Bay is a discreet area of unlicensed, unregistered and ride Moreton Bay that stretches from Shorncliffe in the south dangerously on fire trails. They have cut new paths as well as constructed bike to Woody Point in the north. jumps in especially sensitive habitats. To the east: Their sudden, unpredictable and noisy Darien Street sportsfield, Bridgeman Downs. behaviour in the Reserve is especially worrying for riders who frequent the Cabbage Tree Creek rises on the southwestern edge of the Reserve to exercise their horses. Bunyaville Forest Reserve, flowing northeast through Ferny Hills, Arana Hills, Everton Hills, McDowall, Bridgeman Downs, Aspley, The bikes have also caused considerable Carseldine, Zillmere, Taigum, Boondall and out through the Boondall costly collateral damage to fire trails which need to be kept trafficable for Wetlands to Moreton Bay, passing Deagon, Sandgate and Shorncliffe emergencies. In dry weather, they also on the way. To the east of the creek is Little Cabbage Tree Creek which risk sparking deadly fires. rises in McDowall and eventually joins Cabbage Tree Creek in Aspley. Thankfully, MBRC has begun to rectify To the south: some of that damage. Greenbelt with walking/cycling path leading to Kitt Grayson Park (Cnr The Boulevard and Old Northern Road, Albany Creek)

Greenbelt with walking/cycling path leading to Solar Park (along Saturn Crescent, Bridgeman Downs, and on to Streisand Drive, McDowall, allowing access to nearby Bunyaville Forest Reserve)

Bunyaville Forest Reserve (which has frontages in Albany Creek, Bunya, Ferny Hills, Arana Hills, Everton Hills, McDowall and just touches on the southwest corner of Bridgeman Downs). This reserve almost abuts Brisbane Forest Park which includes Samford State Forest.

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Significant buildings near the Dawn Road Reserve

Mahaca House 3 Jullyann Street Albany Parkside estate Albany Creek

Built in 1911 for the pioneering Matthew Campbell Snr, this graceful, two-storey Queenslander farmhouse with its wide, open verandahs that face north, east and south has wide, ample lawns plus a handful of well- But nature, too, has wrought significant change on the Reserve. established, significant trees. Most recently, the savage mid-November 2008 supercell The house’s current occupant is local real thunderstorm – that ravaged The Gap, Ferny Grove, Arana Hills estate identity Peter Campbell (Matthew and Albany Creek, causing millions of dollars of damage to Campbell Snr’s grandson) and his wife. Apart homes and businesses – also heavily scarred pockets of the from being generous benefactors to a number Reserve as high winds and multiple “touch-downs” tore at of local historical initiatives and talented sections of the canopy and the understorey. youngsters, Mr and Mrs Peter Campbell are Large trees were ripped out of the ground and tossed aside like known to host charity events in the grounds of discarded toys. Tall tree tops were snapped off and at least one this homestead. 30m tall ironbark was twisted so violently that it exploded into The Pines long shards across a fire trail. (formerly known as “Booroomba”, the Aboriginal term for “The Camp”) 332 Albany Creek Road (bounded also by Beckett Road) Bridgeman Downs

Built in 1911 by Alfred Challinor (who was part of the district’s Morris family and a friend of Matthew Campbell Snr). Alfred was the proprietor of the general store at Albion which subsequently became the Albion Hotel. He first built a small shanty to live in while he built the But the Reserve has proved its resilience and, less than two years homestead that stands today behind a on, much of the storm damage is far less obvious. protective stand of trees. His son, John Challinor, subdivided the surrounding farmland in the early 1950s and sold off all but the main paddock at the southeastern corner of Albany Creek Road and Beckett Road and the land around the homestead itself. He met and married his wife, Helen, shortly after. John Challinor’s widow still lives at this address, having first moved there in 1954. Her close neighbour, Noelle Wardle, has lived in a relocated Queenslander next door, along Beckett Road, since 1960.

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Indeed, over the past 150 years – since James Cash became the first white settler in the district, known originally as Chinaman’s Creek until locals successfully applied to change the name to Albany Creek in 1885, and Daniel Jenkins purchased the blocks that now comprise almost all of the forest area – this land has survived wildfires, droughts and major floods. In the past 35 years alone, records show six major flood events (1967, 1972, 1974, 1989, 1991 and 2009), with the 1974 flood the largest in recent history. And animals and birds are not the only wildlife to have called the forest their home. Long-time local residents Helen Challinor and Noelle Wardle recalled an old swaggie – known locally as Old Dick – had lived on the northern part of the forest near Albany Creek, only venturing out for supplies. The Websters, too, recall a bearded man in his 50s who lived in the forest in the early years after they moved to the Clarendon estate. Descendents of the district’s pioneering families who had established the surrounding produce, pig and dairy farms, the orchards, the vineyard and even the poultry farm doubtless have even more interesting stories about what went on in the bushland over the past century or so. For instance, livestock used to be driven through the bushland between dairy farms. Some farms were owned by wealthy absent farmers who’d drive cattle from regional properties to Albany Creek and then rest and fatten them up prior to sale. This was the case with parcels of land that make up most of the Dawn Road Reserve. Many of the old-time cattle trails and original Aboriginal tracks today are key roads in the district. In the past few years, cattle trails became fire trails that criss-cross the Reserve, constructed by MBRC in consultation with the Rural Fire Service. MBRC Local History Librarian Leith Barter says that, “until the time of European occupation, the land in the Reserve would have been open forest – much more open than it is today, largely through the fire regime maintained by Aboriginal people”. “Early settler diaries and accounts emanating from this and other similar regions along Australia's east coast describe them being able to ride at full gallop through such areas and being able to graze cattle and sheep in such places without the need to fell any vegetation,” Leith explains. “What they were uniformly greeted with was an open park-like environment with large trees and very little undergrowth. The thickly rain-forested areas along the lower flats surrounding the South Pine River were, of course, an exception to this.” Today, opposite a portion of the northwestern boundary of the Reserve, is a narrow strip of remnant rainforest on the banks of Albany Creek adjacent to the Grange Bowmen Archery Club.

Nestled alongside Albany Creek, the Reserve in large part owes its existence and biodiversity to the proximity of the creek to this increasingly valuable bushland oasis.

Over the past 150 years, humans have intervened to determine its usage on several occasions and nature has tested its resilience.

Not only has it stayed the course, but the Dawn Road Reserve has also become one of the most ecologically valuable tracts of land in the region.

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