Albany Creek’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 Brisbane, a precious parcel of remnant urban bushland Dawn Road Reserve is arguably the most biologically diverse tract of land remaining in the Koala Moreton Bay region. Platypus 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 Brisbane City Council. Squirrel glider Sugar 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. 1 | Page 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. 2 | Page 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 Queensland 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) 3 | Page 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 South Pine River 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 Mount Nebo 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.