Autumn 2021 | No 80 - hobartcity.com.au/bushcare - City of Hobart
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Autumn 2021 | No 80 hobartcity.com.au/bushcare
Bushcare Roundup
Talia Sawers
Program Officer Bushcare
W e’re so excited about the
year ahead for Bushcare,
and to have our volunteers return
to the field after a well-deserved
break.
We’ve heard some great stories
of our Bushcarers embarking on
different adventures over the
holiday period, including our
The enthusiastic volunteers from Ridgeway Bushcare remove highly invasive gorse weed
team leader Bec, who joined a from beautiful white peppermint woodland in Ridgeway Park. Photos: Jesse Benjamin
group of extreme weeders out on
Tasmania’s southwest coast (you This restoration work will protect
can read her story in this edition). and support the threatened grass
Bushcare activities resumed in species adjacent to the site.
early February, so the program is We’ve also been busy working
off to a great start. The Bushcare with the Friends of Knocklofty and
tools are sharpened and ready for
McAulay Reserve groups to create
another year of action!
Bushcare site plans for Salvator
The Waterworks Valley Landcare Rosa Glen in West Hobart and
group kicked off the new year Edith Ave Reserve in Sandy Bay.
by giving an area on Waterworks
Our Trackcare crews are back in
Road they planted in 2017 a bit
action and have already made
of tender loving care. ‘The Verge’
is looking great and now features great progress in continuing to
some established native grasses
Bushcare team leader Bec points out formalise the Troglodyte track.
some of the natural features in Ridgeway We also hope to have the first
and shrubs. Park to a volunteer. Trackcare crew leaders set up and
Ridgeway Bushcare had a very supervising their own teams soon.
productive session removing in Fern Tree. Late autumn also
Spanish heath and helping sees the start of our tree planting We’ll be celebrating the important
to restore the beautiful white season. work of our volunteers once again
peppermint woodlands of this autumn as part of National
We’re putting in the final steps
Ridgeway Park. A big thanks to the Volunteer Week (May 17-23).
for removing 12 radiata and
volunteers from UTAS for helping macrocarpa pine trees from We’re extremely grateful to
out at February’s working bee and McAulay Reserve as part of our volunteers, not only for
for their enthusiastic company on a Communities Environment their dedication and efforts in
the day. Program grant. The Friends of restoring Hobart’s diverse and
We’ve got some great activities McAulay Reserve will work closely precious bushland, but also for
planned for autumn, including a with Waimea Heights Primary being wonderful people to work
clean-up event on the mountain School to replant the site and with and helping to make our
and kickstarting our grant-funded create an accessible outdoor community a better place. Thank
project to control Daphne laurel learning area for the students. you Bushcarers!
Contact Us
Cover photo: Wallaby grass, 16 Elizabeth Street P 03 6238 2884
John Sampson.
GPO Box 503, E bushcare@hobartcity.com.au
Back page photo: Ridgeway
Bushcare volunteers, Hobart 7001, TAS W hobartcity.com.au/bushcare
Bandicoot Times Jesse Benjamin. 2 Autumn 2021 | No 80
facebook.com/cityofhobartbushcare
Dirty but happy, the female half of the City of Hobart’s firefighting crew complete a fuel reduction burn at Porter Hill.
Ladies of fire smash glass ceiling
T he City of Hobart’s firefighting
crew ended 2020 on a high
note when a team made up
Stuart Ellis AM, Chief Executive
Officer, Australasian Fire and
Emergency Service Authorities
preparedness, incident response
and recovery needs into the
future.”
of 50% women and a female Council, says the sector needs to Our ‘Ladies of Fire’ carried out the
leader in command carried out a recruit and develop diverse talent fuel reduction burn at Porter Hill,
successful fuel reduction burn. to meet future demands. making the most of the in-house
That’s quite an achievement in one “The increasing demands on fire firefighting training and support
of the toughest jobs in the world and emergency service personnel they receive from the City.
and one traditionally seen as a and the shifting nature of their And while on the day they were
male profession. work requires a broader talent all firefighters they also hold down
It’s also a significant achievement pool,” he said. some pretty incredible day jobs
given that just two weeks before “We firmly believe that attracting at the City. Among the team is an
the fuel reduction burn a report more women and tapping into environmental scientist, a senior
was released demonstrating the new and different skills will be research and policy advisor, a fire
case for gender balance in the fire fundamental to meeting Australia’s and biodiversity program leader,
and emergency sector. fire and emergency prevention, and our own Bushcare team.
Friends of Knocklofty set the bar high
B ushcare stalwarts the Friends
of Knocklofty are continuing
their dedication to protecting
of native heathlands that sit
beneath transmission lines.
thousands of dollars for the
restoration of Knocklofty Reserve
since.
As an open heathland, free
and restoring Knocklofty Reserve of weeds, the corridors add Funds from these works are
by securing another five years ecological diversity to Knocklofty’s reinvested into the reserve and,
of funding from TasNetworks for landscape. Birds can swoop for in the past, have helped pay for
their on-ground efforts. insects, marsupials can graze safe contractor weed control, the
The City of Hobart, on behalf from traffic, and the quality of purchase of native seedlings and
of the group, renewed a 5-year understorey has improved. signage.
agreement with TasNetworks The Friends of Knocklofty first Officers from TasNetworks have
that will see volunteers maintain began maintaining the corridors commended the group for its
vegetation in the wide corridors in 2006 and have generated high standard of work.
Bandicoot Times 3 Autumn 2021 | No 80
GRASSLAND BEAUTIES
Pip Jones underestimated – the
Team Leader Bushcare presence of endangered
species in unlikely places is
Imagine exploring a landscape
more biodiverse than a
rainforest, but with a canopy
just another reason to protect
what we can. What might
that only just reaches your look like a dry and dull patch
knees… lucky for us in Hobart, of unruly lawn might actually
these incredible and critically accommodate an enormous
endangered ecosystems are right diversity of plants, some wildly
on our doorstep. different, some so similar you’d
need a hand lens and tiny ruler to
Grasslands were formerly tell them apart.
widespread across the lowlands
of Tasmania, but today just a Over in Sandy Bay, a threatened
fraction remain in fragmented species of speargrass,
pockets across the state. This Austrostipa blackii, was
ecosystem’s age-old reliance on discovered in the grassland
careful fire management and its patch at McAulay Reserve by
sensitivity to invasive weeds, ecologist Andy Welling on his
plant, it can persist for decades
feral animals and development site visit with the Friends of
without flowering – in fact, we
means we only have a few small McAulay Reserve Bushcare group
only learned about the grassland
patches left to take care of in in February last year.
flax lily growing in the Queens
Hobart – in fact, we’re only just Domain when the City of Hobart Looking suspiciously like its
starting to find out what we put a tentative pause on the neighbour Austrostipa stuposa,
don’t yet know about the city’s area’s annual slashing regime in the main diagnostic feature of
grasslands! preparation for a fuel reduction Austrostipa blackii is the length
Earlier this year we made the burn. Having spent time with of the hairs on its lemma apex –
second formal observation Dianella amoena in Merri Creek’s that is, the tiny bristles where the
of a rare grassland flax lily remnant grasslands, I went on seed is attached to the awn.
(Dianella amoena) at Queens a lunchtime walk in the Domain This might not seem like a huge
Domain. Nationally endangered wondering if I’d be lucky enough difference, but it’s enough to set
and notoriously fussy about to spot one – unbelievably, I this species apart.
reproducing by seed, this species didn’t have to walk more than 20
Through cooperation with
is a significant find in Hobart’s metres before I saw its distinctive
the Department of Primary
bushland reserves. purple flower.
Industries, Parks, Water and
Its favoured habitat is the The presence of the grassland Environment, the Tasmanian
lowland native grasslands flax lily in the Domain is yet more Herbarium and the City of
persisting in the Midlands, evidence that this biodiversity Hobart’s own nursery, the
where biomass is kept low with hotspot needs careful protection. Bushcare team has collected a
burning and grazing regimes. This challenge is taken very small sample of seed from this
This species is also very particular seriously by Bushcarers working special colony and will propagate
about who comes to visit: the in these special places. it for revegetation projects
flower’s anthers are so small Cornelian Bay Bushcare has been that will enhance the reserve’s
and delicate, it can only be on the frontline of this work, grassland patch.
pollinated using a special method weeding introduced grasses It’s our shared responsibility
of ‘buzz pollination’ known to around the lilies, orchids, daisies, to look after this threatened
just a handful of insects, making pea flowers and heaths growing ecosystem – after all, grasslands
it a handy bio-indicator of the among kangaroo grass, wallaby are shaped by human activity.
presence of native pollinators grass and speargrass on the Where human intervention stops,
and the health of a grassland Queens Domain. grasslands will slowly lose their
ecosystem. unique structure to encroaching
The importance of these
As a clump-forming rhizomatous grasslands cannot be shrubs and trees.
Bandicoot Times 4 Autumn 2021 | No 80
Tasmania’s beautiful, wild and dramatic west coast.
Weed warriors take bushland
weeding to whole new level
their courses through the dunes.
These weeds also create dense
Bec Johnson fields of vegetation that our
Team Leader Bushcare vulnerable shore birds such as
hooded plovers and terns don’t
like to nest in – they require open
Ithink I’ve discovered a sport that
will really appeal to Bushcarers.
You’ve probably heard of ice
spaces to build their little nests,
called scrapes, in the sand.
climbing, and maybe base Our team was lucky enough to
jumping, but what about extreme witness a number of dunes starting
weeding? to shift for the first time in about
20 years, as the binding roots of
Teams of intrepid volunteers have
marram grass disintegrate after
been removing sea spurge and
spraying.
marram grass from Tasmania’s
wild west coast since 2007. Every We saw beautiful sand-blasted
January up to seven teams depart driftwood and shells, huge
Macquarie Harbour in Strahan for Aboriginal middens containing
extended trips to Port Davey and seal bones and abalone almost
as far south as Cockle Creek. the size of my foot, ancient wind-
The roots of this marram grass reached
sculpted banksias, and dynamic,
I was lucky enough to join one of down 1m into the dune.
shifting sand dunes.
the teams in January this year.
arenaria) are not the only invasive We warded off scurvy with local
Supported by Tasmania’s Parks
plants to have made it into this berries, we whittled, we practised
and Wildlife Service and operating
incredible stretch of wilderness knots with the vast amount of
under the umbrella of Wildcare
– there is also spear thistle. fishing rope littering the coast, we
Tasmania, SPRATS stands for
But these two can alter entire told riddles, played games and
Sea sPurge Remote Area TeamS.
landscapes. Both can stabilise killed sea spurge. Great teamwork!
Led by Jon Marsden-Smedley
dunes that should be naturally Perhaps the most humbling part
these intrepid volunteers have
shifting and mobile. was camping near freshwater
achieved a remarkable reduction
of both weed species, as well as Marram grass, for example, is where generations have lived
blackberry. cultivated in Europe to protect before us, leaving footprints on
coastlines, but here we have a lonely beaches that once would
Why is this work truly wild coastline where dunes have seen children playing, and
are constantly shifting, Aboriginal swimming where skilled women
so important? middens being uncovered and re- dived for abalone and crayfish to
Sea spurge (Euphorbia paralias) covered, coastal forests buried and feed their families for thousands of
and marram grass (Ammophilia re-emerging, and creeks shifting generations.
Bandicoot Times 5 Autumn 2021 | No 80
Aboriginal Heritage Officer Caleb Pedder conducting a site visit at Cornelian Bay. Photos: John Sampson
A CONTINUING
CONNECTION
C ornelian Bay has never hidden
its age well – in fact, the New
Town foreshore’s long history lies
“Middens tell the story of
people’s connections with
timtumil minanya/Derwent River
Pip Jones
in plain sight. Team Leader Bushcare and the country around the river,”
Shell middens comprised of mud he says. “For the Aboriginal
oysters, mussels, pipis and the community, these places provide
charcoal from countless cook-ups estuary’s foreshores, and is one a direct connection with the
scatter the foreshore, marking of the most heavily surveyed ancestors, they tell a story and
the continuation of a millennia- sites in the state. As part of the remind us of the families that
long Aboriginal connection with ancestral lands of the Muwinina lived here and their achievements
the bay. European heritage is people and under the continuing and struggles.”
also imprinted on the landscape. custodianship of the Tasmanian Last year, Cornelian Bay Bushcare
Brightly-coloured boatsheds Aboriginal community, Cornelian decided to down tools in their
and the former site of the old Bay is a cultural landscape alive cherished bushland bay and hone
Cornelian Bay Baths point to a with the lifeways of lutruwita’s first their grassland identification skills
long-held tradition of boating, people. on the Queens Domain while
fishing and swimming. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s the City of Hobart worked out
The foreshore’s long history hasn’t Land and Heritage Project Officer, the best way to sensitively and
gone unnoticed – Cornelian Andry Sculthorpe, says Cornelian sustainably manage Cornelian
Bay is the most archaeologically Bay is a significant story-telling Bay’s remarkable heritage values.
surveyed site on the Derwent landscape. I’ve been working under
Bandicoot Times 6 Autumn 2021 | No 80
With a detailed management plan
guided by Aboriginal Heritage
Tasmania, and site inspections
with Caleb Pedder, we will all gain
a greater awareness of Cornelian
Bay’s past, present and future
significance.
Cornelian Bay Bushcare will put
this knowledge into practice,
leaving heritage items undisturbed
and mitigating the erosion of
sand and soil on the foreshore by
cutting and painting instead of
hand-pulling weeds.
Alongside planting tubestock
Shell middens can be found throughout the Derwent estuary foreshore.
where appropriate, we’ll make
space for the natural regeneration
Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania’s When Cornelian Bay Bushcarers of coastal plant species and opt
guidelines to plan future Bushcare return to the bay this year they will for a slow and steady ecological
works in the area. It’s a privilege first take part in an induction with restoration.
to be a part of caring for such a Aboriginal Heritage Officer Caleb Congratulations to Cornelian Bay
special place. As Andry Sculthorpe Pedder, who will show them how Bushcare for committing to the
puts it, “these middens are to identify and respond if they protection of the ecological and
precious and damage to them is discover Aboriginal heritage. cultural values of this special place.
irreparable. When we look after
the environment, we need to
also look after the connection
people have with it and ensure
these places are understood and
“ ... these middens are precious and
damage to them is irreparable.
protected.” – Andry Sculthorpe
Bandicoot Times 7 Autumn 2021 | No 80
Weed Watch
Crack go the willows
We are all familiar with the rainfall. Willow twigs can go in
romantic English notion of FOGO (green waste) bins, or left
drooping willow branches somewhere secure to dry out for a
Bec Johnson
overhanging a chattering creek, Team Leader Bushcare few months.
but in Australia willows are a
different story. They are not just a
harms aquatic plants, fish and Felling willows
weed – they can transform entire
invertebrates and can result in If there are no walking tracks or
waterways.
fish kills. Unsurprisingly, willows structures under a willow that
Willows spread their roots are a declared weed in Tasmania, could be damaged by falling
throughout creekbeds, reducing as well as a Weed of National branches, a willow can be drilled
natural turbulence, eddies and Significance. with herbicide and left to die
deep pools. The result is less
The most common species of standing, which is ideal because
oxygen and habitat for fish and
willow in the Hobart area is crack any twigs dropped are not green.
invertebrates. The dense root
willow (Salix fragilis), which can Otherwise the tree has to be
mass they create lines creeks,
drop entire branches without felled live, dropping thousands of
making it hard for platypus
warning and spread rapidly along twigs that could take root.
to forage for food and create
creeks by dropping live twigs Willow removal ideally starts
burrows. Such a solid root mass
that easily take root. The thickets with upstream plants, working
also reduces organic layers in the
created by crack willows cause
creek bed, important habitat for down the catchment to avoid re-
flooding and bank erosion.
native invertebrates (just like the introduction when the twigs drop.
leaf litter in your garden.) Cricket fans will be pleased to Willow removal is usually coupled
know though that the “cricket- with replanting of replacement
Willows also compete for light bat” willow, believed to be a native vegetation to stabilise
and root space, pushing out variant of the white willow, has banks.
native vegetation, yet they not become invasive in Australia.
provide little to no tree habitat The City of Hobart recently
such as tree hollows. When received $10,000 from the
willows drop leaves in autumn, Treating willows Tasmanian Weeds Action Fund
oxygen is sucked out of the One good method is to pull out to remove willows from a section
water in the process of breaking live (green) willow twigs on creek of the Hobart Rivulet. Work will
down millions of leaves. This banks, especially after heavy begin in autumn.
Bandicoot Times 8 Autumn 2021 | No 80
What’s in your backyard?
Alan Hill up to automatically take photos three Tasmanian devils showed
Program Officer Fire & Biodiversity throughout the night, allowing you their faces and most wonderful
to sit back with a cup of tea the of all I had a couple of eastern
H ave you ever walked out of
your back door in the morning
and found small holes dug into
next morning as you sift through
the night’s activities.
barred bandicoots snuffling across
my lawn. After about four nights I
even had a fairly blurred photo of
I purchased a couple and set them
your lawn or fresh scats on the an eastern quoll.
ground and wondered how they up around my property in South
Hobart. If this excites you then consider
got there?
doing something similar. Suitable
Clearly there were animals What a surprise I had the next day
cameras are becoming cheaper all
coming quietly into your yard at when I looked at the photos. In the
the time. Download the iNaturalist
night. I really wanted to know first night I found that I had at least
app, open an account and record
what animals were in my yard so six or more Bennett’s wallabies,
your observations. Records such as
needed a way of observing them at least two, if not three brush-
this are so valuable for researchers,
throughout the night, but apart tailed possums and quite sadly helping them to understand the
from staying up all night what are someone’s cat, which they were current and changing distributions
my options? not keeping at home. and abundance or otherwise of all
A wildlife monitoring camera is It only got better over subsequent of the amazing creatures we have
a clear choice and can be set nights. At least two, and possibly here in our favourite places.
Love Hobart’s wildlife? Why not take the pledge and become a Bandicoot Buddy!
By doing so you and your family will be helping to protect and provide food and
shelter for Hobart’s endangered eastern barred bandicoots and other wildlife!
Sign up at hobartcity.com.au/bandicoots
Fire trail works boost mountain safety
T he 4km firefighting and
evacuation route along Big
Bend fire trail on kunanyi / Mount
as an important safety project
that will also benefit recreational
visitors to Wellington Park.
section of fire trail is closed.
The work will stabilise an eroding
embankment and take up to
Wellington has received a major A small section of the Lenah Valley three months to complete. Once
upgrade, boosting safety for Fire Trail has been closed while the finished it will help the creek
visitors and residents. City of Hobart fixes serious erosion crossing area cope with increased
The $250,000 upgrade was jointly issues along the trail, which leads water flows from storm events and
funded by the City of Hobart, the into the Old Hobartians Track. You ensure safe access for firefighting
City of Glenorchy and TasWater can take a 1km detour while this vehicles.
Bandicoot Times 9 Autumn 2021 | No 80
A Trackcare crew hard at work on the Yellow Hippo.
Riders hungry for new-look Hippo
A new mountain bike track
has been added to the City
of Hobart’s recreational track
network, thanks to the hard work of
Trackcare volunteers.
Yellow Hippo was an old,
informal track on the western
side of Knocklofty Reserve. After
purchasing the block of land on
which the track was built several
years ago, the City decided the
track formed a valuable link in the
wider mountain bike network, and
should be given a spruce up before
being formalised.
Keen members of the local
mountain bike community got
involved through our Trackcare
program, and over several months
last year took to it with mattocks, Manoeuvring heavy, unwieldy rocks into place is a fine art for our Trackcare volunteers.
rake-hoes, shovels and rock
mountain bike use only. The rough keen outdoors person, and want
hammers.
and rocky top half of the track to get involved, head to the City of
The volunteer team built new gives riders a great challenge, Hobart website and sign up!
features and alternate lines down and will test technical riding skills.
the length of the track, fixing
drainage along the way and
A series of tight switchbacks is Around the tracks
a chance to test balance and
resurfacing the entire bottom composure. Further down the Planning approvals for the new
section of track. Corners were track flattens out, providing a fast “Rocky Wheel’n” mountain bike
given a make-over, rocks were descent towards the exit point. track is progressing well. To be
hauled around to armour the track built in Wellington Park, Rocky
surface, and a few big rollers were Trackcare continues this year with
Wheel’n is part of the Riding the
thrown in for good measure (and the start of improvements to the
Mountain plan and will give riders
air-time). track network on Mount Nelson.
an easy ascent from O’Grady’s Fire
Troglodyte Track will be a new
The result is a challenging ride Trail to Shoobridge Bend.
connection across the northern
that meets Mountain Bike Australia side of Bicentennial Park, making The new track will make it safer for
black diamond track standards. it far easier and more enjoyable to riders to reach the North-South
The newly-opened track has been get around the area on bike and Track from Fern Tree by avoiding
designated as a downhill trail, for foot. If you’re a mountain biker, or busy Pinnacle Road.
Bandicoot Times 10 Autumn 2021 | No 80Mountain gateway reborn
A tiny park in Fern Tree that
once hosted summer
strawberry festivals and has been
a gateway for visitors wishing
to explore Wellington Park for
more than a century has been
celebrated after a $2 million
makeover.
Rejuvenating the park provided
considerable design challenges
and restraints. The park is on
steep, forested terrain on the edge
of Huon Road and includes parts
of the heritage-listed Pipeline
Track, which carries a quarter of
Hobart’s water supply.
Tourists were first drawn to the
natural beauty of the area in the Andrew Evans created the beautiful carvings at Fern Tree Park.
early 1860s, when they would visit
natural and cultural heritage, assistance of an $800,000 grant
Silver Falls and the rainforest glade
at Fern Tree Bower. which the City sought to protect from the federal government is
and celebrate through the very welcome.
In the early 1890s, summer improvement project.
strawberry feasts were held on the “It’s a beautiful natural gateway for
lawns to raise funds for nearby St Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds people to explore kunanyi / Mount
Raphael’s Church, which was built was at the celebration with Wellington.”
in 1893. Stalls were set up serving federal Senator Eric Abetz and Parks and Recreation Committee
berries and cream and afternoon Andrew Wilkie MP to inspect the Chair Jeff Briscoe invited everyone
tea, and the feasts soon became a improvements to the playground, to rediscover the Fern Tree area.
local attraction with many people carpark and amenities.
“If you haven’t been up here since
making the trip from Hobart to “Fern Tree Park has been given the park upgrade, it might be
Fern Tree for the occasion. a makeover with a fun natural time to visit and rediscover this
The church has survived two major playground featuring Tasmanian little mountain park, along with
bushfires, including the 1967 Black animal engravings,” Cr Reynolds the many walking tracks and other
Tuesday bushfires, and still stands said. features that the City has invested
today. “Ratepayers have contributed in improving in recent years,” he
The location is steeped in the bulk of the funding but the said.
Bandicoot Times 11 Autumn 2021 | No 80BUSHCARE PEOPLE Bandicoot TimesCARING FOR NATURE 12 Autumn 2021 | No 80
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