Surrounded by Amelia Street, Excelsior Parade and Whitelocke Street, Burnage Reserve is a small patch of bush with a big Landcare story.
The reserve is named after Colonel Granville John Burnage, born in Dungog in 1858. Burnage had a long military career, serving in the Boer War and at Gallipoli before commanding troopships between Australia and England.
In 1916 he bought waterfront land at Carey Bay and built ‘Worilla’ at 1 Excelsior Parade. A prominent figure in the Toronto district, he retired from the Australian Military Forces in 1921 and died at Carey Bay in 1945.
You can read more about Col Burnage ‘The Gamest Old Man”
CPPA Landcare has cared for Burnage Reserve since a Clean Up Australia Day event in 2000.
Early farming, escaped garden plants and nutrient-rich stormwater had taken their toll. Rapid runoff from The Quarterdeck, Amelia and Whitelocke Streets had also created an eroded creek line flowing towards the Lake.
In 2001, State funding helped stabilise the gully. Rocks were installed to slow and guide water, weeds controlled and local native species planted to border the reserve and reduce exposure to the roads.
More than 25 years of bush regeneration has transformed a very weedy site into valuable habitat, with mature gums, rainforest plants and plenty of birdlife.
The reserve is part of the Hunter Coast Lowland Spotted Gum Moist Forest Plant Community Type (PCT), found across much of Coal Point. Knowing the PCT helps Landcarers choose appropriate species when restoring bushland.
Look up in the canopy for Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata), Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata), Lilly Pilly (Acmena smithii) and the threatened Magenta Lilly Pilly (Syzygium paniculatum).
Below them grow Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia), Hairy Clerodendrum (Clerodendrum tomentosum), Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi) and Poison Peach (Trema tomentosa), with a ground cover of Bracken Fern (Pteridium esculentum), Sword Sedge (Lepidosperma laterale) and Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica).
The weed watch never ends either. Many weeds, such as Creeping Ruellia (Ruellia squarrosa) and Crofton Weed (Ageratina adenophora), are coming from stormwater runoff and are choking the ‘creek’ and drainage lines leading to the Lake. Other weeds, such as Ground Asparagus (Asparagus aethiopicus), Lantana (Lantana camara) and Mickey Mouse Plant (Ochna serrulata), are brought by birds eating nearby seeds/berries in gardens and on roadsides. Others, such as Madeira Vine (Anredera cordifolia), Turkey Rhubarb (Acetosa sagittata), Fishbone Fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) and Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) are likely to have arrived via dumped garden waste and have crept a long way into the reserve. Most are hard to get rid of and require constant monitoring and treatment and follow up each time we visit.
The reserve is quite small and doesn’t have any paths through it. However, there is a picnic shelter, with shade in the grassed area, with a lake view and access to the Lake. You will be guaranteed to hear birds calling in the reserve, you may even hear the call of a Whip Bird, one of the 14 species of birds found in the reserve in a survey some years ago.
Want to lend a hand? Contact Ros Cornish on 0408 252 810.
The reserve is named after Colonel Granville John Burnage, born in Dungog in 1858. Burnage had a long military career, serving in the Boer War and at Gallipoli before commanding troopships between Australia and England.
In 1916 he bought waterfront land at Carey Bay and built ‘Worilla’ at 1 Excelsior Parade. A prominent figure in the Toronto district, he retired from the Australian Military Forces in 1921 and died at Carey Bay in 1945.
You can read more about Col Burnage ‘The Gamest Old Man”
From weeds to wildlife refuge
CPPA Landcare has cared for Burnage Reserve since a Clean Up Australia Day event in 2000.
Early farming, escaped garden plants and nutrient-rich stormwater had taken their toll. Rapid runoff from The Quarterdeck, Amelia and Whitelocke Streets had also created an eroded creek line flowing towards the Lake.
In 2001, State funding helped stabilise the gully. Rocks were installed to slow and guide water, weeds controlled and local native species planted to border the reserve and reduce exposure to the roads.
More than 25 years of bush regeneration has transformed a very weedy site into valuable habitat, with mature gums, rainforest plants and plenty of birdlife.
The reserve is part of the Hunter Coast Lowland Spotted Gum Moist Forest Plant Community Type (PCT), found across much of Coal Point. Knowing the PCT helps Landcarers choose appropriate species when restoring bushland.
Look up in the canopy for Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata), Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata), Lilly Pilly (Acmena smithii) and the threatened Magenta Lilly Pilly (Syzygium paniculatum).
Below them grow Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia), Hairy Clerodendrum (Clerodendrum tomentosum), Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi) and Poison Peach (Trema tomentosa), with a ground cover of Bracken Fern (Pteridium esculentum), Sword Sedge (Lepidosperma laterale) and Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica).
The weed watch never ends either. Many weeds, such as Creeping Ruellia (Ruellia squarrosa) and Crofton Weed (Ageratina adenophora), are coming from stormwater runoff and are choking the ‘creek’ and drainage lines leading to the Lake. Other weeds, such as Ground Asparagus (Asparagus aethiopicus), Lantana (Lantana camara) and Mickey Mouse Plant (Ochna serrulata), are brought by birds eating nearby seeds/berries in gardens and on roadsides. Others, such as Madeira Vine (Anredera cordifolia), Turkey Rhubarb (Acetosa sagittata), Fishbone Fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) and Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) are likely to have arrived via dumped garden waste and have crept a long way into the reserve. Most are hard to get rid of and require constant monitoring and treatment and follow up each time we visit.
The reserve is quite small and doesn’t have any paths through it. However, there is a picnic shelter, with shade in the grassed area, with a lake view and access to the Lake. You will be guaranteed to hear birds calling in the reserve, you may even hear the call of a Whip Bird, one of the 14 species of birds found in the reserve in a survey some years ago.
Want to lend a hand? Contact Ros Cornish on 0408 252 810.
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