Brisbane Koala Bushlands
South-east Queensland
Brisbane City Council maintains many remnant bushland patches throughout the city. On the southside there's Toohey Forest, Karawatha, Mount Gravatt and Whites Hill - and others. They each have their charms, and I am constantly grateful for the high quality of Council's management - which includes ecological burning. Here, I want to highlight the less well-known Brisbane Koala Bushlands.
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Set aside as koala habitat, this quite extensive area protects mostly grassy dry sclerophyll forests. Grassy forests are not well-conserved in Australia, so this patch is important. I get the impression that much of the area has had a former life as grazing land, and that current trees are smaller and more dense than they will be once recovery from past logging has had more time to run. But the understorey is mostly in good shape, with many native grass species, and a variety of herbs, particularly near creeks. Hats off to former and current managers.
My very favourite bit of the Koala Bushlands is J C Trotter Memorial Park. The soil here is more sandy than further south, and the dominant eucalypt is the magnificent white-trunked Scribbly Gum. There's also more shrub species in this patch. The understorey is dominated by sedges, and in some areas the landscape is quite open.
Learn more about Brisbane Koala Bushlands from Brisbane City Council, and this blog.
Some Aussie plants in JC Trotter Memorial Park
Big tree: Scribbly Gum (Eucalyptus racemosa)
Orange flower: Hairpin Banksia (Banksia spinulosa)
White flower: Small-leafed Paperbark (Melaleuca sieberi)
Pink flower: Forest Boronia (Boronia rosmarinifolia)
JC Trotter adjoins Tingalpa Reservoir, and you can get down to the water in several places. So there's a whole other suite of plant species, ones that like to get their feet wet.
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Another feature of this park, and of other places in the Koala Bushlands, is the transmission line easement. Because it's kept really open, it has some species that aren't common in the woodland areas.
