The first event to celebrate AABR’s 40th anniversary was held at Killara Park in northern Sydney on 14th March. Twenty-three people gathered on a perfect morning to learn about the restoration of a tiny patch, 0.5 hectares of Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest, a critically endangered ecological community.
Peta Lilly, AABR’s Walks and Talks coordinator, began with acknowledgement of the Guringai people, then introduced the storytellers, Nancy Pallin and Jill Green from the Bushcare Group, and Jane Gye from AABR.
As we strolled around this tiny bush remnant, folders of printed photos showed how the vegetation had changed through the years.
The restoration of the site took a leap forward when community members of Ku-ring-gai Council’s Bushland Management Working Party recommended that the part of Killara Park which supported the threatened ecological community Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest be managed without mowing.
Killara Park Site Map
Mowing ceased in the green area in 2002. Members of the Bushcare Group then working in Ku-ring-gai Flying-fox Reserve on Tuesdays, allocated ‘5th Tuesdays’ of which there are four each year, to Killara Park. Council agreed to cease mowing the orange area in 2005.
Resilient natives
We had noticed that despite the mowing, native plants were surviving at the base of the trees.
Killara Park 2003
15 people contributed 164 volunteer hours over the first 3 years.
By 2007 healthy patches of small shrubs including Acacia myrtifolia, Acacia linifolia, Bossiaea cordata, Pultenaea retusa, P. villosa and Platylobium formosum were flowering. The native grass diversity is now high with 19 native grasses recorded. Unfortunately, 11 weed grass species are also present, but reducing in cover over the years.
Between 2006 – 2020 Bushcare volunteers contributed an additional 635 hours, weeding across the site and adding to the plant species lists begun by Council staff in 2002.
Drought and rabbits slowed the recovery, impacting the diverse ground covers and mid storey plants. The number of volunteers declined.
Several large eucalypts which died, provide nesting hollows.
2019 Soil disturbance
In November 2019 a violent storm caused so much damage to the trees that Council used heavy machinery to clear up the site. This resulted in very disturbed and bare soil.
Killara Park 2024
With high rainfall following, this soil disturbance stimulated the regeneration of a dense, diverse, native midstory and groundcovers
The disturbance regenerated swamp wattle Acacia elongata, a new record for the site and plenty of Ozothamnus diosmifolius, Acacia linifolia, A. myrtifolia and A. stricta which are now common. Canopy tree seedlings also grew.
The whole of Killara Park had been categorised for public recreation. But recently the regenerating area was recategorized as a ‘Natural Area’ which requires Council to manage it for its natural values.
In 2021 the Roving Bushcare Team began work in Killara Park while some of the original Bushcare group continued to work on some Tuesdays. Our combined efforts between 2003 and 2025 added up to 1008 hours contributed by 51 volunteers. This is an average of 44 hours per year. In addition, the site has benefited from several bush regeneration contracts funded by Ku-ring-gai Environmental Levy Grants and Council staff time.
Looking ahead, the site needs further work to remove the remaining weedy grasses, the worst being couch.
Ku-ring-gai Bushcare staff have set up a project for Killara Park Bushcare in INaturalist. On the AABR walk an eastern rosella was spotted and with the long lens of Virginia Bear recording it and it is now on iNaturalist.
Killara Park, being on the top of the ridge, benefits from no stormwater drainage. Its easy access should encourage local people to look after it. Perhaps more soil disturbance or some patchy burns will be needed to keep it regenerating. It is a perfect place to learn about native plants and the invertebrates that live there.
Photos supplied by Nancy Pallin.
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