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The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and
its members would like to acknowledge the traditional owners
of the lands within our boundaries, the 29 clan groups of the
Eora Nation. We would like to pay our respects to our elders
both past and present, and all Aboriginal people within our
boundaries from whatever Aboriginal nation you may come from.
Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC) is
legislated under NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983
as the representative body established for all
Aboriginal people and the body responsible for the
protection, preservation and promotion of Aboriginal
Culture & Heritage within its proclaimed boundaries.
MLALC works in conjunction with Office Environment &
Heritage as the NSW legislated agency responsible for
Culture & Heritage Legislation.
MLALC in undertaking the Protecting Our Places grant
to protect & preserve Aboriginal cultural sites &
preserving, protecting and promoting the importance of
maintaining local & native vegetation including
vulnerable & endangered flora have discovered these
sites being damaged & desecrated as a result of
illegal access by third parties.
MLALC hope that as an outcome of the POP grant these
cultural sites will be protected through establishment
of protective barriers and displaying of interpretive
signage to promote a greater understanding of the
importance of protection, preservation and promotion
of Aboriginal Culture & Heritage as well as
preserving, protecting and promoting the importance of
maintaining local & native vegetation and vulnerable &
endangered flora.
Land, the Core of Belief and Sustaining the Continuum
Land is fundamental to the
wellbeing of Aboriginal people. Aboriginal cultural
heritage is viewed as the total ways of living built
up by Aboriginal people for thousands of generations.
Cultural heritage has been passed from one generation
to the next, given by reason of birth and connection.
Affinity to the Land sustains
and is sustained by Aboriginal people and their
culture. This Land that you are welcomed
onto has been the core of all spirituality, knowledge,
language, cultural materials, sacred and significant
sites since the beginning.
For Aboriginal people, all that
is sacred is of the Land. The ancestral spirits of the
Dreaming came to earth in human
form and as they moved across the land, all animals,
plants, waterways, rocks and other forms were created.
The inter relationships between people, animals and
plants to the Land followed.
When all had been created, the
ancestral beings changed into trees, stars, rocks,
waterholes and other objects.
These are the sacred, significant and special
places of Aboriginal culture, heritage and being
today. The ancestral beings didn’t disappear; they
remained taking their place in the continuum, linking
the past, present, future and people to the Land.
This is the story, an unbroken
story that has been passed down for thousands of years
through Aboriginal wisdom and knowledge. This is the
story of the importance of listening to the ancient
heart of the Land, to really hear what she is saying.
We welcome you. In welcoming
you we ask that you walk, sit, watch, listen and hear respectfully this unbroken story, the story that
values and sustains the ancient heart of the Land.
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Ecological Values
The Garigal Land owned by MLALC is an area of native
remnant bushland, that stretches from Forest Way in
the west, to Narrabeen Lagoon in the east and Mona
Vale Road in the north to Frenchs Forest in the south.
Combined with the adjacent part of Garigal National
Park the area is sufficiently large to sustain viable
populations of at least 25 Threatened species and more
than 680 other native species.
This land also contains
unique and ecologically significant habitats including
rare, low growing, hanging swamps and heaths with
emergent mallee eucalypts and endangered ridge-top forests on clay rich soils.
SPECIES RICHNESS
The Garigal Land owned by MLALC is known to be home to
at least 163 fauna and 517 flora species.
Unfortunately, there has been no comprehensive flora
or fauna survey of this area to date and therefore,
the actual numbers of flora and fauna inhabitants is
likely to be significantly greater and fauna inhabitants is likely to be significantly
greater.
There are records of 18 Threatened fauna species and 7
Threatened flora species occurring within this land.
These species rely heavily on the unique environmental
characteristics that occur within this area.
To prevent local extinctions, active land management
is needed including appropriate fire regimes/seasons,
weed control, maintaining water quality, erosion
control and preventing plant and frog pathogens from
entering the area.
THREATENED FLORA
Threatened flora species include; the Hairy Geebung,
Camfield’s Stringybark and Caley’s Grevillea, which
are confirmed from recent sightings within the area.
Other listed Threatened species which are known to
occur in the vicinity are the Black-eyed Susan, Netted
Bottle Brush, Angus Onion Orchid and the Bauer’s Midge
Orchid.
One of the more important biological values of the
site is an extensive, multi-stemmed individual
Eucalyptus camfieldii which covers an area of ~700
x 200m adjacent to the Cromer trail. This is the
largest known individual of this species and could be
hundreds or even thousands of years old – making it
possibly one of the
oldest living things in the area. E. camfieldii
is a highly unusual and scientifically interesting
species, as it consists of many (sometimes 100s) of
small clonal trunks growing from a large woody root
system. It has rough heart-shaped juvenile leaves,
relatively short trunk (3-5 m high) and mallee
structure.
This species’ life strategy is outstandingly different from
its other species. This Threatened and extremely rare
Eucalypt, is only found as isolated individuals on
coastal scrub and on sandstone ridge tops within the
Sydney region. The species has a very low level of
reproductive success and instead relies on individuals
surviving fires and living many decades or more likely
centuries.
Anthropogenic influences such as inappropriate fire
regimes and introduced pathogens such as Phytophthora
and Myrtle Rust may cause local extinctions.
The
numbers of existing individuals have been drastically
reduced in recent years. This plant is threatened by
diseases spread by mud and soil on clothing, shoes or
bikes.
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THREATENED FAUNA
Threatened fauna species recorded include; mammals
such as the Eastern Pygmy Possum, Southern Brown
Bandicoot, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Little – and Eastern
Bentwing Bat, Eastern Freetail Bat, Southern Myotis,
Greater Broad-nosed Bat. Threatened birds such as the
Powerful Owl, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Varied Sittella,
Scarlet Robin, and Swift Parrot. Threatened amphibians
such as the Giant Burrowing Frog and the Red-crowned
Toadlet and the Rosenberg’s Goanna, a Threatened
reptile.
The resident population of Southern Brown Bandicoots
is of both high conservation and cultural values. This
now Threatened species is of central importance for
the local Aboriginal tribe. The local people have a
number of important ceremonial sites scattered over
the entire area marked by a distinct V-shaped rock
carving which symbolise the head of this marsupial.
These ceremonies were believed to increase the
abundance of local Bandicoot population and were
performed in combination with ritualized burning of
small patches of Bushland – creating a uniquely
diverse habitat for this species. This fire regime is
similar to modern techniques, which has been
scientifically proven to increase local
biodiversity, which benefits not only the Southern
Brown Bandicoot but also the entire bushland
ecosystem.
The Spotted-tailed Quoll is the largest marsupial
carnivore remaining on mainland Australia. This
important high-order predator has suffered severe
population declines due to habitat loss and
competition with foxes, dogs and cats. As a result,
the remaining populations such as the one on this land
only exist in isolated habitat patches. The
Spotted-tailed Quoll has large home ranges which means
in the fragmented, urban environment it heavily relies
on wildlife corridors to connect the limited areas of
suitable habitat.
Eastern Pygmy Possums, a very small and elusive
marsupial that has only recently been found in the
area.
The endangered Swift Parrot is a beautifully colourful
migratory bird which breeds in Tasmania and travels to
south-eastern Australia which it calls home for the
winter months. This species needs urgent habitat
protection as the species has a rapidly declining
population and current population estimates suggest
only about 1000 pairs remain in the wild.
A pair of the impressive nocturnal predator, Powerful
Owl, are known to have raised their chicks at the
Wheeler Creek valley for at least 10 years.
The Giant Burrowing Frog, is geographically confined
and relies heavily on large areas of native remnant
bushland for its continued survival.
The Red-crowned Toadlet occurs in the higher parts of
the area where tracks, soil erosion, sedimentation and
low water quality threaten the population.
The
Red-crowned Toadlet heavily relies on suitable habitat
and currently only occurs as localized and discrete
populations generally within the Sydney Basin. Due to
its habitat restrictions, even relatively small and
localized disturbance may have
a significant impact on local populations, if
disturbance occurs on or above favoured breeding or
resting site for this species.
The Rosenberg's Goanna also occurs on the ridge where
there is extensive disturbance due to tracks.
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