Bald Hills Bushies
Barungwarra Bushland Reserve, Bald Hills, Brisbane
What’s Happening - 2018A
New Barungwarra boat ramp car park is a cause for concern.
Brisbane City Council has plans to build a new car park to replace the existing one at
the Barungwarra boat ramp. The initial design of the car park was shown to our Bushies
in August last year and was accepted as a suitable solution to the limited parking at the
current car park by Bushies and local resident alike. BCC was required to submit the
plans to the State Government who raised objections to the plan on 2 grounds:
1.
The plan destroyed marine vegetation
2.
The plan destroyed valuable Koala habitat.
A new plan was drawn up by BCC Assets Management team which destroyed 4 of our tree
beds and a part of the bed which contains the 20 year plaque. there were also other
concerns. Bald Hills Bushies sent a list of concerns to BCC who then attempted to address
some of these with a new plan, but this still removed 3 of our beds, thereby destroying 24
years work by bushies.
A meeting was held on 23rd January at the reserve which was attended by representatives
from Bushies and BCC as well as some concerned local residents. Also in attendance was
Coulcillor Amanda Cooper and Jenny Leske from Brisbane Habitat. the issues were
discussed at the meeting and BCC engineers agreed to revisit the State Government ojections
base on the following points
1.
No Koalas have been sighted in the protected area for 40 years
2.
The ‘area to be removed if the first car park plan were adopted contains no marine
vegitation, It consists manly of She Oakes and a few young growth eculypts.
3.
The plantings by Bald Hills Bushies more that compensate for the loss of valuably trees if
plan one were adopted. Bald Hills Bushies has carried out a survey which confirms this point.
4.
24 years work by Bald Hills Bushies would be destroyed. the beds include 10 Gum Trees, and
about 4 sites where the terrestrial pink nodding orchid flowers every summer and is in bloom
at the moment. There are also 5 trees planted by Year 2 pupils from St Paul’s who visited
us to learn about volunteering and the environment. These gardens also contain acacias,
melaleucas, hop bushes and native grasses that we have planted and cared for over the years.
5.
The provision of trailer parking and rigging area is reduced with the current car park plan
On Saturday 20th January we counted 17 boat trailers with some trailers having to park along the
access road because of shortage of parking space. The 15 parking spaces in the current plan are
therefors clearly inadequate.
The BCC engineers undertook to persue the matter with the State Government and we are now
awaiting their further comments.
On Wednesday 28th February, we met with Councillor Amanda Cooper at the reserve, to discuss a new
version of the car park plan. Helen, Bob, Russell and Glen attended and agreed that, whilst the plan was
not ideal, it was a better option then the previous ones. We will discuss the latest plan with the other Bushies
and report back to Amanda later.
© B. Clifford for Bald Hills Bushies 2020
Tree beds are referenced by the name used by bushies to identify them. Names and locations of these beds are indicated on the maps.
