Bald Hills Bushies have been attending meetings with the

Queensland TMR Gateway Motorway Upgrade

environmental team for about 3 years now. At each

meeting, we have been given updates on the progress of the

project including maps and the results of environmental

surveys. in late 2022, the team held a series of community

consultations where members of the public could check out

the latest plans and discuss the proposals with TMR staff.

The proposal was to expand the Bruce Highway into a part

of Barungwarra drive and one visiting community member

expressed some concern that the Bunya pines along Bald

Hills Road would be removed. The Gateway team had not

considered this aspect and Bald Hill Bushies did not have

much knowledge of their location as that area is not a part

of our usual work area.

Bald Hills Bushies conducted a survey of the trees which

exist in the area which may be effected by the upgrades,

included the area along Bald Hills Road and Barungwarra

Drive from the Strathpine Road junction to the bend in

Barungwarra Drive near the Dog Off Leash area.

On completion, the report was submitted to the TMR. You

can download a copy of the report here

There is a current proposal regarding the future of the old Hymix, which lies just north of our work area, to build a large environmental and sports area with high and low ropes courses, a Golf Driving Range and many other similar activities. The project has raised questions as to how the Hymix site will be accessed when the Gateway motorway reconstruction begins . Our Bushies became involved because several of the proposals involved changed access through Barungwarra drive or a different access to our work area. Bald Hills Bushies undertook a detailed study of the proposed changes and submitted a report showing advantages and disadvantages of the different options. Our recommendation was to retain the current access as the other options were all problematic. One part of the proposal was to move the Barungwarra Drive junction from it’s current junction near Attunga Street to somewhere just past Gundulf Street. The plan was to widen the Bruce Highway by taking about one half of the current Barungwarra Drive and turning the other half into a footpath and cycling track. This would force the Boat Ramp traffic to travel almost the full length of Bald Hills Road before turning into Barungwarra Drive. TMR conducted a survey of Residents in Bald Hills Road and there was a strong result against the proposal. As a result, the Gateway team are now looking at alternatives.

Bush Turkey Coolamon Marine Turf Shingles on a bark hut

After completing the planting, the scouts took a tour of the Barungwarra site, visiting the swamp, the bridge and our Marine Turf area and spotted a bush turkey. They also visited the Scar Tree and learnt about the aboriginal use of tree bark as a coolamon (Food serving dish) or as shingles on a bark hut.