8th June 2024

June 8th, the King’s Birthday long weekend, saw nine brave souls gather north of Binalong Bay on the Upper East Coast. They came from as  far away as Bridport, Launceston, Scottsdale, Bicheno and Scamander and were rewarded with calm, sunny conditions to explore the area. Behind Taylors Beach is a rich heathland and some of us, led by Alex from St Helens, spent a couple of hours botanising, learning the history of the area and listening to local environmental hero, Todd Dudley, explain his revegetation of a degraded landscape.

Botanists in the group were interested in an unusual plant we found, Caustis pentandra, thick twistsedge. It is a sprawling, bright green sedge found only in a few places in the Northeast. The other infrequently seen plant was Acacia ulicifolia, another low growing coastal wattle.

We skirted Big Lagoon to the south of the Gardens and followed the old timber tramway which was still visible in places as a cleared track with some surviving corduroy patches. This used to bring timber from the hinterland of the coast down to a jetty built off the rocks at the southern end of Taylors Beach. The Raha was one of the boats that for a short time took the timber aboard there until storms destroyed the jetty in the 1920’s.

At the back of Sloop Lagoon [black square on map] we met Todd Dudley who told us the history of the gravel quarry that had stripped and eroded the landscape until it looked like a miniature Grand Canyon. Thanks to Todd some of this area has been revegetated using jute netting to stabilise the remaining soil and seeding with local plant and shrub species. With his team, he had used a dozer to rip the ground, making it loose enough for the seeds to germinate. Then a variety of branches containing viable seed were cut nearby and brought to the site. The photos show the stages of the project.  Some are growing well and it is hoped that this ruined patch of land will eventually be covered again.

Click the photos for a better experience

Lunch was enjoyed in warm winter sunshine on the orange lichen-covered granite rocks across from the spectacular Sloop Rock. A good day rounded off by the chance to visit the Bay of Fires Art Exhibition in St Helens.

Pam Bretz