June 2011
On a beautiful autumn day the VIEW Club met for lunch at the Bowling Club.
The food and the company were excellent. Upper River landcare member Les Mitchell gave his time to us as our guest speaker.
His wide-ranging topic was ‘The Natural Environment of Kangaroo Valley’.
Les worked for the NSW Department of Parks and Wildlife for 26 years and developed a detailed knowledge of the Shoalhaven area.
He has lived in Kangaroo Valley for 17 years and has a great love for all the different natural environments contained in this one area.
Les spoke about Kangaroo Valley as a patchwork of pasture for cattle and dairy cows, forest escarpment and plateaus.
There is lots of bushland set aside as nature reserves. In the last 30 years there has been an increase in the settled areas.
A great feature of the valley is the grand escarpments of Hawkesbury sandstone.
This is close to the southernmost area of Hawkesbury sandstone that was laid down as a riverbed 200 million years ago.
Nowra sandstone which was laid down 250 million years ago is to be found in the big rocks near the river especially west of the bridge and is formed from the sea-bed, hence the fossils seen in the big rock at Pioneer Farm.
The fertile soils of the valley result from erosion from the Hawkesbury sandstone cliffs and the basalt rocks in the Robertson area washed down the river.
Another prominent feature is the Kangaroo River and its tributaries.
As the river travels through the valley we see different environments.
Along the upper river we have rainforest at the river’s edge and wet sclerophyll forest higher up creating a side-by side contrast of two different environments each with different vegetation. The difference is especially noticeable in the trees with no eucalypts in the rain forest. Trees in the rainforest include sandpaper figs, coachwood, lillypilly, pencil cedar (not related to red cedar), red cedar and white cedar, the tamarind which has large leaves and the giant stinging tree of which there is spectacular example near Maynard Falls. Callicoma or black wattle is extensive in gullies and creeks. This short-lived tree was used for making wattle and daub huts. It is native to Kangaroo Valley and its sap is an important food source for sugar-gliders in the winter.
This plant is not a true wattle but is related to coachwood. Another tree with beautiful flowers is the Possum Wood.
Les pointed out that the tip moth that attacks the red cedar and the white cedar moth with its hairy grubs are two completely different creatures.
In the natural environment where there are many cedars neither moths should kill the trees. A lone garden specimen can be badly affected.
We see the hairy grubs when they start looking for a new white cedar to eat. Your house is no barrier to its searching so do not plant a white cedar near your house.
The wet sclerophyll forest has rainforest undergrowth with ferns and cabbage palms and a eucalyptus upper story.
Sydney rock orchids are also found here.
The rainfall of the upper river is the twice that of the western end of Kangaroo Valley near Tallowa Dam. The western area is dry sclerophyll forest. Here we see Grey Gums and the Red Bloodwood with its lovely flowers.
This area of Nowra sandstone is much drier and its porous soils produce an open woodland with scribbly gums
with an understory of wild flowers
and ground orchids.
Les showed us photos of the many native animals, birds, lizards, snakes and frogs that inhabit the valley.
He explained why the brush-tailed wallaby is so vulnerable. Unlike other kangaroos and wallabies it leaves its young animals untended.
This makes them very vulnerable to foxes.
The eastern grey kangaroo (grey-brown coloured) would have always been part of the wildlife and its numbers have increased due to someone releasing a number of orphans about 20 years ago.
He showed us pictures of the swamp wallaby (dark brown and eats citrus leaves) and the wallaroo (long grey fur) that are prevalent in the valley and not to be confused with the kangaroo.
The spotted quoll, a carnivore, was once common but man has reduced its numbers due to its predilection for poultry.
Koalas would have been in the valley but in the 1930s there was a great demand for koala skins that led to their numbers being decimated, so they are no longer seen here.
Brush turkeys were also here but are now not seen. (Gardeners say thank-you.)
Fitzroy Falls Parks and Wildlife centre has some very good books for sale about this area.
We thank Les for his interesting and informative talk.
Our next luncheon meeting will be at Kangaroo Valley Bowling Club on Friday June 10 at 11.30 am for 12.00.
Our guest speaker will be Betty Endean who will speak on food “What’s That You’re Eating”.
Please phone Jan Starkey on 4465 2080 or email jjstarkey42@bigpond.com by 6 pm on the Wednesday before the meeting if you are unable to attend.
It is necessary for us to provide the caterer with accurate numbers for our luncheon otherwise the VIEW club will be charged. Members are expected to pay for lunch if no apology has been provided by the required time.
We invite and welcome anyone who is interested to attend our luncheon.
Please phone Margaret McLachlan
4465 1946 for details.
Jeanette Dumbrell
Publicity Officer