Entrance: Signposted on River Road, Osborne Road, Panorama Road or Ronald Avenue..
Grade: Medium/easy grade: bush tracks some formed steps and tree roots to negotiate.
Distance: 1.4km return.
FROM ANY OF THE ENTRANCES TO BUSHLAND PARK A DELIGHTFUL CIRCLE TRACK CAN BE ENJOYED FOLLOWING THE DOUG STUART BUSHWALK THROUGH CHANGING VEGETATION ALONG THE CREEK AND HILLSIDES. FOLLOWING THE CREEK, THE WALK CAN BE EXTENDED 1.2 KM SOUTH TO GORE CREEK RESERVE ON A PICTURESQUE BAY OF LANE COVE RIVER.
The vegetation of Bushland Park varies greatly throughout the park from littoral rainforest trees shading Gore Creek, dense swathes of native ferns & tall tree ferns to the sandstone flora, temperate sclerophyll forest of tall Turpentine and Angophoras on the higher slopes and a small pocket of precious Blue Gum High Forest. This ecological diversity is habitat for equally diverse fauna. Look out for Satin Bowerbirds, Superb Blue Wrens, Rainbow Lorikeets, King Parrots, Boobook and Powerful Owls and numerous small birds such as Gerygone, Thornbills and Fantails. Several species of micro bats, tree and terrestrial frogs, skinks, water dragons and geckos have been sighted.
We enjoy this beautiful bushland today because active local residents saved it from destruction when the Council approved the Country Club to extend the golf course into this valley. This campaign was the genesis of the Lane Cove Bushland & Conservation Society, which celebrates 50 years of continuous work in 2021, tirelessly defending the urban trees, native bush and wetlands of the Lane Cove area, particularly from the impacts of development.
We thank those who have cared for it since with thousands of hours of weeding, bush regeneration, stormwater damage mitigation, and the care of Council’s bushland management teams.
Doug Stuart was a founding Executive Member and later President of the Society, formed in 1971 during the campaign to save Bushland Park. Doug, an architect, was the first to survey and map all of Lane Cove’s bushland and for nearly 50 years he led action to protect the natural environment. Here, Norma Stuart and the Mayor of Lane Cove, Pam Palmer open the Bushland Park tract dedicated to Doug.
Bushland Park was declared a wildlife refuge under National Parks & Wildlife Service in 1980. It is a site of ecological importance and was listed on the Register of the National Estate in 2000 due to its rare and endangered community of Hygrocybeae fungi, also with a remnant of critically endangered Blue Gum High Forest, satin bowerbirds, rosellas, microbats, tree and terrestrial frogs and more.
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