The Budjan Galindji Grasslands Nature Reserve was once littered with 6000 cubic metres of building waste. Photos: James Coleman.
Seven years ago, it was Belconnen’s dumping ground.
“Originally this site had over 6000 cubic metres of spoiled material, back when the road was built and Canberra Sand and Gravel was established – all of the material from those areas was pushed onto this site,” Parks ACT area manager Ian Campbell-Smith says.
“There were giant mounts of contaminants like heavy metals and all sorts of toxic materials – including asbestos – subsequently dumped on it too, because it was seen as a dumping site by the locals.”
But this week, the 2 ha block of grassland in Franklin, Gungahlin, has opened as the Budjan Galindji Grasslands Nature Reserve, after years of restoration works by Ian and his team.
The nature reserve is nestled between the suburbs of Franklin, Harrison and Mitchell.
City and Government Services Minister Tara Cheyne said the Reserve now had a range of scenic walking tracks closely connected to public transport.
“There are some new formal entry points to the reserve connected by walking trails and ‘discovery points’ where people can learn about the reserve’s resident threatened species,” she said.
“A new crossing has also been built over the wetland to provide safe access and an elevated scenic view of the surrounding area. From this improved viewing platform, you may be able to spot the migratory Latham’s Snipe, the bird that inspired the reserve’s name.
“In Ngunnawal language, Budjan Galindji translates to ‘water bird’ in English.”
The Latham’s Snipe is named after John Latham, an 1800s English physician and ornithologist who had a great interest in Australasian birds – even though there doesn’t appear to be any actual connection between him and this bird.
The species breeds mainly in northern Japan, before making the long annual migration to spend between August and March in shallow wetlands across eastern Australia.
In the ACT, they’re also common sights at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, Lake Burley Griffin and Lake Tuggeranong, set apart by their reddish-brown and black feathers with bold brown stripes and cream streaks.
Signs throughout the reserve explain the different habitats and animals.
The Franklin block is cut nearly in half by a stormwater channel, fed by the area’s road network and eventually draining into Sullivan’s Creek, but now it’s been “renaturalised” and planted with reeds and grasses to make it the ideal water-bird habitat.
Meanwhile, it’s hoped a patch of trees – including those with hollows – on the northernmost side will become a nesting site for the superb parrot, and the grassland in between the naturalised stormwater channel and the trees is planted with a variety of native grasses known to attract the striped legless lizard.
“Superb parrots nest in one of the other reserves in Throsby, and then fly about 2.5 kilometres to this site and use it for feeding,” Ian explains.
“There are hollows in the trees, but because there’s a lot of competition for those, we’re looking at ways to … disrupt other animals that use them, like possums and myna birds.”
The stormwater channel running through the block has been renaturalised.
Also on the northeast corner is a seed production area, a small nursery made up of irrigated garden beds where native grasses are reared and their seeds collected and scattered across this reserve and other reserves in the ACT.
But a key species that’s been considered along the way is the golden sun moth, currently listed as vulnerable in the ACT.
By planting the species’ favourite food source, wallaby grass, and leaving some grass long and mowing other patches, Parks ACT hopes to make up for golden sun moth habitat lost during the construction of the Yarralumla Brickworks development.
Parks ACT executive branch manager Mikayla Watts and area manager of new reserves Ian Campbell-Smith.
“One of the commitments for this site was to offset that impact by creating two hectares of golden sun moth habitat,” Ian says.
Half a hectare of the nature reserve will be kept short by the government’s mowing contractors, due to the fact female golden sun moths climb to the top of tussock grass heads to be seen by the males.
Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water Minister Suzanne Orr, herself a Gungahlin resident, said the finished result was “a little bit exciting” to see.
“When I first got elected in 2016, I reached out to the Friends of Grasslands group and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on with that block?’,” she says.
“The president at the time said he thought it was a future development site, but when we had more of a look, we realised it was actually quite an important ecological site with some pretty precious things.
“ACT Parks really embraced our little passion project and over time, we’ve been able to build up a lot of support to where we are today, which is this place listed as nature reserve … I look forward to continuing to improve this area and to realise and appreciate what it is.”
The Budjan Galindji Grasslands Nature Reserve is located off Thea Astley Crescent, Franklin.
