Toowoomba Field Naturalist: OUTING REPORT: Ambrose Treacy College and Sherwood Arboretum, 03 November 2019

At 7.30am sharp, nineteen Field Nats, including our driver Phil Haxen, departed by bus from the Neil Street car park bound for Ambrose Treacy College, Indooroopilly. On arrival we met up with Lesley Beaton and John Ball, who had travelled independently. The focus of our visit was Brother’s Gully.

An article by Alexander Davies entitled Brother’s Gully: A story of habitat regeneration increasing biodiver-sity, in the June 2019 edition of “Metamorphosis” the Magazine of the Butterfly and Other Invertebrates Club (BOIC) had alerted Ben Gundry to the potential of the Gully for a visit. To quote from the article: “Brothers Gully is a patch of sub-tropical riparian rainforest adjoining mangroves, located at the south western end of Ambrose Treacy College, Twigg Street, Indooroopilly, Brisbane. The Gully area starts at the top of Kate Street, Indooroopilly, and stretches 140 metres till it reaches the riverbank”.

The Gully is the subject of a weeding and revegetation program, initiated in 2015 by a Year 11 student, Alex-ander Davies, with support from the school and his grandparents, Trevor and Tina Lambkin. Alexander, our guide for the morning, had been motivated by the sight of this small remnant area of riparian rainforest becoming choked by exotic weeds. He told us that revegetation of the steep Gully is also supported by the Brisbane City Council under its Land for Wildlife program, and free plants from the Moggill Creek Catchment Group (MCCG) and Save our Waterways Now (SOWN) nurseries. But the weeding and planting is all done by students (Gully Men) under the direction of Alexander.

We were impressed by Alexander’s knowledge of both the flora and fauna as he guided us around different sections of the Gully, some relatively advanced and others still being cleared in readiness for planting. Over 180 (mainly local native) species of ground cover, understorey, mid-storey, and canopy plants have been grown to enhance the existing vegetation. An increasing number of birds, mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates have been recorded since commencement of the project – a reflection of the plant species selected.

After a leisurely lunch on a wide deck overlooking the river, we departed for the Sherwood Arboretum, to be joined by Tricia Allen and her grandson. On arrival we were met by Brisbane City Council volunteer Guides, Dick and Jankees. Opened on 21 March 1925, the heritage-listed Sherwood Arboretum covers an area of 15 hectares, contains approximately 1,100 trees from about 300 species, and comprises parkland, artificial fresh-water wetland and has an extensive frontage to the Brisbane River. Of particular note is an avenue of Queens-land Kauri Pines (Agathis robusta) planted for the 1925 opening.

Splitting into two groups, we followed our knowledgeable guides as they identified fine specimens of native trees, some local and others from further west that were familiar to many of us. A boardwalk along the Bris-bane River introduced us to three species of Mangrove. A very comprehensive description of the Arboretum is available on Wikipedia and interested readers are encouraged to access it for further information.

Leaving at 4.00pm Phil drove us safely back to Toowoomba, where we arrived at 5.30pm after an enjoyable day blessed with perfect weather

(Report by Deb Ford)