March Activity Details - Rosalie Heights, Mt. Storey and Mt. Kingsthorpe

CLUB MEETING: 7 pm, Friday 6 March 2026 

Mt Kingsthorpe hovea

Speaker: Dr Jen Silcock is a Research Fellow at the School of the Environment, University of Queensland. She spent her first 20 years on the Darling Downs before heading into the drier country further west in search of cryptic species, lost oases, ecological mysteries, obscure local history and the elusive perfect swimming spot. She has worked for various Government Departments and, for the past decade, at the University of Queensland, on projects relating to rangeland ecology, grazing land management, threatened species, wetland ecology and ethnobotany.

Title: Ecology and conservation of two cryptic and threatened outback mammals: the yellow-footed rock wallaby and greater bilby.

Venue: St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba. The speaker's presentation is followed by official business and supper. 

CLUB OUTING: Sunday 8 March 2026   

Vine Scrub at Mount Kingsthorpe

Meeting Time: 8.30 am

Where: Gowrie Junction opposite the Convenience Store

Description: Vine scrub hilltops.

Activities: After a short walk along the edge of a patch of vine scrub at Hilltop Drive, we will continue to a private garden where a small patch of remnant vegetation was saved by the owners from clearing when the Rosalie Heights estate was built.

After morning tea we will continue to the Terry Egan Park, Mt Storey area just south of Glencoe Mountain for a walk where there is a picnic table and views to the west.

Then on to Settlers Park at Kingsthorpe. In Kingsthorpe there are two options:  (i) a short drive to the base of Mt. Kingsthorpe and a 450m walk from there through vine scrub along a well-formed path with some steps to the top. This lookout has expansive views and a glimpse of some of the original rainforest vegetation that once covered the area, or (ii) 700m  ‘Rosalie Walk’ – part of the Kingsthorpe Linear Corridor. All return to Settlers Park for lunch.

Level of Fitness: Scale of difficulty – level 3. 

Facilities: The nearest toilets are in Kingsthorpe. Settlers Park has an electric BBQ, seating and toilets.

What to Bring: suitable clothing and closed footwear for walking in the bush, sunscreen, insect repellent, water, morning tea and lunch, chair, and the usual naturalist stuff of your choice; binoculars, camera, field guides, notebook, etc.

February Outing Report - Sunday 03 Aug 2026

 Outing Report: Sunday 08 February 2026 Franke Scrub and Rogers Reserve (Adapted from an article and photos D Johnston)

Franke Scrub
from Google Maps

Franke Scrub is a small patch of Semi-Evergreen Vine Thicket remaining in a gully along Franke Road.

Semi-Evergreen Vine Thicket is widely scattered along the northeast of Australia. With the arrival of European farmers much of the SEVT types have been extensively cleared so many SEVT ecosystems have only 5% or similar surviving. They contain a large variety of flora (and dependent fauna) but small patches can suffer considerably from isolation.

Weeds choking roadside

Locals formed a group to look after the patch in the days of Crows Nest Shire Council, and with the assistance of Steve Plant and some crew from CN council removed most of the invasive weeds. After the council amalgamation with Toowoomba Regional Council the local weeding volunteers have been managed by TRC and have managed to keep most of the weeds in the gully under control.

Discussing the sign

Much effort cataloguing the biodiversity has been done. Lists of birds, butterflies and regenerating flora are available for those interested with notes on species that would be expected to be seen as regenerating seedlings. Inside, the dense edge the SEVT has been coping well, showing old vines and new seedlings growing with the competition of choking invasive weeds.

Vines in Franke Scrub

After morning tea we moved to Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve which was donated to the Crows Nest Shire Council in the 1990s. It had been a grazing paddock with numerous tall remnant eucalypts and mostly a grass understory. In the early 2000s council and the local Landcare group had a controlled burn in the northern part and planted a lot of extra trees, mostly from stock in or near the park. Crows Nest Shire Council also had explanatory notes for sites along the walk for visitors.

Species List for Franke Scrub     

Birds: Spotted Dove, Crested Pigeon, White-faced Heron (flying overhead), Cattle Egret (flying overhead), Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Superb Fairy-wren, Brown Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Eastern Whipbird, Torresian Crow, Silvereye, Mistletoebird, Double-barred Finch.

Mammals: Red-necked Wallaby

Insects: Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly, Graphic Flutterer Dragonfly, Black-faced Percher Dragonfly.

Entrance to Reserve

Aerial View of
Charles & Motee Reserve
from Google Maps

Species List for Charles and Motee Rogers Reserve      

Birds: Common Bronzewing, Rainbow Lorikeet, Laughing Kookaburra, Noisy Miner.                

Insects: Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly, Sand Wasp (Bembix sp.) Lots on the path into the reserve. Shooting dirt out of their burrows.