The vegetation on the Banksia Park Bushcare site has not previously been classified by Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) as Blue Mountains Swamp. BMCC environmental scientists inspected the site in 2024 and reassessed the vegetation community. The advocacy and restoration efforts of the Bushcare group have been so effective that a significant proportion of Banksia Park bushcare site and an adjoining National Park section, on the other side of Cliff Drive, home to NPWS Gun Gun Bushcare Group, were reclassified as protected ecological community, Blue Mountains Swamp. 

This is great result for the many bushcare volunteers who have worked on the Banksia Park site since 2010. Many thanks to the BMCC environmental managers and bushcare officers who have contributed to this great result.

Members of the bushcare group have written articles about this achievement for the Blue Mountains Conversation Society Hut News and the Blue Mountains Bushcare News Gecko.

Blue Mountains Conversation Society Hut News article link is below

https://www.bluemountains.org.au/hutnews.shtml

Banksia Park Bushcare group has embarked on a project of identifying the plant species on our Bushcare site. We have been using the iNaturalist app, local experts and PlantNet identification website to develop a list of species. We also plan to compare our plant species list to that of an undegraded swamp, similar in characteristics to the Banksia Park site. Through this we hope to learn more about how to restore our swamp so it can best fulfill it’s function in the landscape.This project is providing group members with the opportunity to improve their knowledge of local plant species and identification tools.This work is continuing alongside our monthly bush restoration work. 

The iNaturalist and PlantNet website links are below:

https://inaturalist.ala.org.au

https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

Features of Banksia Park bushcare site are the links to adjacent bushcare sites and the creek erosion occurring on the site. The site is adjacent to the National Parks bushcare site Gungun and Katoomba High School’s Birraban where bushcare also takes place. The map below shows the Banksia Park bushcare site with adjacent bushcare sites marked.

This image is a representation of the the creeks on the bushcare site.

The native vegetation on the bushcare site has increased significantly and the weeds have decreased since the bushcare group started working.

The willow trees on the site were removed in 2011.

Bamboo was removed from the site in 2015.

Blue Mountains City Council has done amazing work with local contractors to transform some of the creeks around our bushcare site. By lining the creeks with rocks, the water slows down and can be filtered. There is a pond lined with sand and gravel and planted with native grasses that filter the water before it runs into the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains National Park.

For general bushcare information check Bushcare Blue Mountains Sites

Acknowledgement of Country

The City of the Blue Mountains is located within the Country of the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples. The Blue Mountains City Council recognises that Dharug and Gundungurra Traditional Owners have a continuous and deep connection to their Country and that this is of great cultural significance to Aboriginal people, both locally and in the region.

For Dharug and Gundungurra People, Ngurra (Country) takes in everything within the physical, cultural and spiritual landscape – landforms, waters, air, trees, rocks, plants, animals, foods, medicines, minerals, stories and special places. It includes cultural practice, kinship, knowledge, songs, stories and art, as well as spiritual beings, and people: past, present and future. 

Blue Mountains City Council pays respect to Elders past and present while recognising the strength, capacity and resilience of past and present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Blue Mountains region.