The Queanbeyan Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 67-hectare (170-acre) reserve is situated approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west-south-west of the City of Queanbeyan. The low, undulating terrain of the reserve supports remnants of two threatened ecological communities – Natural Temperate Grassland and grassy Box-Gum Woodland. A population of the threatened species Button wrinklewort Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides is present within the reserve, and the threatened species Golden Sun Moth Synemon plana has also been recorded. The reserve is managed by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service.
History The Queanbeyan area is part of the traditional lands of the Ngunawal people. European settlement in the Queanbeyan area commenced in the 1820s and the township developed on the Queanbeyan River, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the current Queanbeyan Nature Reserve. The land now protected by the reserve was largely used for grazing sheep and cattle. Evidence of early settlement include a windbreak of large pines on the western boundary, dating to the early 1900s, and the site of a former dwelling and garden near the eastern boundary.
Park establishment
The present northern section was dedicated as Queanbeyan Nature Reserve in March 1989, having been previously managed by Queanbeyan City Council as a Crown Reserve for Municipal Purposes which included the Queanbeyan rubbish tip. This section of the reserve is bordered by the Queanbeyan-Michelago tourist railway, horse paddocks, a residential area, and a former rubbish tip site. In 2004 The NSW Government gazetted a larger area of circa 64 hectares (160 acres) southern addition to the reserve – separate to and 0.275 metres (10.8 in) south of the existing northern section. This newer area, previously managed by the NSW Department of Housing, is bound by Lanyon Drive to the east, Hoover Road to the north and the Queanbeyan-Michelago tourist railway line to the west.
Biology and ecology
Ecological communities
Natural Temperate Grasslands The Queanbeyan Nature Reserve protects remnant Natural Temperate Grassland, a community confined to the Southern Tablelands of NSW, within a region bounded by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Yass, Boorowa, the Abercrombie River, Goulburn, the Great Eastern Escarpment, the Victorian border and the eastern boundary of Kosciuszko National Park. In an intact state Natural Temperate Grassland is a generally treeless community dominated by a range of perennial grass species and a diversity of herbaceous species. The community occurs at altitudes between 560 and 1,200 metres (1,840 and 3,940 ft) in valleys influenced by cold air drainage and in broad plains. Since European settlement in the 1830s the distribution and condition of Natural Temperate Grassland has declined, initially due to extensive use for pastoral and agricultural activities and more recently as a result of a wide range of disturbances including grazing, application of fertilisers, introduction of exotic weed species, changed burning patterns, soil disturbance, changed drainage patterns, clearing for agriculture, plantation forestry, urban infrastructure and rural residential development. As a consequence, in 2000 Natural Temperate Grassland of the Southern Tablelands of NSW and the Australian Capital Territory was listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Throughout its range, only 3% of the Natural Temperate Grassland remains in high ecological integrity, relative to its pre-European settlement extent. Natural Temperate Grassland at Queanbeyan Nature Reserve occupies most of the larger, southern section but in the smaller, northern section occurs only as small patches. The remnant community at Queanbeyan Nature Reserve has been classified as Wallaby-grass – Tall Speargrass – Common Everlastings Tussock Grassland of the South Eastern Highlands bioregion. The community includes grass species such as Wallaby Grasses Austrodanthonia spp., Red Grass Bothriochloa macra, Tall Speargrass Austrostipa bigeniculata, kangaroo grass Themeda australis, and Poa Tussock Poa labillardierei, and herbaceous species such as Hoary Sunray Leucochrysum albicans var. tricolor, Blue Devil Eryngium ovinum, Leafy Daisy Brachycome rigidula, Tufted Bluebell Wahlenbergia communis, and Lemon Beautyheads Calocephalus citreus. Among weeds recorded are St John's Wort Hypericum perforatum, Serrated Tussock Nassella trichotoma, African Lovegrass Eragrostis curvula, Phalaris Phalaris aquatica, Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata, Sweet Briar Rosa rubiginosa, Tree Lucerne Tagastaste sp., Paterson's curse Echium plantagineum, Monterey Pine Pinus radiata and a variety of thistles.
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