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The Bidjigal Reserve is a 186-hectare (460-acre) reserve in New South Wales, Australia. It lies predominantly within The Hills Shire, with a small section south of the M2 Motorway in the City of Parramatta. The reserve lies in the suburbs of North Rocks, Northmead, Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, West Pennant Hills, and Carlingford.
The reserve is geographically defined by significant landmarks: to the North lies Castle Hill Road, a major thoroughfare traversing suburban Sydney; to the South, it is bordered by James Ruse Drive, a key arterial road in the Northmead area; on the eastern boundary, Oakes Road in West Pennant Hills marks the edge of the reserve, offering access from the surrounding residential areas; and to the West, the reserve meets Eric Mobbs Reserve at Castle Hill, providing a recreational and natural space for the local community.
Its name commemorates the Bidjigal people who lived in the area. [1] In particular, it is said that Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal leader of aboriginal resistance against British occupation, used the area as a base to mount attacks on neighbouring homesteads. The reserve includes a long section of Darling Mills Creek, a tributary of the Parramatta River, and once an important source of water both to the mills in Parramatta, and for drinking.
The reserve includes a number of walking trails which range from short circular walks up to walks of several kilometres in length, some of which join onto the Great North Walk.
The reserve is home to a wide range of native flora and fauna. It includes a rich diversity of vegetation which includes remnants of Blue Gum High Forest and ridgetop woodlands, but mostly consists of dry sandstone gully forest on sandstone base soils with some areas retaining Wianamatta Shales. The rich understorey includes interesting species like Native Iris ( Patersonia glabrata), Native Grape ( Cissus hypoglauca ) and the Red Beard Orchid ( Calochilus paludosus ). In recent years there have been reliable recordings of koala, swamp wallaby, echidna, eastern water dragon, and sugar gliders, as well as the ubiquitous brushtail and ringtail possums. Powerful owl have also been seen in the reserve. Foxes have been largely eradicated by a continuing baiting program, leading to a significant increase in the number of native animals in the reserve. The reserve is also known for its abundance and diversity of fungi. [2] [3] [4]
The reserve also includes a local landmark (known locally as the Aboriginal Cave) at Latitude -33.758010 Longitude 151.011660 which is a rock shelter that was apparently described in times of early European occupation as being a cave used by the Bidjigal people. Several other aboriginal rock shelters also lie within Bidjigal Reserve, including one with a midden dated to 10150 bp, which is the earliest human habitation site known in the Sydney area (although older sites are known in the Blue Mountains). There are also reliable reports of other works of Australian aboriginal art, including hand stencils and rock engravings, but none have been identified in recent years, and they may have been damaged or destroyed.
On 15 September 2001, an agreement was reached between the Government of New South Wales, Baulkham Hills Shire Council and descendants of the Darug to settle an outstanding native title claim (N94/6)which dated back to 1994.
The Darling Mills State Forest and Excelsior Park (with the exception of the Ted Horwood Reserve and the Eric Mobbs Reserve) were combined and made into the Bidjigal Reserve by a deed of agreement signed on 4 December 2003 on behalf of the Minister for Lands. Signatories to that deed were the Crown, Baulkham Hills Shire Council and Bundeluk of the Darug tribe. Other signatories were Telstra and Integral Energy (due to the presence of their infrastructure in the reserve). The Forestry (Darling Mills State Forest Revocation) Bill, which was passed by NSW state government on 2 March 2005 allowed that land to be included in the reserve, as required by the deed.
Bidjigal reserve was dedicated for the purposes of preservation of aboriginal cultural heritage, flora and fauna and public recreation on 22 October 2004.
Ownership of the reserve is vested in the Bidjigal Reserve Trust.
The reserve is managed by the Bidjigal Reserve Trust Board. The first Bidjigal Reserve Trust Board meeting was held on 4 March 2005. The first Board consisted of 4 individual trustees. They were appointed by the Crown Lands minister, for a 5-year term. Those individuals consisted of both Darug descendants, and also local residents. In addition, the secretaries of the Darug Custodians Aboriginal Corporation and the Darug Tribal Aboriginal Corporation, the general manager of Baulkham Hills Shire Council (BHSC), the secretary of the Bushland Conservation Committee (BCC) (of BHSC) and the secretary of the Upper Parramatta River Catchment Trust (now the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority), or their delegates were also members of the Board. A representative of the Excelsior Park Bushland Society was later added to the Board Members. That structure still remains, excepting that the trustees now have been increased in number to 6. The first chair of the board was Graeme Postlethwaite, and the second, Carol Isaacs (also chair of the BCC). David Wilmshurst (also BCC member, and Ms Isaac's proxy) was elected the third chair, with Carol Isaacs as deputy chair on 3 April 2008. The second Trust Board met for the first time on 12 February 2010. At that meeting, David Wilmshurst was again elected chair, with Carol Isaacs as deputy. At the AGM on 9 February 2011, Steven Brett was elected the fourth chair, unopposed. Michael Cameron was elected deputy chair.
On 1 December 2007, BHSC resigned its membership of the Board, citing issues related to the funding of crown land.
Castle Hill is a Utopia Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located 34 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 9.5 kilometres north of Parramatta. It is within the Hills District region, split between the local government areas of The Hills Shire and Hornsby Shire.
The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of 5.1 metres (17 ft), the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Secondary tributaries include the smaller Lane Cove and Duck rivers.
Hornsby is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) north-west of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of Hornsby Shire.
North Rocks is a suburb straddling the Hills District and the North Shore of Parramatta within Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located 26 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district. Following the amalgamation of council areas in 2016, the majority of North Rocks falls into the council area of the City of Parramatta. Streets north of the M2 Hills Motorway are within The Hills Shire.
Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions within Sydney's metropolitan area and encompasses 11 local government areas: Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollondilly. It includes Western Sydney, which has a number of different definitions, although the one consistently used is the region composed of ten local government authorities, most of which are members of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC). The NSW Government's Office of Western Sydney calls the region "Greater Western Sydney".
The Hills Shire is a local government area in the Greater Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The area is north-west of the Sydney central business district, and encompasses 401 square kilometres (155 sq mi) stretching from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to Wisemans Ferry on the Hawkesbury River in the north. The Hills Shire had a population of 191,876 as of the 2021 census.
Hornsby Shire is a local government area situated on the Upper North Shore as well as parts of the Hills District, of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The shire stretches from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to the Hawkesbury River town of Wisemans Ferry, some 53 kilometres (33 mi) to the north, making it the largest local government council in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region by total area. As of the 2016 census the shire had an estimated population of 142,667.
North Epping is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 19 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby Shire. North Epping is in the Northern Sydney region, and is often referred to as part of the "North-West" or North Shore. Epping is a separate suburb to the south and under the Parramatta City Council, which shares the postcode of 2121.
The Hills District is a region of Sydney, within the northern part of the Greater Western Sydney region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Stretching from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to the Hawkesbury River in the north and Old Windsor Road in the west to Pennant Hills Road and Berowra Creek in the east. The region is often considered to be synonymous with the local government area of The Hills Shire, however in a more expansive sense colloquial definitions can also include surrounding areas such as the western portion of the Hornsby Shire, as well as also sometimes including northern parts of City of Parramatta and Blacktown City Council.
Baulkham Hills is a suburb in the Hills District of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located within 30 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district mostly within the local government area of The Hills Shire, of which Baulkham Hills was formerly the administrative seat and namesake of The Hills Shire. A small section of the suburb which is located south of the Hills Motorway-Windsor Road intersection is part of the City of Parramatta.
Lake Parramatta is a heritage-listed man-made reservoir and a recreational area located in North Parramatta, City of Parramatta, in the Western Sydney region of New South Wales, Australia. The masonry arch-walled dam across Hunts Creek was completed in 1856 to supply water for domestic purposes; and was operational until 1909. The dam has since been decommissioned and the lake and the surrounding nature reserve are a popular recreational area.
The City of Parramatta, also known as Parramatta Council, is a local government area located to the west and north-west of Sydney CBD in the Greater Western Sydney region. Parramatta Council is situated between the City of Ryde and Cumberland, where the Cumberland Plain meets the Hornsby Plateau, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in New South Wales, Australia. The city occupies an area of 84 square kilometres (32 sq mi) spanning across suburbs in Greater Western Sydney including the Hills District, and a small section of Northern Sydney to the far north east of its area. According to the 2016 census, City of Parramatta had an estimated population of 226,149. The city houses the Parramatta central business district which is one of the key suburban employment destinations for the region of Greater Western Sydney.
The Bidjigal people are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are modern-day western, north-western, south-eastern, and southern Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. The land includes the Bidjigal Reserve, Salt Pan Creek and the Georges River. They are part of the Dharug language group, and there is debate as to whether the clan is part of the Dharug or Eora people.
The Rogans Hill railway line was a short-lived railway line in the north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
The metropolis of Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, is informally subdivided into a number of geographic regions. The geographical definition of Greater Sydney spans across 33 local government areas and includes the Blue Mountains in the west, the Northern Beaches and the Hawkesbury in the north, the Royal National Park, the Wollondilly and Macarthur in the south, and Botany Bay in the east. These areas sometimes, but not always, roughly coincide with official boundaries of suburbs, local government authorities, or cadastral units, and some of the customary regions do not have well defined boundaries at all. Some commonly referred to regions overlap: for example, Canterbury-Bankstown is often referred to as a region, but it is also part of the South Western Sydney region. The regions themselves are not used as a formal jurisdiction, and generally do not have administrative or legislative bodies, although some regions are coterminous with a local government area, and in a number of regions that include multiple local government areas, Regional Organisations of Councils have been established that represent the councils in the region.
The Duck River is a perennial stream and southern tributary of the Parramatta River, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Darling Mills Creek, an urban watercourse that is part of the Parramatta River catchment, is located in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Norwest is a suburb of the Hills District within Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located 35 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district. The Norwest Business Park is located within Norwest and the adjacent suburb of Bella Vista and Baulkham Hills. The council chambers for The Hills Shire Council are also located within this suburb.
Prospect Nature Reserve is a nature reserve and recreational area that is situated in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which incorporates the Prospect Reservoir, and also features picnic spots, lookouts, walking tracks and BBQ areas within the Australian bush. It is located within the Blacktown City local government area, but is also close to the boundaries of Cumberland Council and the City of Fairfield.
The ecology of Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia, is diverse for its size, where it would mainly feature biomes such as grassy woodlands or savannas and some sclerophyll forests, with some pockets of mallee shrublands, riparian forests, heathlands, and wetlands, in addition to small temperate rainforest fragments.