Kev Hooper Park bridge corner

2009 June 13th

2010 May 8th

 Recently we posted details of some of our work with Kev Hooper Park Bushcare Group. The core group is very small but many others have helped over time and their efforts have been well rewarded with tremendous results.  Every volunteer cannot always turn up for every working bee, life often gets in the way no matter how keen we are to help. So it is always exciting to have some new helper come along to our events held every month on the second Saturday, normally around 8.30am but earlier in the summer.

2012 June 24t

2010 December 11th

Today's photo's are closer shots of the place we first started our bushcare work at Kev Hooper Park.  These before and after shots spanning just 3 years show the difference a few dedicated people can make working just a few hours each month on the second Saturday of the month.  The group also enjoys chatting while at work and a relaxing morning tea where often we are lucky enough to have a group member bring some special dish to share. 

Kev Hooper Park first area planted

2009 May 9th-Beginnings-clearing weeds

Our most exciting work increasing habitat in the Inala area is our efforts with Kev Hooper Park Bushcare Group.  We started at the first bridge crossing the creek from Rosemary Street end.  There were a couple of wattle trees but otherwise mostly tall weedy grass all the way from the mown grass to the waterline.  The first task was to clear some of the grass and plant our first trees, mostly varieties of eucalyptus that would provide good shade and habitat when grown.  The picture taken on May 9th 2009 shows the vehicle parked near the bridge, note the path on mid right of the photo.

2010 Jan 9th-First planting

By January 2010 the first mass planting was growing well and we are really seeing the difference our work has made.  Instead of lawn and tall weedy grasses there is now a reasonable width of native plants along the top of the creek bank.  Also working down the bank towards the water most of the grass is gone now and natives planted instead.  The first trees are still there but not growing as quickly as we would like.  Also lots of native grasses and Dianella.

2010 March 13th-2nd Planting 

By March 2010 the first planting in this areas was doing really well so we extended the planted zone by putting in another mass planting.  Picture March 13th shows the plants just in the ground and mulch just around each one.  The later Photo of May 8th shows the area fully mulched and again the new plants seem to be doing well.

2010 May 8th-2nd Planting-mulched

2011 Jan 22nd-2nd Planting-growing

By January 22nd 2011 the 2nd planting is growing well.  Note again the path on mid right which shows the same area as that of the original photo in 2009. The most recent photo on June 24th 2012 shows this same area now.  From just a couple of wattle trees and weeds we now have some native bush habitat enjoyed by lots of native fauna. 

2012 June 24th-real habitat now

Coca Cola staff event at Kev Hooper Park Inala

Coca Cola staff get direction from group leader Craig Toms

Teamwork in action, mass planting

The Kev Hooper Park Bushcare Group, in conjunction with Habitat Brisbane, very much appreciate the contribution of staff from Coca Cola when they participated in planting and cleanup of Boss Creek near Rosemary Street Inala in October 2011. The group brought fantastic enthusiasm and energy and worked together as a team to quickly plant an incredible total of around 1200 native plants! An immense area of creek bank was heavily planted and then watered in with minimal direction from our busy team members Craig Toms and John Maelich.

Craig brought 800 plants to the event but it soon became apparent the Coca Cola team would have them all in the ground and be looking for more, so another 400 were quickly brought to site. These were then planted and all watered in.  Even then the team were not satisfied and set to work cleaning up all the rubbish including removing a shopping trolley from the creek itself.  

Another team activity removing a shopping trolley from the creek

It has been difficult for the small bushcare group to keep up with the weed control in this area but it is hoped that the natives will continue to grow, all be it in competition with weedy grass species.  The true value of this work will become apparent over time.  Already since the Bushcare group started at this site in 2009 we have seen the return of native species of plants and animals including bandicoots and butterfly species

Huge pile of removed rubbish on completion of work

Qld Glider Network event

Camera in place, checking pictures.

Recently we joined a Qld Glider Network activity in some bushland near Inala to find and check nest boxes for gliders.  We were fortunate to find two families of gliders, probably Squirrel Gliders, and also a couple of brushtail possums.  Many of the empty boxes showed that they were used from time to time and we had at least one unexpected nest box resident, a Lace Monitor (Varanus varanus), hopefully you can see it's leg and tail sticking out the bottom of the box  in the picture.

Lace Monitor

Measuring the height of the box

Qld Glider Network has  developed a specialised rig for seeing inside a nest box with minimal disturbance to any residents.  This allows an electronic view of what is inside without having to climb up and open the box itself.  The rig can also be used to measure the distance from ground to the box.  Other records are also taken, location, tree species and what side of the tree the box is on.  Over time it is hoped to have a better understanding of gliders preferences so that future boxes will more closely suit their needs. Nest boxes are also used by many of our bird species, bees and even ants can colonise a box.  There has been much destruction of Glider habitat and in particular the large old "dead" trees with many hollows which used to be used by so many of our native creatures.  We are lucky to retain a small population of Gliders and we must protect what is left of their habitat to keep even this small remnant of the glider population in our area. 

Almost too high for the rig!

Sunlight hazard

 A number of gliders in this box

Win with parking

Truck parked over the entry to bikeway

We have recently had a big win with a local parking issue. We reported that trucks were regularly parking over the entrance to the bikeway on Boundary road and provided photographic evidence to Sandy at our local council office.  Almost immediately a plan was put in place to mark the area with no standing signs which now have been put in place, thanks to local member Milton Dick and his team.

Trailer parked over entry to bikewa

The trucks were blocking the entry to the bikeway meaning they were directly in the path of pedestrian and bicycle traffic between the railway station at Darra and Inala.  Hopefully now that the signage is in place trucks will not park over the entry even though there still remains I big problem with trucks parking on Boundary road.

In the News

Groundsel Bush (Baccharis halimifolia)

Quest Newspapers South-West News / Springfield News Wednesday April 4th 2012 reports on results from their Quest Council survey.  I participated in the Survey and journalist Alana Scott phoned  me for further information which was included in the published report.  We are most interested in Bushcare and Habitat protection in the Inala area and the 3 mentioned issues included in the newspaper article were preservation of native habitat; illegal dumping and failure to control Groundsel bush on council property which is a  class 2 declared weed in Queensland.  We have reported Groundsel infestations in local parklands on a number of occasions and have been dissappointed at the failure to eradicate this weed from our local parks.  Of all the plants reported only a single one, in a highly visible public area has been killed, all others remain healthy and will continue to spread through the area even though by law a class 2 weed must be controlled by the landholder.  We have seen a couple of bushes spread now into private property as well.

These were tall straight native trees

There is a lot of dumping of all sorts of household waste but in particular garden waste in the local area.  We have reported many instances to our local member and in every case the rubbish has been fairly promptly removed.  It is a shame that more cannot be done to control this dumping at the source but it is not council practice to do letter drops warning of fines associated with illegal dumping in areas with high dumping rates.

Another tall straight native gone

Discarded branches left behind

The most upsetting recent issue has been habitat 
destruction in a small area of remnant native bushland.  We have worked diligently in this remnant to reduce the weed load and encourage native habitat growth and we have been rewarding by noting many native bird species using this small patch.  However recently many natives trees have been cut off at ground level with branches hacked off others thus severely reducing the native canopy. 


Whatever organisation is responsible for this destruction has also just left all the removed material dumped thus reducing any chance of us continuing to control the weed growth in this area. There are power lines nearby and we suspect an over zealous contractor has cleared these trees which were tall and straight and not impacting on the power lines. We are certain that these trees were not a threat to these power lines and simply removing a few branches would have given sufficient clear space.  Instead many native trees have been totally destroyed leaving the weed species in tact to fill the space.  The lantana, broad leaf pepper, chinese elm and easter casia have been left untouched. 

Freya's Gum Nuts

First some for Jessica

Then some for Joan

Sometimes, while doing bushcare work in Inala a story unfolds.  On this day the Inala Kev Hooper Park bushcare group had already completed much of the days work and were having a well earned break.  Young Freya Schmidt had found some gumnuts on the ground from the adult trees nearby.  She was determined to make a gift of a quantity of these to everyone.  The story starts with a gift for Jessica and then one for Joan. It may seem that the females were singled out but this is not the case, the boys all got their gift as well.  Finally there was only Helene and she was missing, not to worry, found her way down the other end. "I'll just pop down there and give her these gumnuts".  So here she comes and afterwards there she goes, task completed. 

Here she comes to me, a long way away.

Job well done, back to the group

These photo's were a over a year since the group started work at Kev Hooper Park and a huge amount of clearing, planting and mulching had already taken place.  Today the same place looks very different thanks to the work of group members and even more work done every day by the natural environment.

Our Brushtail Possum

Our Possum

In addition to our bushcare work in the Inala area we also encourage native wildlife in our own garden.  We installed a nest box in our backyard tree many years ago and have had a resident Brushtail Possum for around 15 years now.  Many young have been raised over the years.  We do provide food sometimes as there is limited habitat within safe distance (roads) but our garden also provides many suitable native food plants.  We don't see the possum very often, especially when it is light enough to take photo's and we have no idea if it is the original possum or if one of her many children are in residence.  There are other possums in the area that visit from time to time, notably I suppose a male must be around somewhere.  We are currently looking for a replacement box as the original is falling apart now.  It is our plan to put up more than one this time and see what happens.

Rare Native Plant found in our local parks!

Australian Bindweed

Convolvulus Erubescens

The current profile picture is an exciting find in our local park.  It is an Australian native plant that is endemic to our area and yet not often seen.  It's common name is Australian Bindweed and it's scientific name is Convolvulus Erubescens.  There is a good sized patch in Kev Hooper Park which is an Inala Bushcare site and also some smaller patches in CJ Greenfield Park which is another local park, so far without an Inala Bushcare group looking after it. This plant is described in Mangroves to Mountains Volume 2 as "Prostrate, trailing plant, sometimes climbing, widespread in western areas.  Leaves alternate, variable, to 6 cm.  20 mm pink or white axillary flowers most of the year".  Our first impression was amazement at the different shapes of the leaves.  The juvenile leaves are almost straight with just a small division on the end.  Yet as the leaf grows its shape changes totally to the adult form of a heart shaped leaf.  We have been interested in native plants for many years and have observed native plants in many environments, but we hadn't seen this one until the local find, so it was an exceptional discovery. Later we found another few patches in CJ Greenfield Park as well, so it seems apparent that it is endemic to our area which is an incredibly exciting find.