WCA Woodlands Group
Supporting the preservation of the Yellow Box woodland in Justice Robert Hope Park
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Co-ordinate with the ranger to help maintain Justice Robert Hope Park.
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Advocate for remaining box gum grassy woodlands, including the horse paddock on the Mount Majura side of Antill St.
Justice Robert Hope Park -
A Rare Patch
Justice Robert Hope Park (JRHP) is an 18 hectare remnant of Yellow Box/Red Gum Grassy Woodland, a nationally
Endangered Ecological Community (EEC). The woodland has a grassy ground layer and only a sparse distribution of shrubs. Yellow Box is the dominant tree species, but scattered trees of Blakelys Red Gum and Apple Box are also present. While the
ground cover is predominantly native Spear Grass, many of the original wildflower species have been eliminated or greatly reduced in abundance due to decades of domestic stock grazing on the site since European settlement.
Yellow Box/Red Gum Grassy Woodland is the main habitat for many birds and animals, including the nationally endangered Regent Honeyeater which has been known to nest nearby.
Threatened bird species known to use the woodland in JRHP include the Swift Parrot and Gang Gang Cockatoo.
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Why is it special?
When Captain Cook landed in Australia in 1770 there was an estimated area of over 1 million hectares of Yellow Box/Red Gum Grassy Woodland in South East Australia. You could walk from Melbourne to the Darling Downs in Queensland mostly in Yellow Box/Red Gum Grassy Woodland. Now, of the small amount remaining, only about 0.33% is in reserves. The ACT has done better than the surrounding region with 12.5% of this Grassy Woodland EEC reserved.
In a recent scientific review of vegetation communities in the ACT and adjoining areas of NSW the Vegetation Type represented in JRHP has been recognised as a distinct Vegetation Type known as “Yellow Box ± Apple Box tall grassy woodland of the South Eastern Highlands”. This is one of the most extensively cleared components of the Yellow Box/Red Gum Grassy Woodland EEC and almost none of this Vegetation Type is reserved in the ACT or in NSW. Typically this component of the EEC occurs on alluvial flats which have been favoured for agriculture, grazing and more recently for urban expansion.​​
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History and Management
In 1992 Watson residents became aware that residential development was proposed for the area. Ten years later, after much lobbying and persistent effort on the part of Watson Community Association (WCA), the rarity of this woodland was recognised. In 2001 two portions of land comprising five hectares were approved as Urban Open Space and named Justice Robert Hope Park.
In 2002, the entire section comprising 18 hectares was declared Urban Open Space by the ACT Government, thus preserving it from development. Robert Marsden Hope AC, CMG, QC (1919-1999), after whom the park is named, was the first Chairman of the Heritage Council of NSW serving from 1978 until 1993, and head of the Committee of Inquiry into the National Estate.
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The Watson Community Association has put in place a program of rehabilitation which aims to restore the grassy groundlayer to a more original condition. Since 2002, seeds of trees, grasses and wildflowers have been collected from on-site and nearby, raised by volunteers, and planted to enhance the conservation values of the woodland. Trial plots are used to monitor the success of attempts to re-establish wildflowers. An old farm dam has been repaired to provide a source of water for our plantings. Paterson’s Curse, Scotch Thistles, St John’s Wort, Chilean Needle Grass, African Lovegrass, Phalaris and Rye Grass are being controlled by spraying and hand weeding.
The Woodland is managed to Canberra Nature Park standards. A comprehensive Site Assessment and Agreed Works Plan for the park was approved in November 2006. WCA’s Woodlands Working Group (WWG) continues to work on the rehabilitation of Justice Robert Hope Park (JRHP) in close collaboration with the ACT Parks and Conservation Service, guided by the Agreed Works Plan. In addition, WWG is advocating for a reserved wildlife corridor linking JRHP to the Mount Majura Nature Reserve. WWG organises working bees from time to time to cull weeds and plant native species of wildflowers, grasses, shrubs and trees.
Get Involved
Some of the largest mature Yellow Box trees which are scattered throughout JRHP are estimated to be as old as 400 years – old trees when Captain Cook landed. There are extensive patches of natural tree regrowth that are now 20 – 30 years old. Supplementary tree plantings by the WWG that are now up to twenty years old now fill in most of the areas that were previously cleared. Native dominated grass cover has been retained over much of the reserve. Although the groundcover lost most of its native wildflowers after decades of grazing, some of these are starting to return after cattle grazing ceased in 2002/3. Introduced European pasture grasses and broadleaf weeds are also evident but are declining as a result of our restoration programs.
Working bees are a valuable way of helping. Weed and planting are carried out at suitable times of the year. The WATZON, our local WCA quarterly newsletter, features regular articles on the woodlands and advertises working bees.
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This is a valuable piece of native woodland so please respect that some activities are not appropriate. These include bike riding, horse riding, dogs running off leash, rubbish dumping and firewood gathering. Rather, the area is for observing and enjoying the wildlife, wildflowers and other plants and trees that form part of this highly threatened
plant community, and for appreciating the value and rarity of this wonderful piece of grassy woodland heritage.