Guests are welcome at our activities.

Meetings

We hold evening meetings on the 2nd Friday of each month February to November. Meetings will be face-to-face or by Zoom, depending on the current conditions and the location of our speaker.

Next meeting: at Beatrice Taylor Hall 12th July 2024 7.30pm for 8:00pm.

Tania Lamble and Bruce Usher 'Tarcutta Hills Bush Heritage property'

See below for full details.

Group Outings and Activities

Usually held at a weekend, these outings visit  local gardens, reserves or other places of interest.

Group Walk for August- The Bobbin Head Track Sunday 11th

August’s walk will be the Bobbin Head Track which starts at the North Turramurra Kuring-gai National Parks gate and follows an old unsealed road for 5 kilometres downhill to finish at Bobbin Head. We enjoyed this walk in July in 2020 and again in July 2023 and it has become a bit of a favourite.

For the first half, the track is fairly level and passes through interesting open, low forest and includes some Aboriginal rock engravings. It then starts to descend, not too steeply, via some switchbacks and passes through taller different attractive forest. Views of the river are obtained just before the last couple of hundred metres which are a steeper rocky bush track that finishes at water level near the Empire Marina where refreshments can be purchased if desired or at the Bobbin Inn. We will have left a car or two at Bobbin Head before the walk so that walkers can get a lift back up to the starting point. The time taken for the walk will be 2-3 hours, allowing time for plant ID and photography. As usual, the pace will not be fast.

In August, the Boronias (B. ledifolia and B. pinnata) should be putting on a good show and we can also expect to see other species flowering at this prime time. We will encounter the rare plant Darwinia biflora and maybe Haloragodendron lucasii, if you are up to a short bush bash!

Meeting place: Near the entry to Kuring-gai NP at North Turramurra. Park outside if you do not have a National Parks Pass or just inside if you do. NB we don’t take the Sphinx Track.

Date and time: Sunday 11th August at 10am

What to bring: Good walking shoes, hat, sunscreen, plant ID book? Water, snacks, lunch if you prefer to BYO, money for coffee if desired, wet weather gear if needed, walking pole(s) if needed for the rubbly parts of the track.

Contact person: Sue Fredrickson phone 0401362921, email paulandsuefreddo@bigpond.com

NB Please either phone or email before Saturday 10th  to book in. Please provide your name, phone number, emergency contact phone number and car rego.

Walks & Talks

Walks and Talks are open to the public. See their own page, here.

Bushcare, Propagation and the Knoll Garden

Bushcare and Propagation groups meet on alternate Wednesdays. Volunteers also meet regularly to maintain the Knoll Garden. These activties are all at the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, St Ives. See the  NSG entries on the calendar on the APS NSW Activities page for propagation and bushcare entries.

Next Evening Meeting

Next meeting Friday 12th July 7.30pm for 8.00pm at Beatrice Taylor Hall, Hornsby.

Tania Lamble and Bruce Usher: 'Tarcutta Hills Bush Heritage property'

Supporting Bush Heritage Australia has its perks and one of them is an invitation to visit their properties on open days. Such was Bruce and Tania's luck in early May, when Tarcutta Hills Reserve was open for visitors for the first time in ten years.

This 710 hectare property near Wagga provides a sanctuary for a critically endangered ecological community called 'White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodlands and Grasslands'. 

It lies at the intersection of a number of Indigenous lands and there were plenty of signs of past occupation by Wiradjuri people and others.

At the upcoming meeting in July, Tania Lamble will talk about the day spent wandering the hills of the reserve with the property manager and the ecologist. There will be a visual feast of photos thanks to Bruce Usher who has a wonderful eye for the beauty of the bush.

Join us for a virtual trip back to nature on Friday, 12 July 2024 at Willow Park Hall.

Plants for sale, library & supper.

ALL Welcome

The Beatrice Taylor Hall is behind Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre at 25 Edgeworth David Avenue, Hornsby. There will be plant sales after the meeting (cash only, please bring change) and refreshments. The NSG Botanical library is also available for members to browse and borrow items.

Zoom meetings can be attended by non-members by contacting Sue Fredrickson to request the Zoom link. Sue can be contacted on paulandsuefreddo@bigpond.com or 0401 362 921.