Simon will describe how the soil and vegetation associations were developed matching soil type and landscape position to vegetation type resulting in the highly successful naturalistic landscape you now see at Barangaroo.

For this project, commonly available recycled inorganic resources (crushed sandstone and recycled sand from building excavation) were combined with composted wood mulch screened from green garden waste collections and used to recreate a three-tiered replacement soil landscape for Barangaroo. The mulch layer or “O” (for organic) horizon would be analogous to the forest litter layer; the topsoil or A horizon, a well-drained sandy soil containing nutrients, organic matter and biological life and the Subsoil or B horizon, a well-drained water holding layer for root anchorage and moisture reserve. https://sesl.com.au/projects/barangaroo-headland-park/

Soil fertility levels were established using the "ash bed" principle where the initial soil fertility was established based on what the soil nutrient levels would be after a fire occurs to result in a soil fertility level that allows the vegetation to develop properly.

Simon is a soil scientist extraordinaire who leads a team with extensive achievements in rehabilitation, reconstruction and renewal of diverse urban projects and mine sites.

I’m not a biologist and I flunked Latin at the end of 1963. But I took a phone call in September 2005 from a well know Sydney graphic designer (Ross Renwick the founder of the Billy blue group). It went something like this.

"Busher.” One of my nicknames.

“Do you want to do a book with me?”

Curious, I replied. ‘I’d love to Ross, what’s the subject?’

Renwick laconically replied, “The Angophora tree.” Paused momentarily and added.

“You will have 200 hours of photography and I will have 20 hours of writing.”

It’s 2020 and Ross passed away in late 2012 but I have a very interesting body of work on the Angophora costata (and its friends).

Distribution maps of the rather elusive Glossy Black-cockatoo overlap with much of the east coast forests that have been devastated by wildfire this spring and summer. Our guest speaker will discuss the current concern felt by the birding and conservation communities about the plight of Glossy Black-cockatoos in the aftermath of widespread fires and in particular, the loss of Allocasuarina (She-oak) stands that support breeding families of Glossy blacks.

Judy Harrington is the president of Birdlife Southern NSW and has an extensive history of public education and participation in wildlife monitoring in her previous roles at SOPA, in her involvement with the highly-popular Sea-EagleCAM and the Birdlife Discovery Centre at Sydney Olympic Park and with the Frog & Tadpole Study Group. 

Dan will talk about 4 years of population assessment and monitoring of the threatened flora species Prostanthera densa (Villous Mint Bush). Assessment and monitoring has taken place at its five known sites, on the NSW Coast, as part of the NSW Saving our Species program. This work has involved crucial help and support from APS Sutherland members. Dan will canvass the SOS Program, and will outline recent changes to NSW Biodiversity legislation. Dan will also briefly cover other species and ecological communities that he has worked on for the Saving our Species Program and showcase other projects that other APS groups are involved in. Dan’s image is of APS Sutherland Member John Arney, measuring and tagging a plant of Prostanthera densa (Marley, Royal NP, 2016).

Dan is currently a botanical consultant undertaking vegetation surveys, threatened plant assessments and botanical advice in many parts of NSW. Dan also works weekly for TAFE NSW as a Conservation and Land Management teacher, teaching plant identification and bushland regeneration.

While looking for native bees over the last twenty years, Michael has seen many lovely species in lots of interesting places. Although bees are formally identified using shape and colour, often with the aid of a microscope, he has come to realise that, in the field, behaviour frequently provides useful additional clues.

There have been 250 species collected from within 40 km of Hornsby and it is estimated that there may be 50 additional species in the area, so there is a lot to look out for on a walk through local bushland. The talk will include suggestions about where to look for bees, when to look and what to look for.

Photo: A tree stump containing nests of Lasioglossum peraustrale in a small park in North Ryde 

Kathy Potter from the Frog and Tadpole Society (FATS) will share her extensive knowledge of frogs, tadpoles and frog ponds. Kathy will be bringing live frogs for you to see.