Brickwood Bushland
Brickwood Bushland is home to the largest remaining area of the critically endangered open marri and kingia woodland and is protected under both state and federal law.
Help us protect this ancient ecosystem: Keep your dogs on leash and pick up after them. Keep to the tracks, avoid trampling vegetation, and don’t pick any flowers.
Rare survivor of colonisation
At almost 50 hectares, the Brickland Bushland is one of the largest surviving areas of untouched native bushland in the Shire. It is home to no less than three state and federally recognised threatened ecological communities – the marri and kingia woodlands, seasonal claypan wetlands, and the banksia and jarrah woodlands on the sandy rise. These vegetation types were once relatively common on the Swan Coastal Plain, but European settlers cleared most of the more fertile land for farming and forestry over the 19th and 20th centuries. Very little of these ancient, complex ecosystems remain.
An ancient ecosystem
The reserve has exceptionally high biodiversity. More than 300 native plant species have been recorded in the reserve, including several threatened and priority flora species and important habitat for native wildlife like kangaroos, quendas, painted buttonquails, and endangered black cockatoos. The range of plants co-existing together in Brickwood is testament to its sheer age, having evolved over millions of years on one of the world’s oldest and in places, most nutrient-depleted, landscapes.
Protected by law
In recognition of the reserve’s environmental significance, the bushland was classified by the National Trust of Australia (WA) in 1994, entered in the Register of the National Estate 1999, and was incorporated into the State Government’s Bush Forever conservation program in 2000.
What you’ll see
Brickwood Reserve covers almost 50 ha of land south of Mead Street, bounded by Soldiers and Turner Roads. Plants of note include jarrah, marri, banksia, woody pear and kingia – what grows where largely depends on the type of soil in the area. Larger trees, like marri, grow in low-lying clay-based soils, while the sandy soils on the rise are host to more banksias.
What’s in a name?
The reserve was named after Geoffrey Charlton Brickwood (1919 – 1989), in recognition of his service as a Councillor for the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale from 1967 – 1977. He was married to Joan (1920 – 2017) with whom he had four sons and a daughter.
Further reading and references