A NSW waratah (Telopea Speciosissima) in the Muogamarra nature reserve, NSW, Australia Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The fully native nature reserve, encompassing 2,300 hectares on the edge of the Hawkesbury River, has been protected for almost a century and inhabited by traditional owners for at least 20,000 years.<\/p>\n
Its fragile ecosystem and Aboriginal cultural heritage cuts it off to public access for most of the year, providing a unique experience.<\/p>\n
The park was a prominent Aboriginal meeting place and is littered with shell middens and sacred sites, some of which remain inaccessible to the public. In the 1930s, the conservationist and engineer John Duncan Tipper took a lease of about 800 hectares of the land.<\/p>\n
Helen Logie, a volunteer tour guide, speaks to the group during a walk through the reserve. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The GuardianA beetle hides in a large wedge-pea (Gompholobium grandiflorum). Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Tipper was concerned about continuing damage to Sydney\u2019s national parks in what was a period of great species collapse in Australia. Koalas were being shot by the thousands, and great swathes of wildflowers were being cut down and sold in the city.<\/p>\n
We are heading out on two walks this morning, including Tipper Loop and a 2km trek to the western lookout. There are 900 plant species here, 14 mammals and more than 100 varieties of birds, but it\u2019s the wildflowers that are the drawcard.<\/p>\n
Logie points out a huge Gymea lily, which producers clusters of trumpet-shaped red flowers, and smoke bush, which has intricate white flowers that \u2013 viewed close up \u2013 look like lace.<\/p>\n
An intricate-looking smoke bush (Conospermum longifolium). Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The GuardianA Gymea lily (Doryanthes excelsa). Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
As we inspect a woody pear, the sound of a fan-tailed cuckoo rings out in the distance. The trees here are hundreds of years old, the perfect habitat for native avian life. Logie says sometimes they spot wedge-tailed eagles and lyrebirds. There are even rumours of koalas \u2013 though nobody sees one.<\/p>\n
The soil here is sandstone, common to the steep ridge tops of the Hawkesbury, and volcanic. In these harsh conditions, native species have managed to thrive \u2013 sometimes due to, not in spite of, the poor ground quality.<\/p>\n
We pass a purple sun orchid that has only recently come into bloom, and lobelia, which emerges only after fire. Back-burning has recently been completed in preparation for summer, and green shoots are already bursting on top of blackened gum.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Five Great Reads<\/p>\n Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n An eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis). Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789177936_559_500.jpg\")
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