The Fort Bushland Reserve is located in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, within the area bounded by Fort Road, Cliveden Avenue, Blackheath Road, and the Brisbane River. The Reserve is adjacent to a small picnic ground, and locals and day-trippers are welcome to visit. It abuts the Rocks Riverside Park at Seventeen Mile Rocks. The natural vegetation of the reserve is mainly dry rainforest.
The land was purchased by the Brisbane City Council in 2005. At the time of the purchase by the Council, the forest was in a severely degraded condition, with the rampant growth of invasive weed species, mainly Ochna serrulata, Lantana camara, and Cat’s Claw Creeper (Dolichandra unguis-cati). It is being restored by the Fort Bushland Reserve Bushcare Group.
Restoration work has mainly involved removal of weeds with very limited planting. This strategy has proved to serve the requirements of the particular set of circumstances applying at the site. To date about 60% of the site has had at least an initial treatment for weeds, and around 25% is almost back to its natural state, requiring only a little occasional weeding until the weed tuber and seed banks are completely depleted.
Founding member of the Fort Bushland Reserve Bushcare Group, Mr John Lahey, has produced a monthly newletter about the reserve since November 2006, describing many of the plant and animal species found in the reserve, as well as documenting the efforts of the volunteers who have turned up each month. It is these descriptions that form most of the content of this website. We hope you will be inspired by the photographs reproduced here to visit the reserve in person.
Fort Bushland Reserve 