Arnwood Place

Arnwood Place is a natural channel design project which extends beyond the confluence of Sandy Creek with Norman Creek to Barr Street Park. this is a Habitat Brisbane site, supported by Brisbane City Council.

Working Bees

Arnwood place Working bees are the third Saturday of the month, from 2.00 pm (3pm in warmer weather). Training provided. Wear sensible clothes, strong shoes and a hat; bring a water bottle. Email enquiries to Stephanie and check our Facebook page for precise locations.

People come to Arnwood Place for all sorts of reasons: to take the dog for a walk, to spot turtles from the bridge, to enjoy the sounds of different bird calls or to look for little fish in the creek. Other people spend time at the playground in Jessica Andrews Place, drop kids off at child care, or play football in Ekibin Park South. To N4C, Arnwood Place is where Sandy Creek joins the main channel of Norman Creek, and where a massive rehabilitation project was started in 2001. You can be part of it!

Site Strategy

Our priorities are control of weedy vines, and gradual increase in native trees, shrubs and ground covers. We retain some weedy areas to provide cover for birds and small animals, and we try to avoid excess disturbance to creek banks in flood season. BCC's Habitat Brisbane guides our work. New volunteers are welcome - see below for contact details.

Background of the project

In the 1990s, there were very few trees on the site, but there was a large growth of weeds in and around the creek. In 2001 and 2003 N4C, Council and the local community undertook a very large rehabilitation project, putting pools and rockbars in Sandy Creek and planting thousands of plants. Key goals were improving habitat, controlling erosion and involving the local community. Minimising flood risk was another key consideration.

A bushcare group maintained the area for some years, but subsequently, weedy vines climbed into the canopy in some areas and a number of trees died. In 2012 a new group was formed.

Future of the project

We hope that any empty or weedy areas will again be filled with native riparian vegetation, providing habitat for native animals and a more beautiful environment for local residents and visitors.

Where is Arnwood Place?

Arnwood Place is a site in Annerley near the street of the same name, which comes off Ekibin road near Lewisham Street. Norman Creek flows from Greenslopes under the freeway, and is then joined by Sandy Creek, which comes from Tarragindi through Barr Street Park. The creek passes under Arnwood Place bridge and behind Jessica Andrews Place, then past Ekibin South football field. At the northern end of the site, the creek flows into a concreted channel towards Stones Corner.

Birds and Animals at Arnwood Place

Click here to see a list of animals seen at our site. The Baseline Ecological Monitoring work includes data from Arnwood place.

Resources

Doing bushcare and can't remember where that zone is? Here's a map.
What species are we planting? Usually these ones.

Before and After Image Sliders

Slide the central handle to see the before and after images.

The current bushcare group (or ecological monitoring) has observed the following species at the site at least once. If you have seen other animals, please let us know. Likewise if you think we have a wrong ID.

*An asterisk indicates an introduced species

Birds

Thanks to Ken Gemell for recording most of these.

Australian Brush Turkey
Australian Wood Duck
Domestic Duck*
Pacific Black Duck
Hardhead Duck
Rock Dove AKA Feral Pigeon*
Spotted Dove*
Brown Cuckoo-dove
Crested Pigeon
Australasian Darter
Little Pied Cormorant
Little Black Cormorant
Eastern Great Egret
White-faced Heron
Little Egret
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Brown Goshawk
Buff-banded Rail
Dusky Moorhen
Bush Stone-curlew
Masked Lapwing
Galah
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Pale-headed Rosella
Pheasant Coucal
Eastern Koel
Channel-billed Cuckoo
White-throated Needletail
Laughing Kookaburra
Sacred Kingfisher
Superb Fairy-wren
Red-backed Fairy-wren
Noisy Miner
Eastern Spinebill
Scarlet Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Striated Pardalote
White-browed Scrubwren
Eastern Whipbird
Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Rufous Whistler
Australasian Figbird
Olive backed Oriole
Australian Magpie
Grey Butcherbird
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Spangled Drongo
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Torresian Crow
Magpie Lark
Welcome Swallow
Fairy Martin
Tawny Grassbird
Silvereye
Common Myna*

Mammals

Common Brushtail Possum
Common Ringtail Possum
Grey-headed Flying-fox
Black Flying-fox
Eastern Bentwing Bat
Water Rat

Reptiles

Macquarie Turtle (also called Short-necked Turtle)
Garden Skink
Eastern Water Skink
Eastern Striped Skink
Water Dragon
Carpet Python
Green Tree Snake
Keelback

Amphibians

Cane Toad*
Asian House Gecko

Fish

Longfin Eel
Freshwater Mullet
Firetail Gudgeon
Gambusia*
Tilapia*

Insect life

This section still in development

Four-horned Gumtree Gall

Just downstream from the Arnwood Place bridge, one of the creek banks had a makeover in 2018, thanks to a BCC Environment Grant.

The "Arnwood Place Riparian Restoration" involved the treatment of Singapore daisy and other weeds, and a special planting technique. Long tubes of sack-like material were filled with potting soil and pinned to the creek bank. They were then planted with a variety of riparian species (Lomandras, sedges, Crinum lillies, Melaleuca and a few Ficus), whose roots will grow through the bag and eventually stablilise the bank. The tubes are known as "Habitat Sausages" because of their shape and the habitat value of the plants in them.

We also planted some additional Lomandras and sedges in the soil itself around the "Sausages" and hope that all the plants will have good root growth before the floods come! We have had enough of that huge patch of Singapore Daisy and will be removing any regrowth that we see. Although some of the Crinum lillies seem to have disappeared, we can't wait for the natives we've put in to mature - hope all who visit Arnwood Place will enjoy the upgrade to this highly visible bank.

This project is proudly supported by Brisbane City Council. Our bushcare group is very appreciative of this funding, under the Lord Mayor's Community Sustainability and Environmental Grants Program. It enabled us to employ contractors from OCCA Biodiversity Services for the work, which was more technical than our normal bushcare activities. Now it is up to us to keep the site looking good!