Rome St Indigenous Revegetation Pilot

The Rome St project is located on a 2000 sq metre site beside Norman Creek in Coorparoo. The site is beside the mangroves, but over the years the land was filled. In 2020, due to a wonderful community effort, the mown grass was replaced with a great diversity of local native plants.

The project enabled members of the local indigenous community to get involved in land management and sharing knowledge of the plants, some of which are sources of bush tucker.

Project Details

Biological diversity has greatly increased due to the 3800 native plants that were put in. Local native plants support the local bird, animal and insect species that are adapted to eat them. For example the Large Grass Yellow butterfly may lay its eggs on 8 different species of plant; two of those are now planted at Rome St as part of this project: Indigofera australis (Native indigo) and False Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia). The shrubs we have planted will also provide cover for small birds, which are in decline in our suburbs.

Where: Rome St Park, Coorparoo (28-51 Rome St)
When: Monthly working bees on Saturday mornings

Current work involves caring for the young plants and removing weeds. Visiting the park provides a great chance to observe local wildlife and learn more about local plant species.

In Summer 20-21, Brisbane’s Big Butterfly Count came to Rome St. Three butterfly surveys were done at Rome St and compared with Arnwood Place in Annerley. The results are in this spreadsheet, and show quite a diversity of species, many of which were observed using the plants we have put in.

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government’s Communities Environment Program.

In collaboration with: