Jerrabomberra Wetlands

Further information: Jerrabomberra Creek

Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Pelicans at Jerrabomberra Wetlands. Photo by Michael Machonachie
Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve
Coordinates	35°18′43.369″S 149°9′34.531″E
Gazetted	1990
Area	174 hectares
Managing authorities	Woodlands and Wetlands Trust, ACT Government
Website	Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve

Jerrabomberra Wetlands is one of 13 wetlands locations in the capital state of Australia and forms part of the Molonglo River floodplain. It was artificially formed by the filling of Lake Burley Griffin in 1964. ACT Parks and Conservation manage the wetlands as part of Canberra Nature Park alongside the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust.

Major water bodies include Shoveler Pool, Kelly’s Swamp, Molonglo Reach, Jerrabomberra Billabongs, Jerrabomberra Creek, Jerrabomberra Pool, and a silt trap. The Jerrabomberra Backwaters are made up of paleochannels showing where the past Molonglo River changed its course. The Fyshwick Sewage Treatment Ponds and Goldenholm Pond provide additional shelter and food for wildlife in the area.

Jerrabomberra Wetlands provides critical habitat for a broad range of land based and aquatic fauna. It is listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia as a wetlands of national importance both for its function as habitat for vulnerable species and as a shelter during adverse climatic conditions such as drought.

Recreational use includes nature walks, jogging, bird watching, cycling and fishing. Molonglo Reach and Jerrabomberra Reach are used for canoeing and kayaking with larger boats allowed via permit. The wetland’s management bodies facilitate events, education and community engagement activities throughout partnerships and co-funding. Nearby places of interest include the Kingston Foreshore, Royal Military College Duntroon, and Pialligo Estate.

History

Aboriginal Heritage

The floodplain on which Jerrabomberra Wetlands currently sits has been populated for at least 25,000 years. The area has cultural and historical significance as a meeting place between the Ngunnawal people, who are the traditional custodians of the Canberra region, and adjacent nations. These neighbours consist of the Ngarigo from the tablelands to the south, the Wolgalu from the high country to the south-west, the Wiradjuri from the inland north-west, the Gundungurra from the north, and the Yuin from the coast. Extensive stone assemblages found around the Pialligo area reflect the presence of a large lowland campsite.

The Molonglo River was a significant food source. During a high flow period in 1834, colonial naturalist John Lhotsky caught two cod in the river, each weighing approximately 6 kilograms. In low flow periods the river and ephemeral ponds supported smaller fish, turtles and yabbies. Other local species (prior to abrupt changes following European settlement and subsequent land clearing) included kangaroo, wombat, echidna, birds, fish, snakes and lizards.

Non-animal food, fibres and medicine were drawn from the area’s diverse forest, woodland, grassland and aquatic flora. Stone and other materials for tool and weapon making were used in trade.

Jerrabomberra Creek, also called Girimbombery or Giridombera, is recognised by the Ngunnawal people as a spiritual pathway which guided visitors from the south to the central corroboree grounds in the area which now lays partly underneath Lake Burley Griffin. The last recorded corroboree on the Molonglo River floodplain was in 1862.

Ongoing cultural practice at Jerrabomberra Wetlands includes education and land management practices, such as burn-offs conducted by the ACT government Indigenous ranger group: the Murrumbung Rangers.

European Settlers

The earliest written accounts by European settlers of the region appeared in 1820. The area became known as the Limestone Plains, after its stony outcrops. Written descriptions from the period describe the area as primarily grassland below woodland and forests on hills and ridges.

A 5000 acre block of land called Pialligo (later called Duntroon) over the region now covered by the wetlands bought by Robert Campbell, who occupied the area near the confluence of the Molonglo River and Jerrabomberra Creek with sheep. Willows, now considered a major pest plant, were first planted around the Molonglo River area around the mid-19^th century.

The river and Jerrabomberra Creek went through intervals of flooding and drought, with severe flooding making parts of the river impassable. Drought reduced both bodies of water to a chain of disconnected ponds. Landholders began ringbarking trees around 1880 in an effort to address drought severity.

Steady population growth supported the expansion of pastoral land use. Production was accelerated by advances in agricultural technology and steam-powered machinery, as well as the arrival of the railway to nearby Queanbeyan in 1887. Aside from farmland, the Duntroon estate also housed a mill which was abandoned and destroyed by weather in 1874.

In 1912 the area was acquired by the Commonwealth Government. This followed the assignation of Canberra as the Australian Capital Territory on January 1^st, 1911. During the design stages for the city, a suggestion was made for ‘ornamental waters’, to be created in part by dams. This ultimately led to the filling of Lake Burley Griffin decades later in 1964, and the subsequent permanent raising of the water table at Jerrabomberra Wetlands.

WW1

During the first world war, Mill Flat (part of the old Duntroon estate) was used by the Royal Military College for housing and training military personnel in the use of weapons, strategy, field engineering, and practicing manoeuvres.

Through trial excavations in 2015, a trench system was uncovered that was originally part of the Trench Warfare and Bombing School at Duntroon. Its training program incorporated the most recent developments in design and technology and in 1916 it was declared by the Govern General as “similar in every respect to those in Flanders’” and “the best system of trenches in Australia.” It was the last major trench system to be built in the country.

Part of field engineering training included the construction of suspension and pontoon bridges. These skills were put to local use in 1925 during a record flood, where access to South Canberra was restored when cadets built a pontoon bridge.

In 1920 the floodplain was divided into lucerne leases, intended to assist in the repatriation of WWI soldiers and boost local population and infrastructure. These were eventually replaced by commercial dairy leases following the floods of 1922 and 1925.

Nature Reserve

Starting from around the mid-1970s, environmental advocates called for the wetlands to become a nature reserve on the grounds of its diverse wildlife and potential for education, ecological research, and public engagement on conservation and the environment.

The Jerrabomberra Wetlands Advisory Group held their first meeting in September 1987 and a draft policy plan was produced by the National Capital Development Commission in 1988. Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve was officially gazetted in 1990 as part of the Nature Conservation Act 1980. By this time, some development for ecotourism had already taken place including the construction of bird hides, fencing, a bridge, a car park, and other alterations designed to facilitate visitation with minimal disruption to local wildlife.

On top of its foundational principles of education and research, the wetlands’ proximity to urban areas influenced management methodology. The possibility of an increase in the number of large spiraling birds, such as pelicans, spoonbills, herons and ibis, was first identified in 1974 as a risk to nearby Canberra Airport. To mitigate this, emphasis in planning and development was placed on maintaining and supporting biodiversity rather than population growth.

In 2011, the ACT government established the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust to guide conservation management of both Jerrabomberra Wetlands and Mulligans Flat. The Trust’s mission statement aims to support native ecology and facilitate environmental research. Standard volunteer activities include weeding, planting, water quality monitoring, waterbird monitoring, vegetation mapping and participation in specialist-led operations.

Jerrabomberra Wetlands was considered for protection under the Heritage Act 2004 in 2018 as part of the Canberra Nature Park. Registration was rejected on the grounds that natural heritage protection was already afforded under the Nature Conservation Act 2014.

Flora and Fauna

Australia is a signatory to several bilateral agreements with Japan, China and Korea for the protection of migratory birds, eight of which use Jerrabomberra Wetlands on a seasonal basis.

77 species of waterbird visit or live in the wetlands, with 16 species using it as a breeding location. Over 170 bird species in total have been recorded at Jerrabomberra Wetlands. The protected Latham’s Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) and other migratory waders from America, New Zealand and parts of Asia use the wetlands as a stopover point. The Latham’s Snipe is the focus of an international project led by Dr Birgita Hansen to understand the ecology of the species and their critical habitats.

Other endangered bird species that use the wetlands include the Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) and the Painted Snipe (Rostratula australis). Endangered fish species Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica) and Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) have been recorded in the Molonglo River. Some other notable species are the platypus (Ornithorhyncus anatinus), the eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicolis), and rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster).

Jerrabomberra Wetlands hosts several identified pest species. Two pest fish species are the Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Eastern Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), also called ‘mosquitofish’. The majority of plants growing at the Jerrabomberra Creek shoreline are declared pest plant species in the ACT. Key pest plants in the wetlands are willow and wild blackberry, both weeds of national significance. Other pest plants growing at the wetlands include black alder, robinia, and African boxthorn. The revegetation program led by the local management authority aims to remove these weeds and replace them with riparian plants and native tree species (e.g casuarinas) in order to improve habitat and water quality.

Bog bulrush (schoenoplectus mucronatus), also known as ‘rough seed bulrush’ and ‘rice field bulrush’ grows at the wetlands and is considered a locally rare plant.

See also

• Canberra Nature Park
• Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary
• Jerrabomberra Creek
• List of Australian Capital Territory protected areas