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Remnant vegetation

Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (ESBS) is a heath/scrub community that occurs on patches of nutrient poor windblown dune sand along the Sydney coast.

The ESBS community is listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and Critically Endangered under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.

There are remnants of ESBS which occur within Centennial Park, Queens Park and York Road that are managed by the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust (CPMPT).

Some common plants found in this community can include:

  • Acacia longifolia (Sydney golden wattle)

  • Acacia suaveolens (Sweet scented wattle)

  • Banksia aemula (Wallum banksia)

  • Banksia serrata (Old man banksia)

  • Kunzea ambigua (Tick bush)

  • Leptospermum laevigatum (coastal tea-tree)

  • Monotoca elliptica (tree broom-heath).

Totalling approximately 3.33-hectares, the ESBS remnants in Centennial Parklands are isolated and fragmented, but at the same time represent an important component of this threatened ecological community.

A history of disturbance including suppression of natural fire regimes and the dominance of understorey weeds has resulted in low species diversity. There is evidence of natural regeneration at each of the remnants, yet this has resulted in only a relatively small diversity of ESBS species. A considerable amount of restoration activity has been occurring at the Bird Sanctuary and York Road remnants and this work has improved the quality of ESBS in these areas significantly.