Bidjigal Reserve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bidjigal Reserve is a Reserve in the shire of Baulkham Hills, to the North-West of Sydney, at latitude 33.758 S, longitude 151.011 E. It previously consisted of the Excelsior Resreve and the Darling Mills State Forest, but these two were combined and made into the Bidgigal Reserve under the Forestry (Darling Mills State Forest Revocation) Bill, which was passed by NSW State Government on 2 March 2005.
Its name commemorates the Bidjigal people who lived in the area. In particular, it is said that Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal leader of Aboriginal resistance against British occupation, used the area as a base to mount attacks on neighbouring homesteads. The Reserve includes a long section of Darling Mills Creek, a tributary of the Parramatta River, and once an important source of water both to the Mills in Parramatta, and for drinking.
The Reserve includes a number of walking trails which range from short circular walks up to walks of several kilometres in length, some of which join on to the Great North Walk. The Reserve is home to a wide range of native flora and fauna, and in recent years there have been reliable recordings of Koala, Swamp Wallaby, Echidna, Eastern Water Dragon, and Sugar Gliders, as well as the ubiquitous Brushtail and Ringtail possums. Foxes have been largely eradicated by a continuing baiting program, leading to a significant increase in the number of native animals in the Reserve.
The Reserve also includes a local landmark (known locally as the Aboriginal Cave) at Latitude -33.758010 Longitude 151.011660 which is a rock shelter that was apparently described in times of early European occupation as being a cave used by the Bidjigal people. Several other Aboriginal rock shelters also lie within Bidjigal Reserve, including one with a midden dated to 10150 bp, which is the earliest human habitation site known in the Sydney area (although older sites are known in the Blue Mountains). There are also reliable reports of other works of Australian Aboriginal Art, including hand-stencils and Rock Engravings, but none have been identified in recent years, and they may have been damaged or destroyed.
[edit] External Links
[edit] Further Reading
- Hansard (NSW Legislative Council Hansard and Papers) Wednesday 2 March 2005.
- "Bidjigal Reserve" - an excellent booklet available free from Baulkham Hills Shire Council
- Attenbrow, 1992, “ Port Jackson archaeological project stage II. Prelim report on excavation on site 45-6-2097 report to NPWS”
