PROTECT
Western Sydney’s Last Great Landscape? BY LISA HARROLD, PRESIDENT OF MULGOA VALLEY LANDCARE GROUP
Sandwiched between rapidly-growing Penrith and the new Aerotropolis lies a small oasis. Mulgoa Valley is a rare landscape in the Sydney basin: rolling green hills, important ecological communities and significant heritage properties. But pressure is mounting to unwind the protections that ensure the valley remains a special place. Any ‘last of its kind’ is precious. And over the past 200 years, Mulgoa Valley has become the last major landscape on Sydney’s Cumberland Plain that remains relatively free from unsympathetic development. Situated on the western edge of the Plain, the valley has long been recognised as unique. It marks an important boundary between the Darug peoples from the plains and the Gundungurra from the mountains. The Mulgowie Clan of the Darug nation are the traditional custodians of the valley, and it still holds many of their secrets.
There is also a rich tapestry of colonial heritage properties in the valley. Six are listed on the NSW State Heritage Register, including the exquisite Fernhill Estate. The archaeological remains of Regentville, a famous country house built by Sir John Jamison in the early 1800s, lie within Mulgoa Nature Reserve. Roughly one-quarter of Mulgoa Valley is preserved in perpetuity for its heritage and conservation values.
Mulgoa Valley is home to many places of significant natural and heritage value. The Mulgoa Nature Reserve and the Mulgoa section of the Blue Mountains National Park contain important communities of plants, animals and woodland native to the Cumberland Plain. The valley provides habitat critical to scarlet, flame and rose robins during their annual migration from the Blue Mountains to the Cumberland Plain each winter. The endangered regent honeyeater and swift parrot also take refuge there. Ten properties within Mulgoa Valley support wildlife conservation through Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements.
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National Trust (NSW)
Below Mulgoa landscape (photo by P. Barkley). Opposite from top Mulgoa landscape (photo by P. Barkley); Scarlet Robin (photo via Alamy); Lithograph of Fernhill by C. Cox, looking towards St Thomas Church (photo via nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an8421802).
