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The Agnes Banks Natural Area is a heritage-listed natural sand deposit, fauna habitat and native flora site at Rickards Avenue in the
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
suburb of
Agnes Banks Agnes Banks is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Agnes Banks is north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of the City of Penrith and City of Hawkesbury. It is part of the Gre ...
,
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia. It is also known as The Natural Area and Agnes Banks Sand Deposits. The property is owned by
CSR Limited CSR Pty Ltd is a major Australian industrial company, producing building products and has a 25% share in the Tomago aluminium smelter located near Newcastle, New South Wales. It is a subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. In 2021, it h ...
and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. It was added to the
New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...
on 2 April 1999.


History

The Londonderry/Agnes Banks sand deposit was first recognised for its commercial potential in 1942. Sand had been extracted from the deposit for over thirty years, initially under consent from the then Cumberland County Council. Penrith City Council first issued consents in 1967 for the extraction of sand from land held under permissive occupancies from the Crown Lands Office and from land held under private tenure. Penrith Council later realised the need for an overall management framework for the
extractive industries Extractivism is the removal of natural resources particularly for export with minimal processing. This economic model is common throughout the Global South and the Arctic region, but also happens in some sacrifice zones in the Global North in E ...
and during the mid-1970s formed a working committee consisting of Council, the then Department of Mines, Department of Lands and the extractive industry companies. This committee sought information and produced guidelines for co-ordinating ongoing extraction and rehabilitation within a defined management area. In 1982 after extensive consultation with the community in the locality, sand extraction companies and government agencies, Council adopted in principle the management plan, which, inter alia, addressed management of extraction, drainage, staged extraction and rehabilitation. Regular meetings of the parties were held to ensure compliance with the plan. Comments received from the
NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is a directorate of the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment and responsible for managing more than 890 national parks and reserves, covering over 7.5 million hectares of land ac ...
(NPWS) at the time indicated the Service's concern for the inter-relationships between sand extraction and the proposed nature reserve to the south of the management area. As a consequence provision was made for a wide buffer strip between areas designated for extraction and the nature reserve. The nature reserve proposal involved lengthy discussion with government agencies, Council and the extractive industry companies. The proposal was initiated by the Scientific Committee on Parks and Reserves in August 1968. This committee had advised of the scientific value and uniqueness of the sand areas and of the threat to them posed by sand extraction. In the following years several proposals were advanced by the NPWS and by Benson of the National Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens. Negotiations between the parties continued until a compromise proposal put forward in 1978 by White of P. B. White Minerals (now Pacific Mining Pty. Ltd.) was finally accepted. However the NPWS although accepting the proposal, noted in correspondence to the Department of Lands at the time that the proposal was sub-optimal in area and composition. The Agnes Banks Nature Reserve was proclaimed on 26 March 1982. On the 18 April 1985 two development applications were received by Council which in part were for consent to extract sand adjacent to the Agnes Banks Nature Reserve. The
National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...
(NSW) wrote to Penrith City Council on 23 August 1985 indicating its proposal for the extension of the Nature Reserve to ensure it properly sampled the range of plant communities on the site. On the 26 August 1985, the Trust wrote to the Heritage Council requesting the placing of an interim conservation order (ICO) on the remaining areas of vegetation outside the Nature Reserve. ICO No. 569 was
gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...
on 27 September 1985 for a period of two years subsequently ICO No. 800 was gazetted on 18 September 1987. In August, 1987, The Readymix Group, Amatek Limited and K. H. Dixon Pty. Ltd. made a submission by way of objection to the former Minister for Planning and Environment in regard to ICO No. 569. Formal objections to the making of ICO No. 800 dated 5 February 1988 were subsequently received by the Heritage Council. Commissioner Kevin Cleland was appointed to hold an inquiry into the submission by of objection on 25 July 1988 in accordance with Section of the Heritage Act, 1977. A total of twenty seven submissions were received of which fourteen were presented to the inquiry and a further six were read on behalf of the writers. The Companies, Department of Mineral Resources and Department of Lands objected to the making of the ICO. The majority of the other submissions supported the making of a Permanent Conservation Order. Several submissions related to other matters.Cleland 1988


Further information

The Agnes Banks Natural Area adjoins the Agnes Banks Nature Reserve created in March 1982. The nature reserve is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.


Heritage listing

As at 25 January 2013, the Agnes Banks Natural Area is of State Heritage significance for its environmental heritage with natural, scientific and aesthetic significance for the following reasons:


Importance in the evolution of Australian flora, fauna, landscapes and climate

The "Agnes Banks Sand" is described as a stratigraphic unit of Pliocene of
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
age (7 million-300,000 years ago) and probably a
fluvial A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...
deposit which has been redistributed by westerly winds. The sands are surrounded by and overlie lateritized tertiary alluvial deposits, mainly clay and silts which make up the
Cumberland Plain The Cumberland Plain, also known as Cumberland Basin, is a relatively flat region lying to the west of Sydney CBD in New South Wales, Australia. An IBRA biogeographic region, Cumberland Basin is the preferred physiographic and geological term ...
to the south and east. The sand deposit is unique in that although it is from the present coast, it supports unusual vegetation in many ways similar to coastal sand dune vegetation such as
Myall Lakes Myall Lakes, a series of fresh water lakes protected under the Ramsar Convention, are located within the Mid-Coast Council local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The Myall Lakes are adjacent to the ea ...
, and with affinities also to Hawkesbury sandstone vegetation which is located in the
Sydney Basin The Sydney Basin is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion and is both a structural entity and a depositional area, now preserved on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia and with some of its ...
. The deposits themselves are highly important scientifically: as a reference site for understanding the past climatic history of the region; and, for comparison of the vegetation with similar vegetation on coastal sand deposits. The sediment making up the deposit originates from sandstone rock of the Blue Mountains and as such demonstrates the evolutionary process of weathering and deposition.


Importance in demonstrating existing processes or natural systems

The Agnes Banks Natural Area supports four distinct associations. These are described as: # Low open forestof ''
Banksia serrata ''Banksia serrata'', commonly known as the saw banksia, the old man banksia, the saw-tooth banksia or the red honeysuckle and as wiriyagan by the Cadigal people, is a species of woody shrub or tree of the genus ''Banksia'', in the family P ...
'' and ''
Angophora bakeri ''Angophora bakeri'', commonly known as the narrow-leaved apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to New South Wales. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three or seven, w ...
'' which is confined to the well-drained crests of the large dunes; # Woodlandof ''
Eucalyptus sclerophylla ''Eucalyptus sclerophylla'', known as the scribbly gum, is a tree native to eastern Australia. Very similar to the related Scribbly Gum (''E. haemastoma''), a better known tree. The best way of distinguishing the species is the smaller hemisph ...
'', ''A. bakeri'' and ''B. serrata'' on well-drained and moderately well-drained positions; # Woodlandof ''E. sclerophylla'', ''E. parramattensis'' and ''B. aemula'' on shallow sand; and # Low-open Woodlandof ''E. parramattensis'' which is confined to poorly-drained situations. Studies by the National Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens indicate that species distribution is dominated primarily by a moisture drainage factor which produces a continuum of species. Projective' canopy cover and fire also influence the distribution of the vegetation. The relationship between these environmental factors and vegetation communities is clearly demonstrated at the Agnes Banks Natural Area.


Importance in exhibiting unusual richness or diversity of flora

The diversity of soil types and conditions has given rise to a corresponding diversity of vegetation types as indicated above.


Importance for rare and endangered or uncommon flora, communities, ecosystems and landscape

As described in I above, the sand deposits at Agnes Banks are an unusual and rare landform which, in conjunction with vegetation cover, results in a rare landscape type. Areas of original vegetation on the sand deposits associated with the Hawkesbury- Nepean rivers are extremely limited. The area is thus significant as a unique sample of this vegetation, which is otherwise not conserved. The Natural Area support several species which are considered rare or threatened, being represented by small populations, disjunct populations, or being at or near their geographic limits. These include the following: * Intergrades between ''Banksia serrata'' and ''B. aemula'' (formerly ''B. serrati folia'') in parts of portion 157. * ''Acacia Bynoena'' on portion 157small populations elsewhere. * ''Restio pallens''southern limit at Agnes Banks. * '' Persoonia nutans''population on portion 157 is possibly the only surviving location for this species * '' Petrophile sessilis''northern limit at Agnes Banks, uncommon elsewhere. * ''Leucopogon virgatus''common at Agnes Banks overall but uncommon in the Nature Reserve. * '' Dillwynia tenuifolia''small populations, vulnerable in the long term. * ''Micromytus minutiflora''as above. The whole community, with associations relating intergrading with each other, in this isolated inland position, at a low elevation are unique. Likewise is the ecosystem mechanics which operate and determine the species distribution.


Importance as representative of the range of ecosystems which characterise sand vegetation type

More than half of the original sand area of (''sic.'') at Agnes Banks has been cleared or quarried. Only two of the five plant communities recognised on the sand are represented in the existing Nature Reserve. Of the Reserve's only or 3.5 per cent (''sic.'') of the original sand mass is conserved. One of the plant communities - sedgeland - has now been completely destroyed through
sand mining Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in conc ...
operations. The current Agnes Bank Reserve does not sample any Low Open Forest ''Banksia Serrata'' and ''Angophora Bakeri'' or Woodland ''E. Sclerophylla'', ''Banksia Serrata'' and ''Angophora Baker'' plant associations. The only other known occurrence of ''B. Serrata'' in the general area is a tiny stand on freehold land which is badly damaged. Furthermore, the Agnes Banks Natural Area supports other species, namely ''Persoonia nutans'', and ''Petrophile sessilis'', which are not adequately conserved. This inadequate representation of the variation in the system limits the scope of the area for scientific research.


Importance for information contributing to wider understanding of Australian natural history

By virtue of their use as research sites, teaching sites, type localities and reference sites: # the isolated location of the deposit makes it suitable for biogeographical studies; # the relationship with the surrounding/underlying clay is of interest as is the internal dynamics controlled by soil water status and fire frequency; # the distinct change in vegetation at the sandclay interface; # the ''B. aemula''/''B. serrata'' interface/hybrid swarm presents a good opportunity for population genetics/autoecological studies; # the complex ecotone between plant association of Woodland and Low Woodland; # the site is unusual in geomorphological terms; and # the sands are important as a soil reference site. Furthermore, as environmental education is a component of school curriculum, the demand for areas such as Agnes Banks for field studies, is great.Heritage Council Submission to Commission of Inquiry, 1988 Aboriginal sites already identified at Agnes Banks are believed to date to about 13,000 years ago. Open sites of this age are rare in eastern New South Wales. It is possible that older sites are situated within or under the sand. Agnes Banks may prove to be a significant source of information about human occupation during the late Pleistocene period. The Agnes Bank Natural Area was listed on the
New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...
on 2 April 1999.


See also

*
Protected areas of New South Wales The Protected areas of New South Wales include both terrestrial and marine protected areas. there are 225 national parks in New South Wales. A number established since the late 1970s followed campaigns by local residents and environmentalis ...


References


Bibliography

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Attribution

{{NSW-SHR-CC, name=Agnes Banks Natural Area, dno=5045065, id=649, year=2018, accessdate=13 October 2018 New South Wales State Heritage Register Protected areas of New South Wales
Flora of New South Wales *''The Flora that are native to New South Wales, Australia''. :*''Taxa of the lowest rank are always included. Higher taxa are included only if endemic''. *The categorisation scheme follows the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Dist ...
Geologic formations of Australia
Fauna of New South Wales Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...
Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register