Reedy Creek Reserve is a 452–

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

on the coast of south-eastern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 3 km south of the expanding tourist township of Agnes Water and borders the

Deepwater National Park Deepwater is a coastal national park in Queensland, Australia, 375 km north of Brisbane. It protects an area of sand dunes and coastal heaths in the Deepwater Creek catchment. The area is one of the few remaining pristine freshwater catchme ...

. It is located 134 km north of

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

and 495 km north of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. It is owned and managed by

Bush Heritage Australia Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund. Its vision is: Healthy Country, Protected Forever. ...

(BHA), to which 450 ha of land was donated in 2004 by Michael and Dellarose Baevski.BHA: Reedy Creek Reserve
/ref>

History

The coast of south-east Queensland is subject to extensive

land clearing Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. About ...

for residential and recreational development. In a cooperative partnership with a local developer, Sunrise@1770, part of the donated property is being used for environmentally-sensitive residential housing in order to fund the management and protection of the remainder, with no more than 2% of the entire site being cleared.

Flora and fauna

The reserve contains open ''

Corymbia ''Corymbia'', commonly known as bloodwoods, is a genus of about one hundred species of tree that, along with ''Eucalyptus'', '' Angophora'' and several smaller groups, are referred to as eucalypts. Until 1990, corymbias were included in the g ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

, ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

wallum Wallum, also known as the Wallum Sand Heaths or Wallum Country, is an Australian ecosystem of coastal south-eastern Queensland, extending into north-eastern New South Wales. It is characterised by flora-rich shrubland and heathland on deep, ...

heath communities, ''

Pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified ...

''-lined

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and

cabbage palm Cabbage palm is a common name for several species of palms or palm-like plants: *'' Cordyline fruticosa'', a tropical tree native to Asia and Polynesia *'' Corypha utan'', an East Asian fan palm (including Northern Australia) *''Euterpe oleracea'', ...

s. Recorded animal species of conservation significance include the

beach stone-curlew The beach stone-curlew (''Esacus magnirostris'') also known as beach thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird that occurs in Australasia, the islands of South-east Asia. At and , it is one of the world's largest shorebirds. It is less stri ...

grey goshawk The grey goshawk (''Tachyspiza novaehollandiae'') is a strongly built, medium-sized bird of prey in the family ''Accipitridae'' that is found in eastern and northern Australia. The white polymorphism (biology), morph of this species is known as ...

delicate mouse The delicate mouse (''Mus tenellus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and possibly Eritrea. Its natural habitat is dry savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodla ...

and Dunmall's snake. A beach adjacent to the reserve is a breeding area for the endangered

loggerhead turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when ful ...

and will be managed by BHA.

References

External links

Bush Heritage Australia

Bush Heritage Australia reserves Nature reserves in Queensland 2004 establishments in Australia {{Queensland-protected-area-stub