Tarcutta Hills Reserve is a

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, or features of geological or ...

on the lower western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in central west

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney, close to the

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

, and south of

Tarcutta Tarcutta is a town in south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town is south-west of Sydney, east of the Hume Highway, It was proclaimed as a village on 28 October 1890. As of 2016, the town had a population of 446. It serves a local far ...

. 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, which is still its legal name. It's vision is: Hea ...

(BHA), which purchased it in 1999, and it is listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

. In late 2020, Bush Heritage purchased a parcel of land, adjacent to the northern boundary of the reserve, extending the total size of the reserve. The new block of land features a large and healthy example of White Box-

Yellow Box ''Eucalyptus melliodora'', commonly known as yellow box, honey box or yellow ironbark, is a species of medium-sized to occasionally tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern, continental Australia. It has rough, flaky or fibrous bark on part o ...

Blakely’s Red Gum ''Eucalyptus blakelyi'', known as Blakely's red gum, is a tree endemic to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark on its trunk and branches, dull bluish green, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds usually in groups of seven, white flowers and cu ...

Grassy Woodland, an ecological community classified as ''Critically Endangered'' in NSW.

Landscape and biota

Tarcutta Hills protects the largest area of intact grassy white box

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, 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 sunlight and limited shade (see ...

in Australia. It has a high species richness and contains habitat suitable for the threatened

turquoise parrot The turquoise parrot (''Neophema pulchella'') is a species of parrot in the genus ''Neophema'' native to Eastern Australia, from southeastern Queensland, through New South Wales and into North-Eastern Victoria. It was described by George Shaw ...

swift parrot The swift parrot (''Lathamus discolor'') is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to south eastern mainland Australia from Griffith- Warial ...

superb parrot The superb parrot (''Polytelis swainsonii''), also known as Barraband's parrot, Barraband's parakeet, or green leek parrot, is a parrot native to south-eastern Australia. It is a dimorphic species and one of three species in the genus ''Polyte ...

and

regent honeyeater The regent honeyeater (''Anthochaera phrygia'') is a critically endangered bird endemic to southeastern Australia. It is commonly considered a flagship species within its range, with the efforts going into its conservation having positive effe ...

.Tarcutta Hills Reserve
/ref> The reserve is part of the South-west Slopes of NSW

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA), identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance for the conservation of swift parrots and

s. Some of the plants that have a habitat here are White Cypress Pine, Small-leaf Bush Pea, Honeypot, Many-flowered Mat-rush, Kurrajong.

References

External links

Bush Heritage Australia
Bush Heritage Australia reserves Nature reserves in New South Wales 1999 establishments in Australia Important Bird Areas of New South Wales {{NewSouthWales-geo-stub