BUNYA NIGHTMARE?

The planting of more bunya pines at one of the entrances to Kenilworth has met with some opposition within the township.

The Sunshine Coast Council planted the Araucaria bidwillii seedlings along EumundiKenilworth Road shortly before Christmas.

“ Bunya trees where people are walking? Surely not.

~ Shane Smith

Shane Smith, of Kenilworth Rural Supplies, said the seedlings, which had been put in from the vicinity of the “designer dunny” at Isaac Moore Park through to a clutch of existing bunya pines near Elizabeth Street, were simply unsuitable.

“It’s absolutely a debacle that they were planted and I’m actively going about trying to get them removed, I haven’t found a person yet who thinks they’re a good idea being there.” he said.

Shane has nothing against bunya pines but is vehemently against them at the entrance to the town on the basis of what they leave on the ground. The trees have foliage which is particularly prickly or spikey, even after it has fallen, and in season, they can drop bunya nuts weighing up to 10kg.

“It’s a wonderful walk going into town. On the weekends, there’s lots of walkers, people from Kenilworth Homestead. But bunya trees where people are walking? Surely not,” Shane said.

“Whilst they’re not going to bear fruit straight away, in a hundred years’ time, they will be.

“They are not a pretty tree to look at. Some people might love them but they are few and far between.

“We’ve got five at the turn-off into town and the road is littered with stuff from them after every weather event. That’s what’s going to be happening the whole way into town.”

Local resident Andrew Lindsay, who regularly walks his dogs with his wife, Cara, to Isaac Moore Park, is not keen on the bunya pine plantings.

“I just think they could have chosen better,’’ he said.

Andrew said the path was busy and guests at Kenilworth Homestead also walked the route into town.

He said walkers would be forced to walk close to the road once the trees matured because of the sharp foliage and bunya nuts that sometimes fell.

“There’s a lot of big trucks that use that road,” he said.

“I just think they could have chosen better.’’ council had planted 40 bunya pines about 6-8m off the road and in line with existing bunya pines after on-site inspections and discussion with First Nations representatives.

Shane plans to assemble letters of support for the trees’ removal which he will forward to councillor David Law.

The spokesman maintained the planting was consistent with the organisation’s Street Tree Master Plan, “which identifies the species as suitable to the area and nominates an avenue style planting be considered for this entrance into town.”

However, the Street Tree Master Plan actually nominates about two dozen species as suitable for features and major avenues in the area, including the kauri pine, river she-oak, broad-leafed apple, and Moreton Bay fig, as well as bunya pines.

The spokesman suggested something akin to garden beds could be created under the bunya trees.

“While planting bunya trees in garden beds is favoured, particularly where high occupancy is expected, the area here is a relatively low use area,” the spokesman said.

“Appropriate mulch areas can be created as the trees grow to create similar exclusions.”

The council spokesman said the council maintained the road verge from Isaac Moore Park to Elizbeth Street 16 times a year. And a crew permanently based at Kenilworth attended the park fortnightly to remove fallen branches.

Spencer Shaw, of Forest Heart Eco Nursery, Maleny, doubted that the bunya pines would present a problem.

Spencer said the trees would have a diameter of about 8m when mature and from what he had seen, were planted far enough off the road that neither walkers nor motorists were likely to be in the “drop zone”.

He said bunya pines had once been widespread throughout the region, more prevalent than in the Bunya Mountains, and he supported planting the trees where possible.

“They are an iconic species for our area,” he said.

"The bunya is all through the Conondales. One of the most spectacular stands I know of is in the Chinaman Creek valley.”

“ They are an iconic species for our area.”

~ Spencer Shaw of Forest Heart EcoNursery

The planting of the trees along the roadside appears to go against part of the council’s Street Tree Master Plan, which suggests they be in garden beds because of the potential danger of falling fruits.

“The culturally significant bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii) is also a key Sunshine Coast character tree species,” the plan says.

“The large fruits that were an important food source for traditional owners of the land (and the subject of large gatherings and celebrations) however are potentially hazardous.

“Use of this species therefore is limited to large garden bed- type spaces where falling fruits can cause no harm.”

In a statement, a Sunshine Coast Council spokesman said the

Veronica Cougan, of the Witjuti Grub bushfood nursery, formerly of Kenilworth, and these days, at Obi Obi, also backed the planting of the bunya pines but with a rider.

“This was the bunya mountains. There were more here than in the Bunya Mountains,” she said.

Veronica thought any risk of falling bunya nuts injuring people could be dealt with through signs warning of the drop season from January to February, although she did feel it was unlikely anyone would be underneath.

“Generally, people aren’t going to walk under them because the leaves can be quite spikey and it can be really uncomfortable to walk under them.”

Veronica said it would likely be 12 years before the trees were ready to fruit so there was plenty of time to work out warning signage or how to mitigate risks.

“Basically, I think it’s a good idea as long as they have that signage about that January-February time of year.”

~ Words by Janine Hill, Freelance Journalist

It was January the first in Moy Pocket and out came the first batch of Mary River Turtle hatchlings. Their story began back in late October when an adult female laid her eggs on a riverside sandbank near Kenilworth.

With the turtle’s endangered status, successful reproduction and recruitment is very important and for this reason, both a nest protection program as well as fox detection have been in place. Predators include foxes, goannas and dogs as well as the risk of trampling by cattle or people.

Following the floods in 2022, and with predictions of another La Nina and the possibility of whole nests even several metres above the water line being washed away, the decision was made to relocate nests to predator proof cages well above flood level. This was not a decision taken lightly and involving MRCCC having the necessary approvals from the Department of Environment.

Suitable cages were located at Tiaro, Goomong and Moy Pocket and as nests were laid, the eggs were carefully excavated by hand (by trained MRCCC staff) and the nest reassembled and placed in a large plant pot and relocated to the nearest cage where it was buried in river sand.

Mary River Turtles generally lay between 16 and 20 leathery eggs and they are left in the sand to incubate, generally taking around two months. The small hatchlings, generally around 35mm long, hatch during the night and make their way through the sand, to the surface.

Most releases from the cages into a suitable stretch of river near where they were laid, took place the following evening, although there were several day releases as well.

Each release was witnessed by excited nearby landholders and other interested parties.

Eleven nests were relocated to Moy Pocket, a similar number to Goomong and more at Tiaro where a good shower in early January saw the laying of even more nests. MRCCC staff reported very high success rates for most of the relocated nests, several having 100% of the eggs hatching and being released.

All the relocated nests from Kenilworth came from laying banks in very public places with high visitation rates by the general public, often walking their dogs. Conventional in-situ nest protection in such sites would not have been viable, and combined with the possibility of floods, this led to the decision to relocate nests.

From the first 10 nests at Kenilworth, 146 hatchlings were released. At Tiaro, a number of nests hatched on the same day leading to a release of 83 hatchlings.

It is thought that Mary River Turtles take around thirty years to reach maturity and that they may live for around eighty years. As well as predation and trampling risks for both eggs and hatchlings, there are in-stream predators also and the hatchling stage is the most vulnerable.

There has been a shift in focus in recent years to the importance of upstream nest sites like Kenilworth and Goomong as it is suspected that Tiaro (traditionally regarded as the stronghold for Mary River Turtles) appears to have higher predation rates. The culprit is suspected to be large Fork-tailed Catfish in the Tiaro reach.

The official conservation status of the Mary River Turtle is in the process of being altered from Endangered to Critically Endangered so nest protection and hatchling releases become all the more important.