Previous industry surveys of the Barrambin area have recognised the locale as one of high habitat potential, especially since the re-introduction of artificial ponds along the Inner City Bypass in the 1930s (SKM Connell Wagner, 2008). The zone sports forests of native eucalyptus and melaleuca trees and 20 native animal species (SKM Aurecon, 2011; SKM Connell Wagner, 2008). We may see, in its current native residents, a mirror of its past biodiversity: Australian White Ibis, Dusky Moorhens, freshwater turtles and the vulnerable Grey-headed Flying-fox, among others, reside in the shelter of its trees.
A walk along the course of the old Barrambin waterbed quickly reveals teeming evidence of their presence. Ibis, moorhens and Pacific black ducks feed and nest around the extant waters. The branches of the tree on Ibis Island—a small island in the middle of the extant York’s Hollow pond—are perennially heavy with nesting ibis.
Even in places where water is not visibly present, the flora and fauna know otherwise: in these places, they grow, forage and nest, or put down roots and proliferate. Silty tracks testify to the intermittent presence of flowing water running parallel to the Inner City Bypass, girt by cumbungi reeds and bearing the footprints of waterbirds.
Australian White Ibis are native to the inland wetlands of Eastern Australia, a habitat that has been diminished by human water management activities (Martin et al., 2010; McKiernan & Instone, 2016). Many have been observed living in the modern area of Barrambin, including on Ibis Island, which is named for the fact that it supports numerous breeding ibis families and their dish-shaped nests. Colonial settlers built Brisbane in the zone of the ibis’ natural habitat, and the drainage of swamps and their growing dependence on human refuse have together driven the growth of the ibis’ urban population (Brisbane City Council, 2019). In Kelvin Grove, as with the rest of the place we call Brisbane, ibis are—and have always been—neighbours.
Dusky moorhens, too, favour marshlands, and are rarely seen far from water, nor do they migrate unless necessitated by drastic environmental change (Taylor, 2010). Many individuals have been observed around Barrambin, and given their disinclination to migrate, it is possible they descend from families that lived here before European settlement.
We live with the birds in the truest sense of the word: guests upon their homelands, and co-dependent with them. The Brisbane City Council has labelled the ibis as pests, yet we rely on them as natural controllers of insect populations; this much has been understood as early as the 1910s (Le Souëf, 1917). Rather than see these birds as the interlopers in our urban spaces, we may instead choose to see the Anthropocene and its bringers—ourselves and colonial Brisbane—as the ones imposing upon a place that has been inhabited far longer. To bring forth Barrambin in its original form, as a natural confluence of waterways, is to see Barrambin from a bird’s, a frog’s or a tree’s eye view. We may walk where they walk, to see the waterways better.
References
Brisbane City Council. (2019, May 10). Australian White Ibis. https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/clean-and-green/natural-environment-and-water/biodiversity-in-brisbane/wildlife-in-brisbane/living-with-wildlife/australian-white-ibis
Le Souëf, W. H. D. (1917). Australian ibises. Emu – Austral Ornithology, 17(2), 94–95. https://doi.org/10.1071/MU917094
Martin, J., French, K., Major, R., Martin, J., French, K., & Major, R. (2010). Population and breeding trends of an urban coloniser: The Australian white ibis. Wildlife Research, 37(3), 230–239. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR10047
McKiernan, S., & Instone, L. (2016). From pest to partner: Rethinking the Australian White Ibis in the more-than-human city. Cultural Geographies, 23(3), 475–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474015609159
SKM Aurecon. (2011). Nature Conservation (Chapter 11; Cross River Rail). Cross River Rail Delivery Authority. https://eisdocs.dsdip.qld.gov.au/Completed%20Projects/Cross%20River%20Rail/EIS/EIS%2030%20Aug%202011/01%20Volume%201/11%20Nature%20Conservation.pdf
SKM Connell Wagner. (2008). Ecology (Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 10; Northern Link Phase 2 – Detailed Feasibility Study). SKM Connell Wagner.
Taylor, B. (2010). Rails: A Guide to Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World. A&C Black.