Restoring the northward Boat Harbour entrance to the Tomaree Coastal Walk
By Sue Olsson, Coordinator
Friends of Tomaree National Park
March 2024 +
December 2025 – June 2026
Along the Tomaree Coastal Walk (TCW), from Boat Harbour northward, houses line the landward (western) side and vegetation on the seaward (eastern) side is degraded.
With support from Bupa and Landcare Australia, and ongoing support from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Friends of Tomaree National Park embarked on an ambitious project to restore vegetation along the Coastal Walk and in particular a patch of endangered littoral rainforest at the northern end of the northern Boat Harbour entrance.
The TCW’s northern entrance at Boat Harbour, extends from Ocean Parade northward to the first little bridge.
The project is mostly seaward of the TCW, where there is
- a corridor of degraded littoral scrub-forest, and
- a remnant endangered littoral rainforest (the most northern section close to the bridge).
This block is approximately 0.4 hectares
WOW‼️ We have really appreciated the fantastic community assistance and participation from our Friends of Tomaree NP.
We’re thankful to the local families and community, along with other community groups such as Rotary Salamander, who have each happily supported the Friends of Tomaree National Park, also a voluntary community group.
We’ve enjoyed three really successful plantings in transforming Boat Harbour’s northern entrance to the iconic Tomaree Coastal Walk. We’ve planted nearly 900 plants in the northern section alone, and over 800 in the southern section.
This effort is actively stabilising the soil, suppressing invasive weeds, providing developing habitat for wildlife, as well as building long-term ecological resilience and a more aesthetic environment.
We mostly planted on the lower slope of the walk track near the creek line and over the cut canes, as well as near the entry area. At the northern end we also planted above the walk trail.
Jump to see what we’ve been doing at Boat Harbour’s northern entrance
- Extending our littoral rainforest community planting for World Environment Day ~ 6 June 2026
- Our littoral rainforest community planting with Rotary Salamander Bay ~ 9 May 2026
- Our corridor planting ~ 27 April 2026
- Our corridor preparation ~ March and early April 2026
- Our initial plans for the northern entrance ~ December 2025
- Our mammoth effort laying Giant Reed to rest ~ March 2024
See an overview of the whole project, our planting dates, or what’s been happening on Boat Harbour’s southward entrance
Our last Northern community planting coincided with World Environment Day celebrations ~ Saturday 6 June
People turned out for the biggest community planting of the project.
Friends of Tomaree National Park were delighted to welcome so many people to our last community planting event for the project. After a month of rain, the soil was moist and the sun shone. We couldn’t have wished for a better day.
Everywhere we moved people were cheerfully buzzing away ~ then so independently packed everything up ~ what a wonderful group of caring people, so very much appreciated.
And we finished early ~ now that is a first! And of course we all enjoyed our biggest morning tea and stayed chatting convivially while under the winter sunshine.
Our community planting with Rotary Salamander Bay ~ Saturday 9 May
Sun shone again and another fantastic team steadfastly planted.
With much appreciation to the team from Rotary Club Salamander Bay, headed up by President Harry Parker, who joined us, more community members and the Friends of Tomaree National Park, for another really successful day. With much chatter, cooperation and hard work, over 300+ plants got in the ground, protected and watered. With much anticipation, we keenly awaited the predicted rain.
Below the track, invasive Giant Reed once grew as a dense monoculture, obliterating native vegetation. Along the creek line close to the track, a tiny remnant of endangered littoral rainforest persisted. We are planting to try to re-establish some of that endangered littoral rainforest, with Lilly Pilly, Cabbage Palms and more.
Our community planting along the corridor Saturday 27 April 2026
A sunny day – though no rain on the horizon – what an enthusiastic team!
Thank you to our locals and Friends of Tomaree National Park who made short work getting some 300+ plants in the ground. We are creating an informal edge to the track and planting seaward to fill in where weed grew, with many low growing rushes, lilies and shrubs, keeping trees mostly to the extremities and conscious of maintaining some view lines.
Our corridor preparation ~ March & April 2026
Initially we’d arranged for spraying of buffalo and other weed grasses, while other weeds we’ve removed by hand. We dug numerous spider plants (below). They form dense mats preventing native plants regenerating.
Garden escapees
Many weeds we initially removed are ‘garden escapees’ — typically they’ve been planted in gardens, being colourful, hardy and low maintenance, and with fruit that birds and wallabies love and spread.
Unfortunately, they’re readily dispersed into the bush, and being hardy, they grow and replace the native vegetation. Others are spread by water and illegally dumping garden cuttings in the bush.
We have removed many ‘garden escapees’, unfortunately they will keep reappearing until the seed store in the soil is exhausted, maybe 5 years or more, or all roots are removed. We’ll keep a watchful eye and remove periodically.
A few of the garden escapees and some replacement plants.
Easter Cassia
Easter Cassia‘s bright yellow flowers are attractive. Its seeds are in long green bean-like pods. Unfortunately it replaces native vegetation.
Easter Cassia, Senna pendula seed pod © NSW Weedwise
NATIVE Coffee Bush Breynia oblongifolia naturally grows here and we are planting a few more. It looks like Easter Cassia, though its leaves alternate along the stem (while Cassia’s leaves are opposite on the stem). Coffee Bush has attractive pink berries.
Instead of Easter Cassia, we’re planting a NATIVE Hairy Bush Pea, Pultenaea villosa, with attractive soft foliage and delightful yellow pea flowers. Possibly not as hardy as Cassia, but naturally grows in the area.
Native Hairy Bush Pea © ANPSA
Lantana
Lantana forms dense thickets and along with bitou bush, lined much of the walkway from near the bridge to the casuarina trees. Both replace native vegetation.
Ochna, Mickey Mouse
Ochna, Mickey Mouse, Ochna serrulata is another garden escapee, we’ve removed from the corridor off Ocean Parade and persists through to the little bridge. Though attractive it has hardy underground roots and stems enabling thickets of this plant to smother native vegetation. We’ll remain vigilant removing new seedlings.
Black-eyed Susan
The Black-eyed Susan vine twines over bushes, smothering vegetation. With explosive seed pods, its seeds are readily dispersed. It is hard to eradicate as each stem node can regrow, and its tap roots and fibrous roots grow extensively.
Brazilian or Broad-leaf pepper tree grew as a thick shrub neat the gate from Ocean Parade.
This Brazilian pepper tree formed a dense understory thicket of suckers and new plants, replacing any native shrubs. Pepper trees can also cause allergic reactions.
We removed and tipped the Brazilian pepper tree ~ the understory thicket alone filled a 5m trailer.
Invasive Bitou bush grows in the vegetation remnants. We’ve removed Bitou immediately along the corridor, though there’s more further seaward replacing the native vegetation..
With weeds removed, we dug holes ready for community planting.
What we’re planning for the Northward entrance ~ December 2025
Our initial focus will be removing invasive weeds, predominately seaward of the walk.
This includes an initial contract spraying of extensive Turkey Rhubarb and Black-eyed Susan. Both invade and smother our ground covers and shrubs, and prevent natural regeneration. In the more northern section which once supported an endangered littoral rainforest, there is extensive Turkey Rhubarb both sides of the walk track. Here, seaward of the walk track, we’ve previously cleared a large patch of Giant Reed (see Giant Reed laid to rest ~ below March 2024) which obliterated the vegetation and also invaded the creek. Friends of Tomaree NP will continue to monitor and eradicate.
Turkey Rhubarb, Rumex saggitatus (below), seed heads, leaves and tubers which can extend for some distance underground and often break during removal.
Our aim is to replace weed species with native bushes and retain some view lines.
Lantana smothers native bushes.
Winter Cassia (yellow flowers) and Black-eyed Susan (orange flowers) prevent native growth.
To restore habitat we will plant native coastal species
We will plant about 700 trees, shrubs and ground covers between late Autumn and July 2026. Where Giant Reed has been removed, we’ll plant to re-establish the endangered littoral rainforest. Vines and shrubs will cover the reed piles – which will slowly degrade over years to come – and appropriate trees will be planted.
Nearer Ocean Parade we’ll reestablish the coastal littoral scrub with local natives trees and shrubs, establish a vegetation border along the walk, and remove many spider plants near and beyond the casuarina patch.
Involving community
We will offer planting days, citizen-science monitoring, corporate engagement and school planting days. If you would like to become involved, please contact us at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
An added benefit of regenerating a habitat with more diversity, is a better experience for locals and tourists using this section of the Tomaree Coastal Walk ~ but this will take time to develop.
Friends of Tomaree National Park gratefully acknowledge the contribution of our partners in this project.
With many thanks for funding us to plant 1,500 plants over the whole project in early 2026
Ongoing support for the broader project
with many thanks for ongoing support and a significant assitance in preparation for this 2026 project
March 2024
Giant Reed laid to rest ~ a mammoth effort!
When walking the Tomaree Coastal Walk (TCW) from Boat Harbour’s Ocean Parade northward, the walk leaves the open corridor and houses, to pass an area with a little patch of remnant littoral rainforest around a little gully bridge.
A wall of Bitou and Lantana almost impeded the track before exiting to Boat Harbour’s urban fringe. National Parks and Wildlife Service sprayed track-side here around 2023. Then in early 2024, two of our keen Friends of Tomaree National Park, both Boat Harbour residents, wanted to improve the experience for visitors around this site.
First they cleared the extensive remaining Bitou and Lantana.
Gradually they worked down the slope to the invasive Giant Reed where canes stood over 8m tall, even out competing the Lantana
While the piles of reeds are a work in progress to eventually disintegrate, battling the regrowth from the extensive underground tubers required vigilance and dedication, a labour of love. Our vision is to replant the area to extend the existing littoral rainforest and reinstate the gully’s riparian vegetation.
Lilly Pilly, Acmena smithii, is part of the littoral rainforest at the gully bridge
Bruce and Robert are still smiling!
Contact: tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
Web: www.ecops.au/fotnp