27 November, 2019
The Dirawong Reserve at Evans Head, an hour south of Byron Bay, is one of the best-preserved pieces of Crown land coastal landscape on the Far North Coast. The Dirawong, Aboriginal for ‘Old Man Goanna’, has been managed by the local community for more than 30 years as a Crown reserve, and has cultural significance to the Bundjalung People.
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors are attracted to its 300+ hectares of magnificent sandy beaches, diverse bays, rocky cliffs, sandstone bluffs, complex ecologies and abundant wildflowers, Aboriginal cultural history, great fishing and surfing spots and well-maintained tracks and walkways.
To get to this point has taken a lot of hard work. Before it was gazetted in 1987, the Dirawong was frequently burnt, and had many pedestrian and vehicle tracks running through it, causing erosion and destruction of habitat.
The Dirawong Reserve Land Manager was a finalist for the Crown Land Manager Excellence Award at this year’s Regional Achievement and Community Awards. The land manager board has four members with backgrounds in engineering, native animals, farm management, weed control, park planning and national parks experience, and all have served more than one term on the board.
Board member, Dr Richard Gates, spoke to us about the challenges and successes at Dirawong over the years.
A major success story for Dirawong is the eradication of bitou bush, a legacy of sand mining in the 1960s. The Dirawong Reserve Land Manager uses a herbicide-free approach whenever possible, with complex ecological communities re-establishing themselves in just a few years.
‘Hand-pulling and “cut and paint” of larger bushes has seen most of the weed eradicated, giving the native seed bank the opportunity to grow and provide ground cover, keeping the bitou out,’ said Richard.
‘Once the bush is removed, it is relatively easy to get rid of the new growth with a simple annual once-over of the areas where the bush has been.’
They have also successfully reduced the number of tracks on the reserve, consolidating tracks down to one safe track with erosion measures in place, and blocking off unwanted tracks through brush placement. Visitors are encouraged to stay on designated tracks by making sure they are well-maintained and easy to navigate.
Grant funding for weed control, and construction and maintenance of walkways, has helped cover some of the labour and equipment costs. The land manager was a successful applicant in this year’s CRIF program. But there are also volunteers who contribute their time, including school children taking part as part of a school excursion and ‘giving back’ to the community.
‘Board members contribute their time to some of these excursions to educate about Dirawong programs and history, and the children take ownership of the Reserve as a result of this experience,’ said Richard.
This Crown land manager web resource was printed on 19 Mar 2024. The information contained in this web resource is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing Mar 2024. However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that the information upon which they rely is up to date and to check the currency of the information by referring to the website (www.reservemanager.nsw.gov.au).
© State of New South Wales through Department of Planning, Industry & Environment 2024.
Page link: https://reservemanager.crownland.nsw.gov.au/news-and-events/profiles/dirawong-old-man-goanna-land-manager