Six months ago, I reported on a series of undescribed plant species that have been discovered in the Clarence Valley in recent years, including the discovery of two small populations of previously unknown trees of the Gmelina genus, closely related to the local White Beech.
That tree has now been described by a team at the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Herbarium at Mt Annan, led by Dr Trevor Wilson, who will shortly publish his findings.
With less than 30 mature trees remaining since the Liberation Trail wildfire decimated its habitat in 2019, this find is comparable to the Wollemi Pine discovery three decades ago. But unlike the spectacular Pine, which was growing in a national park, the new Gmelina is growing on Clarence Valley Council’s Shannon Creek property, with no legal protection whatsoever.
Naturally, it has been nominated for listing as an endangered population under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, with a decision from the Scientific Committee imminent. This move is strongly supported by Dr. Wilson, who has described the discovery as extremely significant and recommends immediate conservation action be undertaken.
As a result Clarence Valley Council has been approached with a proposal for their entire property, together with the adjoining nature reserve, to be nominated as “An Area of Outstanding Biodiversity Value, as a conceptual Shannon Creek Wildlife Conservancy.
An Area of Outstanding Biodiversity Value is a conservation category under the state’s Biodiversity Conservation Act, applied to areas deemed to contain irreplaceable biodiversity values that are important to the whole of New South Wales, Australia or globally.
With 1000 native plant species, and 290 species of fauna having been recorded, the proposed ‘Conservancy’ has merit. Include the fact that 4 of those plant species occur nowhere else in the world, and that an incredible 63 of those flora and fauna species are on the threatened species list, makes the case for an Outstanding Biodiversity Value listing even stronger.
Add survey results that recorded 23 microbat species, a figure unsurpassed anywhere else in NSW, and possibly Australia, and the case appears clear-cut.
- John Edwards
Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent 8th May, 2026 under the title: "Proposed Wildlife Conservancy".
