Eleven of the 12 Tasmanian birds found nowhere else on earth can be spotted with ease at the Waterworks Reserve just a few kilometres from the Hobart CBD.
It was an interesting talking point when I was asked to discuss the avian treasures of the reserve on the ABC Radio Drive program recently.
The birds, though, were not the only focus. The presenter of the program, Kylie Baxter, also invited listeners to describe why the reserve in general was important to them.
Kylie was swamped by listeners wanting to share memories and anecdotes of good times spent there.
Although I go to the Waterworks principally to watch birds, I soon became aware of how vital it is to the social fabric of our city.
Weddings, family gatherings, even the scattering of ashes of loved ones; since the Waterworks Reserve was established in the 1860s with two large reservoirs at its heart, the leafy location on the South Hobart/Dynnyrne border has proven a drawcard
Our appreciation of the reserve has been sharpened in recent months with upgrades to the southern reservoir, forcing closure of two popular tracks.
Considerable earthworks to reinforce the dam wall and improve flood control and water quality, and the closure of the tracks, have deterred many people from visiting this year, particularly as there has been traffic controls on the road running through the reserve to allow giant trucks to deliver aggregates.
But the earthworks have been completed just in time for summer and many of the historic sandstone features have been refurbished and put back into position, along with wooden fence posts sympathetic to the surrounding wooded terrain.
The draining of the southern reservoir might have forced the ducks and cormorants to move on temporarily but it proved a boon for historians. The original sandstone dam wall, with an arch at its centre from which water could be released, was revealed before the reservoir was filled again.
The dams were constructed about two decades after the arrival of the most famous visitor to what would become the reserve, Charles Darwin, who in 1836 surveyed and described its rock formations and wooded glades. He marvelled at the “luxuriant” forests and giant tree ferns.
Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, walked the Huon packhorse trail to reach kunanyi/Mt Wellington and this in part followed the course of the Sandy Bay Rivulet from Sandy Bay to just below Fern Tree. Although most of the trail lies beneath the reservoirs, a section of it is marked by an interpretive sign at the bottom end of the reserve.
On the day the tracks on the northern side of the Waterworks were reopened I went in search of the endemic birds which make the reserve special.
Three of these unique species soon came into view – Tasmanian native-hens crossed the track ahead of me, as green rosellas and yellow wattlebirds called from the stringybarks.