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Kashmir
- Details
"Kashmir", formally known as "Koojanup Park", is now open for visitors on weekends during Spring and Autumn.
Woodfired pizzas and drinks are also for sale at the trailer at the entrance to the garden.
Located at 10 Church Lane, the garden is approximately 25 acres and growing. For more information see: https://www.kashmirmountwilson.com.au/
Mrs Rodgers commissioned Paul Sorensen to design and do the works on the property which included terracing and basalt stonework.
Maples, cherry's, elms and oaks can be found along with Tulip and birch trees, rhododendrons and camellias. There are a number of conifers and Cypress, including a large Sequoia sempervirens.
Since purchase almost 5 years ago , the current owners have worked at restoring the garden which had become overgrown and required maintenance to the stonework.
Along with restoring and maintaining the garden, current work has included adding basalt stone walls and several sets of sandstone stairs in order to aid in the flow of the garden. The design has always intended to carry the Sorensen style throughout.
You'll find new plantings of several types of
hydrangea and peonies along with hundreds of bulbs planted each year for Spring.
The garden will be ready to open fully in Spring 2024. Currently, the terraces are open to visit free of charge.
You will find the owners son, Chad, making woodfired pizzas from his trailer on the top terrace. There are plenty of places to sit and eat and enjoy the wonderful view.
Hope to see you there!
Current Bushfire Status
- Details
Update about the Gospers Mountain Fire to the north of us, posted Wednesday, 11 December.
Gospers Mountain Bushfire Update - Plan to begin backburning today.
The Gospers Mountain bushfire seen yesterday from Smiths Hill was about 6 kms from Mount Irvine
The Fire
While we have a good weather window MWMIRFS Brigade will commence back burning into the area below Mount Irvine today to take advantage of the better conditions for creating a safety burnt area around Mt Irvine. This will involve lighting the bush from the fire trails around Mount Irvine then Mount Wilson to remove the fuel between the villages and the Gospers Mountain fire thereby protecting property in the villages. The back burn is a lower intensity burn usually lit at night and going downhill so as to reduce the impact on the surrounding bush while removing the fuel and protecting the area from the bushfire coming into the villages on a bad day.
On Tuesday the fire was holding on Bungleboori Creek (see yesterday’s Update map), north of Mt Wilson / Mt Irvine, but quite active on the Newnes Plateau. The back burn started at Mountain Lagoon has progressed as far as Bilpin. After a very hot day yesterday we are entering a good weather window until about Friday.
Access to the Mounts
A road block at Mt Wilson Road and the Bells Line of Road will restrict access to all vehicles other than residents and emergency services. Expect this to be in place for a couple of weeks.
Letters of authority were distributed last night to all residents providing access to named people on the presentation of the letter and ID like a local rates’ notice or a driver’s licence. If you need an authority for anyone else (other than Mount Wilson or Mount Irvine residents) please email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. stating: first name, family name and email address. A personalised authority letter will be sent to the nominated person.
The trigger point for fire plans
The start of backburning is the trigger point for people to carry out their fire plans. If you plan to leave, today is the time to relocate. Leave, stay or come to the Mounts this is also the time to contact your Street Coordinator and tell them what you will be doing. A fire warning message may be sent to all mobile phones in the area when fire reaches a preset zone around both villages . Do not be alarmed by this, just follow the prompts and check with your street coordinator if the situation or conditions may have changed.
Once backburning starts we will see an increase of smoke in the area. From today expect increased movement of trucks, activity around both community halls and fire stations and road closures in areas as the backburn progress from Mount Irvine to Mount Wilson and on along Mt Wilson Road to Bells Line of Road.
Please slow down on the local roads, if possible pull over and let tucks pass. Do not enter the fire trails or the burn area as there will be many hazards, machinery operating, steep trails, falling trees and hot ash beds.
Anyone who would like to assist with Catering or Station work please contact the Brigade Station Officer on 4756 2168.
Peter Raines
Senior Deputy Captain
Mt Wilson-Mt Irvine RF Brigade
Map of Fires in NSW with the current status of each fire, Fires Near Me.
The map can be zoomed to show fires in our area.
Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
- Details
A native of China and Japan. Japanese Honeysuckle is a vigorous climber with soft green leaves and pale yellow, sweetly scented flowers which self layers and quickly grows up and over shrubs and small trees, smothering them. The black berries are carried by the birds.
Japanese Honeysuckle is a vigorous, fast growing scrambling and climbing shrub with distinctive pinkish new stems. Old stems can become thick and gnarly.
Spring is a good time to identify Japanese Honeysuckle, a creeper with its distinctive small yellow cream to white flowers with a pink tube. Flowers occur in pairs and mostly in spring to autumn. Flowers are fragrant and nectar-filled.
Small shiny black berries 6–10 mm long occur in autumn.
Impact on bushland
Japanese Honeysuckle grows rapidly and forms a dense shade over shrubs and low canopy trees, blocking the light, breaking branches and causing loss of biodiversity.
Control
Japanese Honeysuckle twines in and around other plants, making it difficult to control.
Vines climbing up shrubs or trees:
- Scrape each stem as far as possible and paint; suspended vines can then be cut and left in place.
- Suspended vines are easily identified as they look like gnarly paperbark vines.
- Cut and paint large crowns and scrape and paint as many roots as possible.
Vines growing on the ground:
- Pull out by hand, making sure all root and stem parts are removed. Cut material can be spread out off the ground. Once dead, it will decompose in place.
- Where the foliage is dense, treat with herbicide if there are no native plants or water nearby.
Berries are spread by birds, so treat plants before they fruit.
Do not pull dead or alive vines out of trees as this may damage the tree and it may be habitat for microbats and other small animals.
Birds in Mt Wilson
- Details
Ducks and swans
Australasian darter
Herons and egrets
White-necked heron
Ibises and spoonbills
Straw-necked ibis
Masked lapwing
Eagles, kites and goshawks
Brown goshawk
Grey goshawk
Wedge-tailed eagle
Pigeons and doves
White-headed pigeon
Brown cuckoo dove
Common bronzewing
Brush bronzewing
Crested pigeon
Bar-shouldered dove
Wonga pigeon
Cockatoos
Yellow-tailed black cockatoo
Gang-gang cockatoo
Parrots and lorikeets
Galah
Rainbow lorikeet
Australian king parrot
Crimson rosella
Eastern rosella
Cuckoos
Fan-tailed cuckoo
Shining bronze-cuckoo
Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo
Channel-billed cuckoo
Owls
Powerful owl
Southern boobook
Sooty owl
Eastern barn owl
Frogmouths and nightjars
Tawny frogmouth
Kingfishers
Azure kingfisher
Laughing kookaburra
Superb lyrebird
Treecreepers
White-throated treecreeper
Red-browed treecreeper
Fairy-wrens
Superb fairy-wren
Variegated fairy-wren
Pardalotes
Spotted pardalote
Scrubwrens, thornbills and gerygones
Pilotbird
Rockwarbler
Yellow-throated scrubwren
White-browed scrubwren
Large-billed scrubwren
Brown gerygone
Brown thornbill
Striated thornbill
Honeyeaters
Red wattlebird
Little wattlebird
Bell miner
Lewin’s honeyeater
Yellow-faced honeyeater
White-eared honeyeater
White-naped honeyeater
Crescent honeyeater
New Holland honeyeater
Tawny-crowned honeyeater
Eastern spinebill
Jacky winter
Australian robins
Scarlet robin
Red-capped robin
Flame robin
Rose robin
Eastern yellow robin
Eastern whipbird
Whistlers and allies
Golden whistler
Grey shrike-thrush
Crested shrike-tit
Black-faced monarch
Fantails
Grey fantail
Rufous fantail
Willie wagtail
Cuckoo-shrikes
Black-faced cuckoo-shrike
Currawongs and allies
Grey butcherbird
Pied butcherbird
Pied currawong
Grey currawong
Australian magpie
Ravens and crows
Australian raven
White-winged chough
Satin bowerbird
Finches
Red-browed finch
Mistletoebird
Swallows and martins
Welcome swallow
Tree martin
Fairy martin
Songlarks
Rufous songlark
Brown songlark
Silvereye
Bassian thrush
Introduced birds
Red-whiskered bulbul
Common blackbird
Common starling
White Jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum)
- Details
Jasmine provides a very scented and pretty creeper but this needs to be controlled as Jasmine is a serious weed in the Rainforest.
Type of weed: Climber, scrambler or groundcover
Flowering Months: September, October, November
Native of China. A fast growing evergreen climber with small shiny green leaves and white flowers which are pink in bud and sweetly scented. Jasmine spreads by self-layering and occasional setting of seed. It can seriously threaten the rainforest edges of Mt Wilson. This plant has become a big problem in some gardens.
Alert: The flowers can cause allergies in some people.
Don’t confuse with… Jasmine can be confused with native Wonga Wonga Vine (Pandorea pandorana) before the plant develops the distinctive lobed leaves and before it flowers.
Impact on bushland
Jasmine climbs rapidly into the tree canopy and covers vegetation at all levels, blocking light and restricting the growth and regeneration of native species. Its weight may bring down branches. It is a serious weed of rainforests.
Prevention
- Keep well pruned
Control
Because of the fine twining stems and vigorous nature of this plant it is hard to eradicate.
- Dig out or spray December to March.
- Scrape and paint stems.
- If the vine has grown up into the canopy of a tree or shrub, cut each of the vine stems about 500 mm above the ground, after scraping and painting above and below the planned cut, to allow the parts in the tree canopy to die. It is important to keep the cut low to allow adequate length of the stems to be reached for re-treatment.
Alternative native plantings
- Twining Purple Pea (Hardenbergia violacea)
- Wonga Wonga Vine (Pandorea pandorana)
- Water Vine (Cissus antarctica)
- Old Man’s Beard (Clematis aristata) - note: not Clematis cultivars as these can also be environmental weeds.
