Wide Bay Military Reserve facts for kids

The Wide Bay Military Reserve is a special place in Tin Can Bay, Queensland, Australia. It's used by the military for training. This area is also very important because it has many different types of plants and animals. You can find everything from coastal areas and wetlands to forests here.

Over 250 different kinds of birds have been seen at Wide Bay. This is a very high number for Australia! Because of its unique nature, the Wide Bay Military Reserve was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on June 22, 2004.

What is the Wide Bay Military Reserve?

The Wide Bay Military Reserve is a large area, about 22,300 hectares (that's like 22,300 football fields!). It's located about 1 kilometer northwest of Tin Can Bay. This reserve is part of a big natural area that connects to Fraser Island and the Cooloola National Park.

What kind of land is it?

The Wide Bay area is at the northern end of the Cooloola sand dunes. These dunes formed over the last 150,000 years as sea levels changed. The oldest dunes are in the middle of the Wide Bay area. They are low and wavy, with shallow, sandy soil.

The soil here doesn't have many nutrients. Water drains slowly, and the water table (the level of water underground) is often close to the surface. This creates many marshes and bogs. These wet areas are called "wallum".

Plants in the wallum areas

The wallum areas are mostly open sedgelands and Banksia heathlands. These areas slowly change into patchy forests and woodlands on higher sand dunes. Common trees include White Mahogany (Eucalyptus umbra), Pinkwood (Corymbia intermedia), and Broad-leaved Paper-bark (Melaleuca quinquenervia).

Some of the main heath plants are Acacia ulicifolia, Banksia aemula, Banksia robur, Melaleuca juniperinum, and Leucopogon pedicellatus. Sedges are the main plants growing under the trees in the forests and woodlands.

Older parts of the reserve

Underneath the old dunes are very old sandstones from the Triassic period (about 200 million years ago). These sandstones stick out in the western part of Wide Bay, forming hills. The steep slopes and tops of these hills have tall, open forests.

Trees like Smooth-barked Apple (Angophora costata), Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera), Ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), Forest Oak (Casuarina torulosa), and Black Oak (Casuarina littoralis) grow here. The Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereusis) is often seen in these forests.

Newer parts of the reserve

The eastern part of Wide Bay has newer sand dunes, less than 10,000 years old. It also has tidal channels and flat areas. Salt pans, where the tide covers the ground very shallowly, have water cooch (Sporobolus viginicus).

On higher ground around the salt flats, you'll find open forests with Swamp She-oak (Casuarina glauca), Moreton Bay Ash (Eucalyptus tessellaris), Blue Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis), and Cabbage Tree Palm (Livistonia australis).

Animals in the reserve

Mangroves grow in the areas where the river meets the sea. Many seabirds and wading birds live here, such as the Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), Eastern Reef Egret (Egretta sacrea), Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopica, Threskiornis spinicollis), and Spoonbill (Platalea regia).

In the summer, this area is a very important place for birds that migrate from the Northern Hemisphere. The younger dunes in this area are home to Piccabeen Palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana), Coast Cypress (Callitris columellaria), and Brushbox (Lophostemon confertus).

The Wide Bay area is also connected to the Great Sandy Strait region, which is another important heritage-listed area.

How is the reserve doing?

In 1988, the Wide Bay Military Reserve was in very good condition. However, some parts have been changed by military training, especially near Camp Kerr. Most of the changes are along roads used by tanks. The CSIRO helps to keep an eye on these changes. They also work to help the land recover and set rules for training, especially after it rains.

The reserve is quite free of weeds. Only small amounts of Lantana and Groundsel (Baccharis hamilifolia) are found, which is good because these weeds are common elsewhere. The army sometimes uses special plants to stop soil from washing away after training, and so far, these plants haven't spread too much. Some logging of Callitris Columellaris has happened in easy-to-reach areas, but there are still good stands of Callitris Columellaris and Lophostemon suaveolons in the reserve.

Why is Wide Bay Military Reserve important?

The Wide Bay Military Reserve is special because it has so many different plant communities. These include coastal areas, wetlands, heathlands, shrublands, woodlands, and open forests. It's a great example of the coastal lowland area known as "wallum". The small areas of coastal rainforest are also very valuable, as they are remnants of forests that used to be much larger.

Wide Bay is also important because it marks the northern and southern limits for many plant and animal species. It's a crucial safe place for birds that migrate from other parts of the world, including those protected by the Japan-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement. The areas where the tide comes in are part of the Great Sandy Strait, which is one of Queensland's most important places for wading birds.

As mentioned before, 250 bird species have been recorded here, which is a very high number for Australia. The reserve also provides important living space for the Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus), which is an endangered bird in Queensland.

Wide Bay Military Reserve was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on June 22, 2004, because it meets several important criteria:

Unique plants and animals

Wide Bay has special plants like the mangrove species Aegialitis annulata and Osbornia octodonta, which are found near their southern limit here. It's also the most northern place on the mainland where you can find the yellow form of Christmas Bells (Blandfordia grandiflora). This area is one of the few remaining strongholds for this plant in Queensland. A type of bird called the Fairy Gerygone (Gerygone palpebrosa) is also found further south here than usually known.

Rare species and habitats

The heathlands at Wide Bay are the main habitat in Queensland for the Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus), which is an endangered species. This area has a very high number of these parrots. The small patches of coastal rainforest in the far northeast are also valuable because they are rare examples of a type of forest that used to be common along the coast.

A great example of "Wallum"

The Wide Bay area is an excellent example of the coastal lowland area known as "Wallum". Experts have identified 20 such landscapes between Gladstone and Brisbane. Wide Bay includes a large part of the "Tin Can" landscape, making it a very important example of this type of environment.

The plant communities here are very healthy and diverse. They include forests, woodlands, heath species with shrubs and small trees like Banksia aemula and Banksia robur, and coastal plants. These communities are mostly undisturbed, with only two main weed species found away from human settlements.

Some particularly interesting communities include:

• The coastal vegetation sequence, which shows how plants change from the estuary to the coast. This includes mangrove forests, salt pans, coastal marshes, and tea-tree swamps.
• The coastal dune rainforest complex, which has stayed in unusually good condition because it's hard to reach. This rainforest is a type that was once common along the Queensland coast.