Beecroft-Cheltenham Link Track
This trail network explores some excellent examples of bushland remnants in the urban environment and despite being surrounded by homes and roads, the reserves offer a peaceful respite to the busyness of modern life.
Due to areas of limited mobile coverage, remember to download this map (PDF) before you begin walking.
Beecroft-Cheltenham Link Track Map
Points of interest
- A rich indigenous history
- Paradise saved
- Towering timbers
- Caring for our bushland
- Protecting our native wildlife
- Finding feathered friends
A series of interpretive signs placed throughout the reserves are aimed at helping walkers to engage with the bushland as they amble along these relatively easy trails.
For thousands of years this bushland formed a part of the seasonal range of Aboriginal family groups. The surrounding landscape contributed to their food, medicine, shelter and other material and cultural needs.
Not long after British colonisation in 1788, timber-getters began moving through the area harvesting the massive trees that grew in this region. Indeed, some of the trails in the current network may have originated as old logging paths. As the largest trees disappeared, orchards, market gardens, nurseries, and poultry farms sprang up. At first they were little more than cleared islands in a sea of bushland. Following the opening of the railway line in 1886, urban development of the surrounding suburbs began in earnest until finally most of the vegetation was removed and the bushland became the islands.
As early as 1893, local unsold residential blocks were dedicated for Public Recreation, and over the years donations of land from Council and residents combined to form these bushland reserves left to us today. In 1997, the bushland was effectively split in two by the construction of the M2 Motorway. Nevertheless, these bushland corridors still provide important habitat for native fauna and are a welcome respite from the monotony of the urban landscape.
The reserves are dominated by the ecological community known as Blackbutt Gully Forest. The extremely rare Blue Gum High Forest community, of which less than 5% remains in existence, also occurs in the northern areas of Chilworth Reserve.
Due to a diversity of growing conditions there is a relatively high variety of plant species found throughout the reserves. Some 240 species have been recorded, with 21 being listed as regionally and locally significant and at least 2 being listed as threatened. The main canopy species in the reserves are Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna), Blackbutt (E. pilularis), Red Mahogany (E. resinifera), Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera), Sydney Red Gum (Angophora costata), Red Bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera), and Forest Oak (Allocasuarina torulosa).
These reserves also provide feeding and breeding sites for a wide range of fauna including birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. Threatened species such as the Eastern Bentwing-bat (Miniopterus schreibersiIl oceanensis), Greyheaded Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua), and Glossy Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami) have been recorded in the area. Over the years both Hornsby Shire Council and local Bushcare volunteers have invested immense time and resources intorestoring and maintaining these bushland reserves.
Location
Chelteham Road, Cheltenham 2119 View Map
-33.7571917,151.0763288
Chelteham Road ,
Cheltenham 2119
Chelteham Road ,
Cheltenham 2119
Beecroft-Cheltenham Link Track