Brush Island is an island nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 lying off the south coast of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It lies about 2 km south-east of the coastal village of Bawley Point. It has an unmanned lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

. The island was made a nature reserve in 1963 and is important for breeding seabird

Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...

s. It is listed on Australia’s Register of the National Estate

Register of the National Estate

The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...

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Description

The 47 ha island lies 350 m from the tip of Murramarang Point. It is 880 m long, with a maximum width of 560 m, and rises to about 30 m above sea level. Its shorelines are steep, rocky cliff faces with erosion gullies on the northern side. The gullies are both caused and used by the Little Penguin

Little Penguin

The Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to an average of in height and in length , is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, with possible records from Chile.Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names...

s whose tracks and burrows cover most of the island.

Flora and fauna

The island supports a coastal vegetation cover of herbs, low shrubs and stunted trees, including Carpobrotus glaucescens

Carpobrotus glaucescens

Pigface, or Carpobrotus glaucescens, is a succulent coastal groundcover native to temperate eastern Australia.Succulent leaves are 3.5–10 cm long and 9–15 mm wide, straight or slightly curved. Flowers are 3.2-6 cm wide, and light purple. The fruit is 2–3 cm long, 1.6–2.4 cm wide, red to...

, Lomandra longifolia

Lomandra longifolia

Lomandra longifolia, commonly known as Spiny-head Mat-rush, Spiky-headed Mat-rush or Basket Grass is a perennial, rhizomatous herb found throughout eastern Australia. The leaves are 40 cm to 80 cm in long, and generally have a leaf of about 8mm to 12mm wide . It grows in a variety of soil...

, Einadia hastata

Einadia hastata

Einadia hastata, known by the common name of Saloop or Berry Saltbush is a small plant in the saltbush family. This species is found in coastal and inland areas of eastern Australia. Occasionally seen in rainforest gullies, though mostly seen in more open areas.Often found in the heavier soils, up...

, Myoporum insulare

Myoporum insulare

Myoporum insulare is a shrub or small tree which occurs on dunes and coastal cliffs in Australia. Common names include Common Boobialla, Boobialla, Native Juniper and, in Western Australia, Blueberry Tree....

, Enchylaena tomentosa

Enchylaena tomentosa

Enchylaena tomentosa, commonly known as Barrier Saltbush, is a species of small shrub endemic to Australia.-Description:It grows as a small shrub, prostrate or erect, up to a metre high. It has slender leaves up to two centimetres long, and fruits that may be green, yellow or red...

, Acacia longifolia

Acacia longifolia

Acacia longifolia is a species of Acacia native to southeastern Australia, from the extreme southeast of Queensland, eastern New South Wales, eastern and southern Victoria, and southeastern South Australia. Common names for it include Acacia Trinervis, Aroma Doble, Golden Wattle, Coast Wattle,...

, Westringia fruticosa

Westringia fruticosa

Westringia fruticosa is a shrub that grows near the coast in eastern Australia. The flowers are white, hairy and have the upper petal divided into two lobes. They also have orange-to-purply spots on their bottom half....

, Banksia integrifolia

Banksia integrifolia

Banksia integrifolia, commonly known as Coast Banksia, is a species of tree that grows along the east coast of Australia. One of the most widely distributed Banksia species, it occurs between Victoria and Central Queensland in a broad range of habitats, from coastal dunes to mountains...

and Casuarina glauca

Casuarina glauca

Casuarina glauca, commonly known as the swamp she-oak, is a species of Casuarina native to the east coast of Australia. It is found from central Queensland south to southern New South Wales. It has become naturalised in the Everglades in Florida where it is considered a weed.The larvae of the...

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Seabird species nesting on the island include the Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

The Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a Muttonbird, like the Sooty Shearwater of New Zealand and the Short-tailed Shearwater of Australia...

, Short-tailed Shearwater

Short-tailed Shearwater

The Short-tailed Shearwater or Slender-billed Shearwater , also called Yolla or Moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian waters, and is one of the few Australian native birds in which the chicks are commercially harvested...

, Little Penguin and Sooty Oystercatcher

Sooty Oystercatcher

The Sooty Oystercatcher, Haematopus fuliginosus, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. It prefers rocky coastlines, but will occasionally live in estuaries....

. White-faced Storm-petrel

White-faced Storm-petrel

The White-faced Storm Petrel , also known as White-faced Petrel is a small seabird of the storm-petrel family. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Pelagodroma....

s and Sooty Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

The Sooty Shearwater is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. In New Zealand it is also known by its Māori name tītī and as "muttonbird", like its relatives the Wedge-tailed Shearwater and the Australian Short-tailed Shearwater The Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) is...

s were found there for the first time in 2008.

Rat eradication

The island became infested with Black Rat

Black Rat

The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...

s in 1932 after a steamer, the Northern Firth, ran aground there. In 2005 the rats were eradicated after a poisoning campaign by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....

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