Garawarra State Conservation Area is a 900 hectare (1980 acre) reserve in eastern 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...

. Situated 40 kilometres south of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. Garawarra abuts Royal National Park

Royal National Park

Royal National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 29 km south of Sydney CBD.Founded by Sir John Robertson, Acting Premier of New South Wales, and formally proclaimed on 26 April 1879, it is the world's second oldest purposed national park, the first usage of the term...

. The nearest significant township is Helensburgh

Helensburgh, New South Wales

Helensburgh is a small town in New South Wales, Australia. Helensburgh is located 45 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and north of Wollongong. Helensburgh is in the local government area of Wollongong City Council and marks the northern end of the Illawarra region...

. Garawarra was established as a park in 1987, and added (along with Royal National Park) to the Australian National Heritage List

Australian National Heritage List

The Australian National Heritage List is a list of places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. The list includes natural, historic and indigenous places...

 on 15 September 2006.

Garawarra features heathland, eucalyptus

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

 forest, rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 and wildflowers in late winter and early spring. Commonly seen wildlife include the Lyrebird

Lyrebird

A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured...

 and Echidna

Echidna

Echidnas , also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. There are four extant species, which, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs...

. The soils are based on Hawkesbury Sandstone and the Narrabeen group

Narrabeen group

The Narrabeen group of sedimentary rocks occurs in the Sydney Basin in eastern Australia. This series of rocks was formed in the triassic period....

 of sedimentary rocks. The climate is humid and temperate, with warm summers and mild winters. Rainfall is spread throughout the year, being in excess of 1000 mm.

Flora

Dry heathland on the ridges is dominated by typical Sydney sandstone

Sydney sandstone

Sydney sandstone is the common name for Sydney Basin Hawkesbury Sandstone, historically known as Yellowblock, is a sedimentary rock named after the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this sandstone is particularly common....

 plants, such as Banksia

Banksia

Banksia is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting "cones" and heads. When it comes to size, banksias range from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up...

, Boronia, Leptospermum

Leptospermum

Leptospermum is a genus of about 80-86 species of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greatest diversity in the south of the continent; but one species extends to New Zealand, another to Malaysia, and L. recurvum is endemic to Malaysia.They...

, Epacris

Epacris

Epacris is a genus of about 35-40 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, though formerly often treated in a separate family Epacridaceae. The genus is native to eastern and southeastern Australia , New Caledonia and New Zealand...

, Acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

, Flannel Flowers

Actinotus

Actinotus is a genus of flowering plants of the Mackinlayaceae family, with about 18 species. It is native to Australasia. Its best known member is the Sydney Flannel Flower, a common site in Sydney bushland in the spring...

, Christmas Bells

Blandfordia

Blandfordia is a genus of flowering plants, placed in the family Blandfordiaceae of the order Asparagales of the monocots. The genus is native to eastern Australia. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as Christmas Bells due to the shape of their flowers and the timing of their flowering...

, and many plants in the pea family

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

. The drier eucalyptus

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

 woodland features trees species such as Sydney Red Gum

Angophora costata

Angophora costata is a common woodland and forest tree of Eastern Australia and is known by a variety of names including smooth-barked apple, rose gum, rose apple or Sydney red gum. It grows primarily on sandstone soils, usually on headlands, plateaus or other elevated areas. A...

, dwarf apple

Angophora hispida

Angophora hispida grows as a malee, or as a tree to about 7 m in height.A. hispidas small size, especially when compared to its Angophora and Eucalyptus relatives, leads to it being known by the common name Dwarf Apple...

, Red Bloodwood

Corymbia gummifera

Corymbia gummifera, commonly known as Red Bloodwood, is a hardwood tree native to eastern Australia.-Description:It usually grows as a tree, but may take the form of a mallee in very poor soils. As a tree it typically grows to a height of 20 to 34 metres and a trunk diameter of one metre dbh....

, Yellow Bloodwood

Corymbia eximia

Corymbia eximia, commonly known as the Yellow Bloodwood, is a bloodwood native to New South Wales. It occurs around the Sydney Basin often in high rainfall areas on shallow sandstone soils on plateaux or escarpments, in fire prone areas. Growing as a gnarled tree to 20 m , it is recognisable by its...

, and Sydney Peppermint

Eucalyptus piperita

Eucalyptus piperita, commonly known as Sydney Peppermint and Urn-fruited Peppermint, is a small to medium forest tree native to New South Wales, Australia.-Description:...

.

The wet sclerophyll forests have many large trees over 30 metres (100 ft) tall. Significant species include Blackbutt

Eucalyptus pilularis

Eucalyptus pilularis, commonly known as Blackbutt, is a common and dominant tree of the myrtaceae family native to southeastern Australia. A large tree, it is identified by the stocking of rough bark, to about half way up the trunk, above this is white smooth bark. The leaves are a uniform glossy...

, Sydney Blue Gum, Turpentine

Syncarpia glomulifera

Syncarpia glomulifera is a tree native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, which can grow to more than 30 metres in height...

 and Grey Ironbark

Eucalyptus paniculata

Eucalyptus paniculata is a common eucalyptus tree of eastern New South Wales, Australia. A dark trunked forest tree with grey furrowed bark. When in flower, the nectar is attractive to birds and insects, and is used in honey production.- Habitat :The natural range of distribution is high rainfall...

.

At first appearance, the warm temperate rainforests seem typical of the northern Illawarra

Illawarra

Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...

. Warm temperate species such as Sassafras

Doryphora sassafras

Doryphora sassafras, commonly known as Sassafras, Yellow-, Canary- or Golden sassafras, or Golden Deal, is a species of evergreen tree of the family Atherospermataceae native to the subtropical and temperate rainforests of eastern New South Wales and Queensland, Australia...

 and Jackwood are common. However, the rainforests are quite diverse with many interesting sub-tropical species. Such as Small-leaved Fig, Bollygum

Litsea reticulata

Litsea reticulata is a common Australian tree, growing from near Milton, New South Wales to the Bunya Mountains, Queensland. Common names include Bollygum, Bolly Wood and Brown Beech...

, White Hazelwood

Symplocos stawellii

Symplocos stawellii or the White Hazelwood is a rainforest tree growing in eastern Australia. It often grows along creeks in gullies, in tropical and sub-tropical rainforests. The natural distribution is from Gerringong Creek in the upper Kangaroo Valley of New South Wales to the Atherton...

, Brush Bloodwood, Citronella

Citronella moorei

Citronella moorei is a rainforest tree growing in eastern Australia. Common names for this species include Churnwood, Citronella, Soapy Box, Silky Beech, and Corduroy.- Description :...

, Native Tamarind and Myrtle Ebony

Diospyros pentamera

Diospyros pentamera is a common rainforest tree in the Ebony or Persimmon family growing from near Batemans Bay in New South Wales to the Atherton Tableland in tropical Queensland, Australia...

.

Fauna

The area has a rich assembly of rainforest birds, as well as a variety of frogs and reptiles.