Munmorah State Conservation Area (part 2)

The Palm Tree Circuit track is an easy walk of around 20 - 30 mins. Starting at the picnic area which has free gas barbeques and sheltered tables and chairs under the canopy of cabbage palm trees providing a quite and peaceful setting.

As you start your walk you will pass through rocky outcrops, then through open woodlands full of banksias, ancient cycads and smooth barked-apple trees before returning to the picnic area

The dense upper layer (or canopy) of the cabbage palm tree and eucalypt reduce the amount of light that can penetrate, thus providing shelter from the heat. The soil is moist and very deep providing shelter and food for many animals. The growing tip known as the “cabbage” was eaten either roasted or uncooked by the Aboriginals and early settlers. Unfortunately as a result the tree wouldn’t survive.

Along the walk you will find some Cyads (Marcozamia) which are a group of ancient plants that were a common sight some 200 million years ago during the Jurassic period. Their fleshly red seeds are a highly nutritious source of starch. Don’t try one however as they are extremely poisonous. Aboriginal people would remove the seeds by pounding them and socking them in water for a week. This water would be changed everyday or the seeds would be placed in bags and put into a running stream or creek. The pulp was then made into cakes and roasted over hot embers.

Brown stringy bark and angophora dominate the ridgetop of the open woodlands with a mixture of tree teas, hairpin banksias and mixed native grasses in the understory. The open woodlands sit on layers of gravelly soil and its elevated position provide a sunny aspect of the walk.

Next we take a look around Somersby Falls in Brisbane Water National Park.

Acknowledgments
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.