Shellharbour City Council
We make decisions today that will positively impact on Shellharbour City and its environment for generations to come.
Bass Point Reserve
Bass Point Reserve is a 72 hectare coastal jewel, just south of Shellharbour Village and contains one of the few littoral rainforest areas in the Illawarra. Greater Bank donated 2,000 trees!
Bass Point Reserve Planting Site
Project Status: COMPLETED
Located 25km south of Wollongong, Bass Point Reserve is a 4km-long natural promontory of rocky shorelines and sandy embayments that supports a diverse collection of natural and cultural elements. The natural vegetation supports a variety of flora and fauna, both common and rare to the region.
Planting dates: 4 February 2021
A coastal jewel
The Bass Point Marine Area surrounding the reserve is regarded as highly significant for its biodiversity and pristine condition. This relatively undisturbed environment supports a variety of common, rare and endangered fauna and flora species. The shallow and sheltered waters have seen the development of a significant but fragile sea grass habitat that provides a suitable environment for many aquatic animals to shelter, feed and breed.
All the plants for this project have established local provenance. All collected, sown and grown by Shellharbour City Council’s own retail nursery.
Species planted:
- Lilly Pilly
- Casuarina
- Allocasuarina
- Eucalyptus species
- Hibbertia
- Parsonsia
- Hedgehog grass
- Kangaroo grass
- Weeping grass
Find out more about our planting partner
A cultural landscape
Bass Point Reserve also supports diverse headland vegetation and significant littoral rainforest – making it one of the most important and unique natural landscapes in southern NSW.
Littoral rainforest is generally a closed forest with its structure and composition strongly influenced by its close proximity to the marine environment. Positioned on coastal headlands or beach sand dunes, littoral rainforest is considered an Endangered Ecological Community in NSW.
As a cultural landscape, Bass Point Reserve includes sites of Aboriginal archaeological significance and others of European historical significance.
Fourteen sites associated with the sustained Aboriginal occupation of the land have been identified.
Check out our Bass Point planting day
