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About Knocklofty
Knocklofty Reserve is part of the foothills of kunanyi (Mt. Wellington). The reserve covers more than 155 hectares of regenerating bushland and other ecosystems that support a rich variety of plants and animals. Knocklofty is renowned for its frog ponds and birds, including many rare species. (Friends of Knocklofty website.)
The reserve sits atop
a base of sandstone,
mudstone and shale
which was laid down
220 million years ago.
The area contains
fossils of many species
long extinct, including
one of the earliest
reptiles known to have
lived in Australia, the
Tasmaniosaurus.
Over 300 species of
native plants have been identified on Knocklofty, including some rare or threatened plants, such as the Knocklofty leek orchid, which is only found on the reserve.
In 2016, a graduate of UTas, Dr Nghiem Quynh Chi, discovered a special silver wattle on the reserve, which does not produce viable seeds, and reproduces by growing new plants from its roots. Coming from the same tree, these new trees are clones of the parent.
Knocklofty contains a variety of plant communities and ecosystems that support a broad array of animal and insect species. It hasn't always been so ecologically healthy but years of natural and human-assisted restoration have encouraged many fabulous creatures to call it home.
Click here to see a map of the reserve.
Right:
Fossils in a stone alongside the track.
A brief history of humans on Knocklofty
From "Knocklofty: Hobart's Back Yard by Suzanne Smythe
Sadly, little is known about the Aboriginal history of Knocklofty. Recorded history largely begins with European settlement. Knocklofty was named by James Ross after an estate in Ireland (Cnoc is Irish for hill; lofty may refer to its height). In the 1800's it was called Woodman's Hill, Stringybark Hill, Swan Hill, Sherwin's Flats and Kangaroo Bottom. It was also larger than the area we call Knocklofty today, extending from the Hobart Rivulet to Lenah Valley.
In the early days of European settlement, it was used by locals for collecting wood, rough grazing or cutting stone. The removal of firewood caused erosion of the soil. Further soil was removed for sale as garden loam and building sand. In the early 1900's, the hill looked sparse and denuded.
Old "Pigeon House" on Knocklofty. Photo: ABC Radio Hobart (originally supplied by Suzanne Smythe)
In 1887 it was announced that a new township called Edinburgh would be built on Knocklofty, but clearly that didn't happen!
According to Suzanne Smythe, "By the middle of the nineteenth century Knocklofty's hills and bush became the site for protests and celebrations, for pigeon and parrot hunting, suicides and accidents, fistfights and cockfights, and a bolthole for escaped prisoners."
Sandstone and limestone were quarried from the early days of settlement, and Knocklofty is pitted with quarries and burrow holes. Stone from Knocklofty was used to build additional wings onto the Hobart Town Hall and was also shipped to Melbourne where it was incorporated into the Town Hall as well as the Victorian Treasury Building and Parliament House Library.
In 1882, a quarrier called Rippon Shield decided to give brickmaking a
go on Knocklofty. Unable to source clay there, he made his own by processing schist. It turned out 20,000 bricks a week.
In 1908, the works were taken over by Crisp and Gunn, who automated the factory so that, by 1916, it was producing 200,000 a week. By the mid 1960s the Knocklofty works were closed and the buildings demolished.
In 1945 Knocklofty was purchased for the community by the City of Hobart Council. Time and the dedicated work of local volunteers such as Friends of Knocklofty have allowed the reserve to regenerate and provide a range of habitats for our amazing wildlife.
If you would like to know more about Knocklofty today, you may like to visit the Friends of Knocklofty | Bushcare Group website. Hobart City Council has a webpage with scant information but does contain a useful map of the reserve.
Sources
Friends of Knocklofty. http://friendsofknocklofty.org/
McIntyre, Paul (ABC Radio Hobart), 2017. Knocklofty's industrial history almost lost but not forgotten. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/history-of-knocklofty-reserve-in-hobart/8654770
Smythe, Suzanne (2018). Knocklofty: Hobart’s Back Yard. Fullers: Hobart.
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