The Melaleuca Wetlands Fauna Survey
By Angela Hoskins
The Melaleuca Wetlands is one of Coochiemudlo Island’s environmental jewels.
In 2016, Coochiemudlo Island Coastcare produced the final report of the ‘Melaleuca Wetlands, Coochiemudlo Island, Fauna Survey’. It was conducted by Dr Ronda Green with significant support, and volunteer hours, from Coastcare and island residents.
It’s almost ten years since the fauna survey was completed. Back then, SE Queensland was in the midst of a drought. As a reference, the survey presents an interesting mark in time, that could potentially help gauge how the Melaleuca Wetlands ecoystem is faring now, and into future.
The aim of this article is to present a bite-size summary of the 2016 fauna survey.
A PDF of the Survey’s final report is available on the Coochiemudlo Island Coastcare website.
Quandamooka welcome at the entrance to the Melaleuca Wetlands on Coochiemudlo Island.
The Quandamooka Welcome
Yura Oodjeroo Oodjeroo Dabil Jara nu
Welcome to the Melaleuca Wetlands
For thousands of years Quandamooka people have valued these wetlands. We have an ongoing connection to this special place through inherited responsibilities, traditional knowledge, shared stories and surviving cultural sites.
The spirit of Caring for Country continues.
This Oodjeroo Oodjeroo (Melaleuca) sanctuary is protected by the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty to conserve our most valuable wetlands through wise use and management.
By keeping the pathway you are showing respect and helping to look after this fragile environment.
The Melaleuca Wetlands is the largest reserve of native vegetation on Coochiemudlo Island, covering an area of 19.5 hectares. It includes a swamp dominated by broad-leafed or paperbark tea-tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) with grass-like plants and other understory plants. Norfolk Beach is on the the Wetlands’ eastern border.
Moreton Bay is recognised by the Ramsar Convention as a site of significance for migratory and resident shore birds. Ramsar also establishes the importance of wetlands ecosystems for sustaining biodiversity.
In 2016, the Queensland Government WetlandInfo reported that Melaleuca wetlands have significantly diminished in Southeast Queensland: only 500 hectares remains of the original 12,000 hectares in Brisbane. It’s important that we look after Coochiemudlo’s Melaleuca Wetlands, along with other smaller wetland areas on the island, to preserve the ecosystem for fauna and flora species, for the health of our environment.
Swamp paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia) — an important food source
The swamp paperbark Melaleuca quinquenervia flowers from mid-summer and sometimes to the end of winter. The flowers are an important food resource for nectivorous birds. During winter, honeyeaters and the noisy friar bird Philemon corniculatus, and lorikeets, make the most of flowering events. The flowers also attract insects, another food source for bird life, particularly during the cooler winter months when other ecosystems might have diminished food.
Although our Melaleuca Wetlands is small in relation to other wetlands in Queensland and interstate, size does not matter. For life on Coochiemudlo Island and beyond, our Wetlands is significant: The island is located less than 1 kilometre from the mainland which means there is an easy passage for many nomadic nectarivorous birds and fruit bats.
Fauna reported in the 2016 survey
The 2016 survey outlines, in table form, the fauna species detected or identified in the Melaleuca Wetlands. These include:
Mammals and marsupials — a long list that includes bandicoots; flying foxes and bat species; domestic dogs and cats. (Table 1).
Birds — an long list that includes bush stone-curlews; masked lapwing; raptors; boobook owl; eastern koel; pheasant coucal; fantails; fig birds, butcherbird (Table 2).
Reptiles — including small-eyed snake; green tree snake; bearded dragon; garden skink. A dead keelback snake was found (Table 3).
Amphibians — including striped marsh frog; eastern sedge frog; cane toads (Table 4).
Invertebrates — a long list of invertebrates has been itemised including many butterfly and moth species; beetles; crickets; spiders (Table 6).
Fauna not detected in the survey
No waterbirds were observed in the swamp, but in the past, in non-drought years, the swamp harboured a variety of waterbirds.
No direct evidence of wallabies (macropods) was found during the 2016 survey. However, island residents had previously reported that: wallaby tracks were found leading from the Wetlands to the beach; two wallabies were seen grazing on the Laurie Burns oval at dawn; and, in 2014, there was a sighting of a swamp wallaby swimming from the mainland. A dead wallaby was found on the beach in late 2015. The cause of death is unknown although free-ranging dogs are a known threat to wallabies — from physical attack or from the stress of a prolonged chase.
Koalas used to be on the island several decades ago (Gasteen 1994), but no longer.
No introduced rodents or birds were detected in the Wetlands.
Feral species identified in the survey
Occasional cane toads in summer, and wandering cats and dogs were reported in the survey. The impact of feral cats on lizard and bird species is well known from national research findings. Birds, bats and butterflies can recolonize to the island from the mainland, while rodents, echidnas and most marsupials can't.
A collection of weeds growing on the boundary of Melaleuca Wetlands, northern end of Elizabeth Street, Coochiemudlo Island. Photo taken June 2024.
The survey reported that swampy areas of the Wetlands seem essentially weed-free, with just occasional introduced/invasive plants amongst the native species, although sections around the border of the Melaleuca Wetlands that have been overwhelmed by weedy species. Birds dropping seeds from invasive plants on the island, or potentially the mainland, could be one cause. But the most likely cause is the dumping of weeds and unwanted garden plants into these boundary areas.
This article is a summary of information from the 2016 ‘Melaleuca Wetlands, Coochiemudlo Island, Fauna Survey’. The Survey also includes a list of recommendations that aren’t included in this article.
A big thank you to Coochiemudlo Island Coastcare for producing the Survey, and their ongoing environmental work on the island. The Survey was supported by Redlands City Council.
