This September, Lake Macquarie City is celebrating the different species that call Lake Macquarie home as part of Biodiversity Month.

1. Wallum banksia
Banksia aemula

2. Themeda grassland
on seacliffs
and headlands
is a threatened
vegetation
community

3. Vegetation
communities include
coastal heath

4. Humpback whale
Megaptera
novaeangliae

5. Middens found
around the Lake are
an insight into the
diet of Awabakal
People

6. Council project
Saltmarsch
rehabilitation at
Coon Island

7. 174km
circumference of
Lake Macquarie
That’s roughly double the size of Sydney Harbour!
646274.3ML
estuary volume, with an
average depth of 5.7m
LAKE
The lake has an area of approximately 110km2
covering
approximately 15 per cent of the City

8. Fun fact
Fish make up 90% of
the Osprey’s diet
photo by S. Walpole

9. Community project
Hunter Bird
Observers Club
conduct monthly
migratory shorebird
surveys
Bar-tailed Godwit - Limosa lapponica

10. Creek lilly pilly
Syzygium smithii
photo by A. Kokai

11. Rainforest, seen
here in Olney
State Forest, is
a threatened
community
photo by M. Eastcott

12. Vegetation
communities
include
Hunter Valley
Moist Forest
photo taken by G. Pritchard

13. Eastern water dragon
Intellagama lesueurii
photo by R. Ingersoll

14. The fleshy leaves
of Pigface
Carpobrotus
glaucescens were
used by the
Awabakal People as
a natural relief for
insect bites

15. Council project
Dune stabilisation at
Blacksmiths Beach

16. 32km
total length of coastline
in Lake Macquarie City
With four patrolled beaches - Redhead, Blacksmiths,
Caves and Catherine Hill Bay
COAST

17. Fun fact
In 2015, 22 species
of nudibranch were
recorded in
Swansea Channel
Doriprismatica atromarginata photo by K. Tinson

18. Community project
Junior Landcare
planting at
Blacksmiths Beach

19. There are four
species of seagrass
found in the Lake
- Halophila ovalis,
Posidonia australis
Ruppia megacarpa
and Zostera
capricorni

20. Saltmarsh, seen
here at
Black Neds Bay,
is a threatened
vegetation
community

21. Vegetation
communities include
wetlands
photo by S. Passlow

22. Green turtle
Chelonia mydas
photo by P. Lindgren

23. The papery
bark from the
broad-leaved
paperbark, Melaleuca
quinquenervia, was
used by the Awabakal
People to
wrap food for
cooking
photo by M. McDonald

24. Council project
Council staff work
with community
volunteers to monitor
ecosystem health
across the city at 55
sites
photo by G. Pritchard

25. 2424km
total stream length in
Lake Macquarie
That’s roughly the distance between Lake Macquarie and Cairns!
WATERWAYS

26. Fun fact
the difference
between a dragonfly
and a damselfly is in
how they hold their
wings when
resting
photo by M. Smith

27. Community project
Junior Landcare
groups work to
regenerate native
vegetation along
waterways