Context

Brewongle Environmental Education Centre

Brewongle EEC is located at Sackville North on a ridge above the Hawkesbury River. The natural vegetation of the area has been modified by farming practices, school buildings and rural residential properties.

The land was originally inhabited by the Boorooberongal Clan of the Darug Aboriginal Peoples. It was settled by the British in 1810 when the Sackville to Windsor area was determined to be suitable for farming. The vegetation was severely modified following settlement. This was initially restricted to the flood plain immediately adjacent to the river, then the clearing of sandstone hillsides as well.

Sackville North Public School was located on the site from 1878-1972. Brewongle Environmental Education Centre was opened officially in 1979 and is a facility that hosts other schools on day and camp visits.

The site has been classified as having the vegetation community of Sydney Sandstone Gully Forest and Shale Sandstone Transition Forest with dominant tree species including Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata), and Grey Myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia).

The Study Site

The study site is located in a bend of the Hawkesbury River between two sections known as reaches. Sackville Reach extends from the south west and Portland Reach to the southeast of the site. Both these sections of the river are lined with rural blocks, some of which are used for farming others as lifestyle properties and water-ski parks.

The Hawkesbury River is a semi-mature tide dominated drowned river valley located to the north and west of Sydney. It is part of a larger more complex river system known as the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment.

The map of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and it's tributaries shows the extent of the catchment edge outlined in red, while the rivers are highlighted by those that flow into Warragamba Dam and those that do not. Regardless, all of theses tributaries flow out to sea via the Hawkesbury-Nepean system.

The river system starts south of Goulburn with the Mulwaree River and on inland facing slopes west of Wollongong. A number of tributaries flow out of deep canyons in the Blue Mountains. As the river makes its way north it meanders through flood plain at Richmond and Windsor where it is joined by South Creek, which drains much of the urban run-off from Western Sydney. This run-off includes areas which have only recently been opened up to development in the North-west sector of Sydney. After the rural area of Sackville, the river continues to gradually meander east through steep sandstone country to the estuary at Broken Bay and Pittwater before entering the sea.