Stories of revival: Lennox Point
“Cape Byron from Lennox Head” – Edward Forde, c1860
There's little doubt the striking volcanic headland had significance for the local Nyangbul people of the Bundjalung nation. Their thousands of years of rich cultural connection to the land reflects an intimate understanding of Country that the new arrivals from Europe struggled to grasp. And the presence of native grasslands on our headlands remind us of the cultural burning practices that were common in First Nations land management.
The cedar getters were the first Europeans to make their way overland to Bundjalung Country. In the 1860s the NSW government sent a surveying party to chart the coastline. Edward Forde’s painting above – and accompanying sketches – portray an idea of how this coastline would have looked at the time. During this era Lennox Point was almost totally covered in littoral rainforest except for the verging kangaroo grass adjacent to the cliffs on the ocean side of the point.
In the mid 1800s the NSW government issued decrees stating that if you could clear a patch of the Big Scrub – the might rainforest to the west – you'd be granted property rights . Within a generation most of it was cut or burned. Lennox Point followed a similar trajectory as the coastal rainforest was cleared for a rapidly expanding dairy industry.
Lennox Point remained in a degraded state for over a century until the Ballina Environmental Society inspired the planting of two plots above Pat Morton lookout in the 1980s.
It was an effort conducted almost entirely by community members, with occasional assistance from the government sector – mostly in the way of contributing funding.
In 2010 a group from the Lennox National Surfing Reserve Association alongside community began regeneration of a plot adjacent to the surfer’s carpark. Those of us that continue to use the area now are gifted a walk through an early stage coastal rainforest, where the understorey is now starting to flourish and grow. It’s a beautiful segue from carpark to ocean.
The image below, taken by Rob Garbutt last year, shows the dark green patch of regenerating rainforest atop the Point. Against all odds, an incredibly rare tree species known as Coastal fontainea survived the destruction – a 2005 survey suggested there were only 10 mature specimens alive and all were found in Lennox Head. Bird species unseen for the last 120 years are now reappearing in the area. The first Noisy Pittas were spotted on the headland eight or so years ago. Since then Wompoo & Wonga pigeons have made a return. Add to this the reptiles, wallabies, possums and countless other smaller creatures that have been able to return to an area left neglected for so long – it’s amazing what can happen in two generations.
