It All Begins Here

The wildlife does not disappear when the machines arrive

Clearing a mature tree is not simply removing vegetation. It can erase food, shelter, nesting space and ecological infrastructure that may have taken more than a century to form.

When mature trees began falling at Barrambin—Victoria Park—on 6 August, community observers reported seeing possums, cockatoos and other birdlife fleeing the clearing area.

Those accounts were reported by InDaily Queensland. The same report included GIICA’s response: the authority said fauna spotter-catchers and heritage personnel were present, and that ecologists would follow protocols to relocate fauna or eggs found during clearing.

Both parts of that report matter.

It would be wrong to state as fact that no wildlife specialists were present. It would be equally wrong to dismiss what residents and campaigners witnessed simply because individual animals may have been moved.

A wildlife spotter can relocate an animal. They cannot relocate an ecosystem.

They cannot recreate an old tree hollow, restore a lost canopy overnight or immediately replace the seasonal supply of nectar, fruit, insects, shade and protection provided by a mature tree. They cannot guarantee that a displaced possum, bird or bat will find an unoccupied refuge nearby.

Earlier ecological work prepared for Brisbane City Council identified 41 hollow-bearing trees at Victoria Park and 34 particularly old trees with trunks exceeding 1,200 millimetres in diameter. The records are preserved with the former Council planning documents on the Save Victoria Park resources page.

These are not cosmetic features.

Research published through CSIRO has found that many Australian birds, bats and arboreal mammals depend on hollows, with den trees used by many mammals being at least 100 years old. Australia has as many as 300 native vertebrate species that use tree hollows. CSIRO research explains the importance of these structures, while the NSW environment department warns that hollows may take hundreds of years to form and are not easily replaced.

Planting a sapling later is not an ecological substitute for retaining a mature habitat tree now.

The project’s own federal environmental referral identified the vulnerable grey-headed flying-fox, endangered koala, vulnerable white-throated needletail and migratory fork-tailed swift as species that were known, considered likely or assessed because of their regional significance. The referral acknowledged that trees used as feeding resources by grey-headed flying-foxes would be removed, although it argued that the animals were mobile and had alternative habitat elsewhere in Brisbane. Read the official EPBC referral.

On 5 May 2026, the Commonwealth determined that the project was “not a controlled action” under the federal environment law. That decision means the project was considered unlikely to have a significant impact on nationally protected environmental matters. It does not mean that no trees, habitat or local wildlife will be affected. The decision notice is available here.

That distinction is essential.

A possum does not need to be nationally threatened before the destruction of its den matters. A cockatoo does not need to fall from a tree before the loss of its nesting hollow becomes real. A park does not need to be pristine wilderness before it has ecological value.

Barrambin is an inner-city refuge. More than 60 bird species have been recorded in and around the park, alongside possums, microbats, reptiles, frogs, insects and pollinators. Save Victoria Park has compiled an overview of its wildlife, including a link to the York’s Hollow eBird records.

Before further clearing occurs, the public deserves access to clear, tree-by-tree information: which trees will be removed, which contain hollows, what pre-clearing inspections occurred, what animals were found, where they were relocated and how their survival will be monitored.

If strong protection protocols are genuinely operating, publishing that information should not be controversial.

Wildlife should not be reduced to a carcass count after the bulldozers have passed. The real measure is whether habitat remains capable of sustaining life.

Barrambin is not empty land awaiting a better use. It is already alive.

Learn more and support the campaign at Save Victoria Park.