Wednesday 21 April 2010

Botany, wetlands

Mill Pond is part of the wetlands in the eastern suburb of Botany. This view is from the bridge on Botany Road. By the 1850s the colony's streams became clogged and polluted, so the government turned to Botany to supply Sydney with water. From 1859 to 1886, water from the Botany Swamps was pumped to the city and surrounding suburbs. Over time, tanneries, wool scourers, fellmongers and boiling down works all drained the natural swamp. By 1869, the area was no longer considered to be a reliable source of water and the Nepean water scheme took over.

44 comments:

  1. I bet that's a great spot for birds! Looks pretty, i'm a fan of wetlands :)

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  2. Wetlands are so diverse. So many different types of plants and so many types of birds, and frogs and snakes and bugs and...well. I do so like swamps. My last job required that I spend a great deal of time in them, and I came to realize how lovely they are.

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  3. very green and nicely captured.

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  4. Oh excellent. I am working up a post for next week on Busby's Bore and the Botany Wetlands are an essential element of that story. I had never seen them in person, but to even see a photo is useful. Now I will google-map it and see the lie of the land.

    Thanks, Jim.

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  5. I agree with Jill, it looks like a great place to do some birding. Wonderful scene!

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  6. Nice shot! I've learned that I enjoy wetlands.

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  7. Must have been wonderful to enjoy the senses mankind owns. Please have a nice Wednesday.

    daily athens

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  8. eileeninmd, if you look closely you can see a couple of waterhens and a couple of ducks in this shot.

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  9. That looks much like the wetlands that I found the lotus flowers in. Very nice!

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  10. I worked for many years at Rosebery. Now I'm all homesick.

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  11. Nice shot of the wetlands, Jim. They are so important to the wildlife and environment. My husband and I enjoy visiting wetlands.

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  12. looks like the middle of the amazon - so close to the heart of sydney

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  13. This is one great shot of the wetlands. We have one close by and I got good shots of birds!

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  14. Looking pretty boggy on your bloggy! Hey, I made a little joke, but I really love your snap!

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  15. Good thing that your photo is clickable. Nice one.

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  16. What a great place to find all kinds of wee critters! Great shot!

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  17. That is a beautiful picture. I never heard of wetlands. Maybe it is just the word I don't know.

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  18. Riet, I suppose wetlands is a better way to describe a marsh or a swamp. You might be more familiar with those terms.

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  19. This green and blue are a beautiful combination!
    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  20. wetlands are so interesting places. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  21. It does look a neat wetland. I enjoy watching for wildlife around wetlands. Nice shot.

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  22. Cool wetland! Guess lots of birds make this a haven.
    Thanks for visiting.

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  23. nice composition...don't you love it when nature cooperates that way?

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  24. Wonderful shot of the wetlands. Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a nice day to you!

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  25. Great colours and light! :)

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  26. Wetlands.... great photo.... I didn't expect to see them in the suburbs. We stopped overnight near the Mother of Ducks Lagoon in Guyra recently.

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  27. That is gorgeous. What a fabulous photo.

    I'm trying to catch up on my wonderful visitors from Wednesday. I thank you for dropping by and leaving such a kind comment. It's always so much appreciated.

    Thanks, and do come again sometime soon.

    Hope your day has been treating you well so far!!

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  28. Interesting. Nice reflection of the lovely blue sky.

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  29. Have to put my Busby's Bore post back by a week as I have found yet another tour of it on Sunday 2nd.

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  30. Julie, I look forward to reading about Busby's Bore. I remember doing the tour out at Victoria Barracks when I was still at school.

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  31. That's a very pretty watery scene. I bet it's even lovelier right around sunrise or sunset. Thanks for stopping by.

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  32. neat picture, It looks like there was once a fence in the middle of the wetland.

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  33. Carly, I think they've installd those logs there to attract the wetland birds. Parts of the swamps and marshes in this area were reclaimed for industrial uses. There has been a lot of effort made in recent years to clean up the wetlands and bring the wildlife back.

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  34. I grew up just down the road from Mill Ponds at Botany - my brothers and I spent many hours exploring this area which back in the 1970's felt like you were in the middle of no-where. One day we came across a raft - A full size amazing raft, the type you'd see in a Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn movie - It was amazing. We played on that thing for hours and left it where we found it...it was there for months and then one day it vanished. Great memories - then they started dredging botany bay to build the 3rd runway and foreshore drive...the place was never the same.

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Thanks for visiting my blog. Please leave me a message. Jim.

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