Wallumatta was the original name given to the Ryde-Hunters Hill area of Northern Sydney, Australia. Prior to the time that the area was known as

Kissing Point Kissing Point is a point on the Parramatta River about 2 km south of Ryde, located in the suburb of Putney. Historically, the name referred to a much wider area than the current-day point; and perhaps originally to the point near Ryde Bridg ...

, Wallumatta was the formal title and was named in honour of the area's native inhabitants: The

Wallumettagal The Wallumettagal or Wallumedegal (derived from ''wallumai'', meaning Australasian snapper, snapper (fish)) tribe was an indigenous indigenous Australians, Aboriginal tribe that inhabited the area of Sydney today known as the Ryde, New South Wa ...

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

tribe. Although present-day demographics indicate that less than 0.4% of the

City of Ryde The City of Ryde is a local government area in the Northern Sydney region, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was first established as the Municipal District of Ryde in 1870, became a municipality in 1906 and was proclaimed as the ...

has Aboriginal background, the name Wallumatta survives in modern-day street names in Newport and Caringbah, as well as in

Lower Northern Sydney The North Shore is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, generally referring to suburbs located on the northern side of Sydney Harbour up to Wahroonga, and suburbs between Middle Harbour and the Lane ...

at the Wallumatta Nature Reserve in North Ryde. Several community groups have also been named after Wallumatta, including the Wallumetta Scout Fellowship.

Wallumatta Nature Reserve

The Wallumatta Nature Reserve is a small and critically endangered remnant of preserved bushland located at the corner of Twin and Cressy Roads, North Ryde, and is significant for being the largest remaining expanse of endangered Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, which is an ecological community of plants unique to the Sydney bioregion. With the arrival of European settlement this small reserve was originally part of the Field of Mars Reserve in 1804. During the 1950s it was part of a larger parcel of land set aside for further development of the North Ryde Psychiatric Centre (now Macquarie Hospital) In the 1980s the Macquarie Hospital Bushland was saved from further building development. The reserve is an important resource for scientific research and environmental education. It is popular with botanists, nature lovers, school excursions. Dedicated bushcare groups help preserve this valuable remnant of original bushland. The 6.2ha reserve features a clearly signposted 0.6 km walking trail. It is open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset, subject to fire danger or bad weather. Admission is free. The heartland of this type of forest once covered some 26,000 hectares west to

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, and North of Parramatta River from Ryde to Castle Hill, as well as on the shale ridge caps in the Hornsby Plateau and into areas of the inner western suburbs.

References

{{coord missing, New South Wales Geography of Sydney Forests of New South Wales

Wallumatta Nature Reserve

See also

References