Biodiversity under threat – let’s raise awareness!

While on the one hand the month of September is earmarked for celebrating biodiversity, another very important day is marked on the 7th of September each year: Threatened Species Day.

Australia’s biodiversity is currently in decline, with more than 1,700 species and ecological communities known to be threatened and at risk of extinction.

Threatened Species Day

National Threatened Species Day in Australia is held annually to commemorate the death of the last known thylacine, commonly referred to as the Tasmanian Tiger. Although at one time the thylacine was widespread over continental Australia, it was later restricted to Tasmania where the last known thylacine died only two months after the species was granted protected status. 

Threatened Species Day is a day to reflect the very real possibility of extinction for many Australian plant and wildlife species that are currently classified as protected under legislation. 

It is also a day to raise awareness, encourage conservation efforts and celebrate ongoing conservation work. 

Threatened species in our Park

A variety of threatened species and communities call our Park home; species from the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog to the vulnerable White-bellied Sea-Eagle and ecological communities from endangered Coastal Saltmarsh to the critically endangered Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest.

Eight of the thirteen migratory shorebirds recorded at the Park in the last 10 years are classified as threatened under federal legislation. 

Five out of fourteen microbat species recorded at the Park are classified as threatened under state legislation.

Whether classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered under state or federal legislation – all are deemed threatened species. 

White-bellied Sea-Eagle, vulnerable under state legislation.  PHOTO: © Jon Irvine Did you know? Sydney Olympic Park has the only active nesting site for this species along the Paramatta River estuary. Check out EagleCAM to see this year’s nesting action!

Green and Golden Bell Frog, endangered under state legislation. Did you know? The Green and Golden Bell Frog population at Sydney Olympic Park has been classified by the NSW Green and Golden Bell Frog Recovery Team as a ‘key population’, important for the recovery of the species.

Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest, critically endangered ecological community under federal and state legislation. Did you now? Only 0.5% of the original preEuropean extent of Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest remains intact, and of this Sydney Olympic Park manages 20 hectares of the only 220 hectares currently protected in conservation reserves.

Species lists showing the Park’s biodiversity with additional threatened species identified are available here.

Celebrate the Park’s ongoing conservation work 

Learn about conservation efforts implemented at the Park since the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games triggered a comprehensive and multidisciplinary effort to conserve and restore the ecological systems of Sydney Olympic Park. 

We are now over 25 years into a 100-year plus restoration project!

Read about this conservation work in our online e-book ‘20 Years of Healing: Delivering the Ecological Legacy of the Green Games'.