Associated Development: Gungahlin Urban Development
Commonwealth approval: Strategic assessment of urban development at Gungahlin, ACT
Length of Gungahlin Strategic Assessment approval: 1 January 2043. Following this date, the offset areas will be incorporated into the Canberra Nature Park.
Full Name: Throsby East, Throsby North and Kenny Broadacre
Associated Nature Reserves: Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve, Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve
Where are the Throsby and Kenny Broadacre Offset Areas?
The offset areas include Throsby North (172 Ha), Throsby East (104 Ha) and Kenny Broadacre (23 Ha). They extend both the Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve and Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve in the northern part of the ACT. The offset areas adjoin the Throsby residential development area and are adjacent to the future Kenny residential development and Nadjung Mada Offset Area.
Why is it an offset?
Throsby East, Thorsby North and Kenny Broadacre have complementary conservation objectives concerning Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES), protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Specifically:
- Box-Gum Grassy Woodland (4.6 MB) (White box - Yellow box- Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and derived native grassland)
- Striped Legless Lizard (Delma impar) (357.4 KB)
- Golden Sun Moth (Synemon plana) (439.0 KB)
- Superb Parrot (Polytelis swainsonii) (315.9 KB)
Other MNES present on the sites include:
What else is special about the Throsby and Kenny Broadacre Offset Areas?
Connectivity
The offset areas adjoin to Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve, and Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve, which has an additional 24 Ha managed by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service across the border. Combined with other woodlands within the ACT and NSW, the offset areas are part of one of the largest, best connected and most diverse patches of Box-Gum Grassy Woodland remaining in south-eastern Australia. They are also located in an area that is part of the Molonglo River to Barton Highway Woodland corridor, which has been nominated for provisional registration on the ACT Heritage Register for its natural heritage values.
The source of Sullivan's Creek is within the Throsby East Offset Area. The creek flows from within the reserve through to the Kenny Offset Area and is a tributary of the Lake Burley Griffin and the Molonglo River.
Threatened fauna
- Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus)
- Diamond Firetail (Stagonopleura guttata)
- Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami)
- Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata)
- Latham's Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii)
- Little Eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides)
- Painted Honeyeater (Grantiella picta)
- Perunga Grasshopper (Perunga ochracea)
- Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang)
- Speckled Warbler (Chthonicola sagittata)
- Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor)
- Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera)
- White-winged Triller (Lalage sueurii)
Threatened flora
- Blue Grass Lily (Caesia calliantha)
- Hairy Centrolepis (Centrolepis strigosa)
- Narrow Plantain (Plantago gaudichaudii)
Find out about threatened flora and fauna in our action plans and fact sheets. You can also find useful information through the NSW Government threatened biodiversity profile search and PlantNET.
Ngunnawal Country and People
The Throsby and Kenny Broadacre Offset Areas are located on Ngunnawal Country, an ancient and diverse landscape managed by Ngunnawal people for tens of thousands of years. For time immemorial Ngunnawal people have maintained a tangible and intangible cultural, social, environmental, spiritual, and economic connection to these lands and waters.
The offset areas support cultural heritage sites including sites of Aboriginal cultural and archaeological significance.
The Heritage Act 2004 makes particular provision for recognising, registering and conserving Aboriginal places and objects. Under the Act it is an offence to damage, disturb or destroy any Aboriginal place or object. Find out more about registration and protection of Aboriginal places and objects at:
European heritage
The offset areas support cultural heritage sites including remnant huts/homesteads, woolsheds, trees indicating old roads and an abandoned horse ploughed field. The Old Coach Road and Mulligans Flat Ploughlands are listed on the ACT Heritage Register.
Learn more about heritage.
What can I do in this reserve?
Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve and Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve are used for walking, running and cycling. Bird watching is also very popular. Ranger guided activities are organised within the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary.
Access for recreation may be reduced at times when stock is present within the offset areas.
Dogs and horses are not permitted within the reserves.
Get involved and volunteer with Friends of Mulligans Flat.
Management
The long term management aim is to conserve and improve the extent and understorey condition of Box-Gum Grassy Woodland, the extent and condition of Golden Sun Moth habitat, the extent and condition of Striped Legless Lizard habitat; and to protect Superb Parrot breeding sites. Management will be in accordance with the offset management plan.
- Gungahlin Strategic Assessment (1.7 MB)
- Mulligan's Flat and Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve Offset Management Plan (3.1 MB)
Monitoring and research reports
- Environmental Offsets Ecological Monitoring Program Report 2018-19 (8.0 MB)
- Environmental Offsets Ecological Monitoring Program Report 2019-20 (10.8 MB)
- Throsby East GSM Habitat Mapping 2017 (1.5 MB)
- Throsby North GSM Population Monitoring and Habitat Mapping 2017 (5.1 MB)
- Woodland Quality and Extent Mapping 2017 (15.4 MB)
- Box-Gum Woodland Offset Monitoring - 2016 (4.4 MB)
- Bonner, Throsby and Kinlyside - GSM Population Monitoring and Habitat Mapping 2016 (11.8 MB)
- Bonner, Throsby and Kinlyside - GSM Population and Habitat Monitoring Program Report 2015 (8.5 MB)
Find out more about monitoring and research in ACT Environmental Offsets.
More information
Find associated publications on the Offsets Register.