Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve

For after hours urgent public health matters including environmental health, radiation safety, food poisoning and communicable disease management phone:

1800 022 222

ACT State Emergency Service

Emergency help
during flood or storms

13 25 00

Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve is a 160-hectare woodland and grassland protected area in eastern Gungahlin.

Nadjung Mada is a Ngunnawal language name meaning 'wet land'.

The woodland of Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve provides a wildlife movement corridor between Goorooyarroo and Mulligans Flat nature reserves, and native woodland and forest southward in the Watson and Mount Majura area including Justice Robert Hope Park, Mount Majura and Mount Ainslie nature reserves. Superb Parrots (Polytelis swainsoni), listed as nationally vulnerable, use this linkage daily during the breeding season while feeding their nestlings.

Passive, low-impact recreation, such as walking and birdwatching using existing tracks, is compatible with the sensitive natural values of this reserve.

Horse riding is permitted on marked equestrian trails only.

Cycling is permitted on Old Well Station Road only.

No dogs allowed.

Natural values

Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve protects:

around 85 hectares of critically endangered Yellow Box– Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland – characterised in this reserve by 150- to 500-year-old Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora) trees, part of the specific Lowland Valley Flats vegetation type (occurring below 620 m altitude) that is quite rare even for Box–Gum Woodland, having been extensively cleared elsewhere
about 300 large, old woodland trees growing on moist, relatively nutrient-rich soils and providing an abundant nectar and insect resource for birds and other arboreal wildlife
around 112 hectares of vulnerable Striped Legless Lizard (Delma impar) habitat
a population of the vulnerable, regionally endemic Perunga Grasshopper (Perunga ochracea) – one of about 30 known ACT locations

Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve is protected under the Nature Conservation Act 2014. Thank you for taking care of the natural environment.

Add a sighting to the NatureMapr or visit the Canberra Birds website.

Things to do

Activities

Features

NO BINS – take your rubbish with you
Walking track/s

Restricted or prohibited

Aircraft landing/take-off prohibited
Camping prohibited
Chainsaw use prohibited
Dogs prohibited
Domestic animals (other than dogs) prohibited
Off-road driving prohibited
Driving on management trails prohibited
Drone use prohibited
Fires prohibited
Wood and timber collection prohibited
Metal detector use prohibited
Trailbikes prohibited except on public roads

Horse riding is permitted on marked equestrian trails only
Cycling is permitted on Old Well Station Road only

Ngunnawal Country and People

Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve is located on Ngunnawal Country, an ancient and diverse landscape managed and cared for 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.

There are 3 Aboriginal heritage sites recorded in Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve. The reserve likely includes other, as-yet-unrecorded Aboriginal heritage sites.

All Aboriginal places and objects in the ACT are protected under the Heritage Act 2004 and must not be disturbed. Aboriginal places and objects within reserves are additionally protected under the Nature Conservation Act 2014. Anyone finding an (unregistered) Aboriginal object or place has an obligation to report it to the Heritage Council.

European heritage

The area has a long history of stock grazing and, because of pasture improvement (superphosphate application and sowing of introduced phalaris (Phalaris aquatica) grass), its vegetation condition is mixed.

Remnants of the area's pastoral history present in the reserve include:

a section of the Old Well Station Road alignment
2 stockyards
a stock trough and enclosure

Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve was established in 2021 as an environmental offset.

Before you go/How to get there

Before you go

Prepare by understanding safety and checking alerts.

Respect Canberra Nature Park reserves by:

staying on the tracks to minimise your impact
taking your rubbish home with you
leaving what you find, including plants, animals, rocks and timber (dead and alive)
respecting our heritage - leave cultural sites undisturbed
riding safely and following trail etiquette as a horse rider
riding safely and following trail etiquette as a bicycle rider
collecting and responsibly disposing of your dog's droppings (where dogs are permitted)
cleaning your outdoor gear, including bicycles, to avoid spreading weeds and disease

Remember:

bring your own drinking water
carry a mobile phone, especially if you are on your own
let someone know where you are going and when you'll return
be bushfire alert - on total fire ban days some reserves may be closed

How to get there

Nadjung Mada Nature Reserve can be accessed from either end of the section of Old Well Station Road that passes through the reserve – from Morisset Road to the south or Well Station Drive to the north.

Boundary mapping is indicative only.

More information

If you notice any issues during your visit:

report maintenance issues to Access Canberra
report vandalism or other illegal activities to the police on 131 444
in an emergency, call 000

Find out about:

In a life threatening emergency dial Triple Zero (000)

triple zero 000

5124 0000

6201 6111

1800 629 354

6205 1065

13 11 26

5124 9977

(02) 6205 1700