The Woronora River separates the suburb of Engadine from ANSTO.and the 'Old Princes Highway' passes through the town.

Originally settled for grazing land, Engadine soon became a destination for camping and day-trips from the inner-Sydney suburbs. It remained isolated until 1920 when the railway station was built.

Many ex-soldiers settled in Engadine after World War I and several streets here recall this war and others as well, such as Anzac, Tobruk, Amiens, Bullecourt, Villers Brett and Nelson streets.

The area features rolling sandstone slopes and cliffs in places, with an abundance of native trees throughout.

Heathcote

Heathcote Road, just south of ANSTO is a major link to Sydney's south western suburbs, while the Princes Highway links Sydney and Wollongong. Heathcote Road meets the Princes Highway at Heathcote.

Heathcote was originally known as Bottle Forest. There were fourteen town allotments in Bottle Forest in 1842, in what is now Heathcote East.

The Heathcote to Waterfall bushwalk became popular as a day outing in the 1930s, and many tracks in Heathcote Bush are used by the Boy Scouts, who have a camp nearby.

Going Bush

There's a diversity of wildlife across this bushland. Eastern grey kangaroos are noticeable, and other species include echidnas, long nosed bandicoots, grey-headed fruit bats and several species of possums. The region is also rich in reptiles such as skinks, geckos, lace monitors and snakes.

Banksia in Woronora image

Banksia

Perhaps the most stunning wonders of the area are however, the rock artworks. Local anthropologist and decendant of the Dharawal tribe, Les Bursill, has recorded the existence of many large rock carvings, including one showing a kangaroo and another of a tribal hunter.

" These images give us a record of the area's early settlers," said Les.

"Aboriginal communities lived in this area, and from what we've seen so far, the images are all pretty much the same style, which is that of the Dharawal community."

There are about six kilometres of bush tracks in the area that cross a number of different plant communities containing several hundred species, so there's always something in bloom, said Lloyd Hedges, a long-time member of the Menai Wildflower Group.
http://www.ainse.edu.au

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Kangaroos belong to a group of marsupials called macropods, which means 'great footed animals'. Macropods have strong back legs with long feet. They hop on their back legs when travelling, using the muscular tail as a balance. Hopping in this way is an energy-efficient way of travelling long distances. Their front legs are small. When moving slowly, usually as they graze or to change position, the tail and front legs prop up the animal, and the back legs move forward.. this is called 'crawl walking'.

Kangaroos are good swimmers, and will sometimes escape a threat by going into water if it is nearby.

Kangaroos feed in the late afternoon and early morning, spending the day resting in shade. In hot weather they scrape the ground with their front paws and lie in the cooler earth they have exposed. Kangaroos do not sweat, so in the heat they lick their front paws and rub the moisture onto their chests to cool down.

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/kanga.htm°

Engadine

Heathcote

Going Bush

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