Local Aboriginal historian Joshua Slabb says the lookout now known as Razorback was a special cultural place for the people of the Tweed long before Europeans came to the area.
Joan Smith from the Tweed Heads Historical Society adds that walking to the lookout was prescribed by doctors in the 1920s for people recuperating from illnesses such as tuberculosis.
These and many other fascinating facts will be expanded upon on Saturday 18 February, when the Tweed Byron Bush Futures Project is holds a walk ’n’ talk at Razorback. Tweed residents and visitors can learn more about the history of this iconic lookout and bushland restoration works currently underway as part of the project.
The speakers will also include Russell Linnane, a local bush regenerator, who will show participants around the bushland remnant and talk about the environmental values of Razorback and the threats to its long-term survival.
Bush Futures Project manager John Turnbull said Razorback supports littoral rainforest vegetation, an endangered ecological community in NSW and a critically endangered ecological community under Commonwealth legislation.
The lookout is located on Razorback Road, off Charles Street, Tweed Heads. The walk ’n’ talk will run from 10am to 11.30am (NSW).
Participants are asked to meet in the car park at the bottom of the access track, to wear sun-safe clothing and to bring drinking water.
The award-winning Tweed Byron Bush Futures project is funded through the NSW Environmental Trust and aims to achieve the sustainable management of a number of state and regionally significant urban and near-urban bushland areas within Tweed and Byron shires.
For more information contact the NRM community support officer Claire Masters on 02 6670 2199 or [email protected].
Images: Banana growing on Razorback circa 1890s; The track up Razorback looking towards the bottom of the hill in 1921; A 1950 postcard showing the view to Razorback from Kirra Hill. Photos courtesy Tweed River Regional Museum
