Hasties Swamp National Park is a large seasonal wetland, filled by wet season rains of Tropical North Queensland. Located close to Atherton to the south, the wetland is renowned internationally as a bird habitat with over 220 recorded species.
Originally known as Nyleta Wetland, it is a seasonal wetland, drying out during the year before refilling during the next wet season. It rarely dries out completely, only happening a few times for over a hundred years. It makes it a great dry season refuge for wetland birds.
Bird watching is the primary activity at Hasties Swamp National Park. The bird hide is the best place to do this as the rest of the wetland is not too accessible. The bird hide is very clean and in good condition compared to other simpler bird hides we have been to. It is split on two levels, each level has plenty of space to share with others.
We swapped between the upper and lower levels as each offered a different perspective. The difference is subtle, especially over longer distances, but it let us view things differently. The weather wasn’t ideal but a great day for ducks so we saw a few of these close by and across the water.
The upper level gave us the best vantage for the Silvereye fluttering in the upper branches near the bird hide, chasing insects in the tree. It is a small bird with olive green and a ring of white feathers around the eyes. It is a type of honeyeater with a brush-tipped tongue.
Part of the Scrubby Creek system that drains into the Barron River catchment, the wetland lies within a depression between the older granites of the main Herberton Range to the west and the more recent basaltic volcanic flows to the east. The volcanic lava flows impeding the tributaries of Scrubby Creek may have created Hasties Swamp.
The bottom of the swamp lies on a clay base with a layer of peat-like material built up from rotting vegetation. More recent dead vegetation thickens the layer creating a giant sponge that retains moisture during the dry season and feeding growth of the water plants.
I tried to find out why the name has changed from Nyleta Wetland to Hasties Swamp. I couldn’t find out why it was changed but I did find where the original name came from. Nyleta means ‘where the waters meet’, a seasonal camp for the Yidinji people. It is intriguing the name was renamed away from its Aboriginal name. At a time where Fraser Island has been renamed to K’gari, this one has gone in the opposite direction.