CHRIS Rinehart, a co-author of the book, ‘Rosewood Scrub the Largest Brigalow Scrub of South East Queensland’, was one of the guest speakers at the recent Rosewood History Group meeting.

She was joined by former Scenic Rim Council Land for Wildlife Officer, Keith McCosh.

History group member, Jenny Stubbs, introduced Chris and noted that David Pahlke, Martin Bennett and the late Arnold Rieck were also involved in the production of the Rosewood Scrub book.

“The Scrub extended across 50,000 hectares over three council areas, which included Ipswich, Somerset and the Lockyer Valley,” she said.

“The areas included were Rosewood, Marburg, Grandchester, Walloon, Minden, Tarampa, Lowood, and from Plainland to Laidley.”

Most of the scrub was dominated by one species of tree, the brigalow. Smaller shrubs included the Bailey's Cypress and the Little Kurrajong and higher up grew the hoop pine.

“Before European settlement, the scrub was used by a number of indigenous groups for their resources and explorer Alan Cunningham in 1829 described the scrub as, impenetrable,” she said.

“British settlers went around it and the first railway line ran next to it, eventually the German settlers were expected to clear it in order to farm the land.

“Brigalow forests were listed as endangered communities by the Federal Government in 1999.”

The authors’ aim in producing ‘Rosewood Scrub the Largest Brigalow Scrub of South East Queensland’, Chris said, was to inform residents of the historic scrub that they now live on, and the human efforts that were involved in clearing it to create the current landscape.

“At the meeting Keith and Chris explained their aim to conserve the remnants of this scrub and to increase the areas recognised as remnant or re-growth scrub,” Jenny said.

“They would like to see an increase in the scrub by 50 percent in 10 year’s time, hoping this can be achieved by a collective approach by the Ipswich City Council and local residents with the First Nations involvement.”