About Warrah Trig
Warrah Trig (trigonometrical survey point) is located between Pearl Beach and Patonga in Brisbane Water National Park, on the southern end of the NSW Central Coast (Australia).
The area is a wildflower showcase, with more than 150 species of flowering plants identified, and as many as 60 in flower at any one time during the months of July and August.
The Warrah Trig area is unusually accessible. Almost all of these flowers can be seen from a car along the sides of the track in the few hundred metres of mostly level ground between Patonga Dr and the trig point carpark.
This makes Warrah Trig a great destination for the whole family – for the old, for the young and for the disabled.
This website aims to enhance the appreciation of the great natural resource that Warrah Trig represents.
Mark Snell 2022
Flower identification
You don't need to have any botanical knowledge to enjoy and identify local wildflowers.
Using ordinary descriptions of colour, size and shape of flowers and leaves, you can use this website to have a good stab at identifying an individual flower.
The flowers on this website have been identified using an untrained citizen science approach, relying primarily on "The Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney" by Les Robinson, and classified using simple descriptors to enable a practical search facility.
Not all local species are in the Robinson guide. For example, is our flower philotheca salsolifolia or the subtly different philotheca reichenbachii not listed in the guide?
Those interested in the distinction should make use of online resources, such as the Sydney's Royal Botanical Gardens' website PlantNet (https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/).
Mark Snell is founding honorary editor of Peninsula News and chair of the voluntary community group which has owned it for more than 20 years.
He has surveyed wildflowers at Warrah Trig for a similar period, and has conducted tours in the area for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
All the photos on this website have been taken by Mark Snell near Warrah Trig.
Please send corrections and suggestions to feedback@warrahtrig.info.
(Zoom in for greater detail.)
Warrah Trig "Road"
The two-wheel drive track between Patonga Dr and the Warrah Trig point is called Warrah Trig Rd.
However, don't expect a road. It remains a track with many potholes and bumps, and can only be negotiated safely at low speed.
Attempts in recent years to repair the surface have resulted in periodic closure with no significant improvement.
Tony Doyle Track
The walking track between the Warrah Trig carpark and the Hawkesbury River lookout is known as the Tony Doyle Track.
Tony Doyle was the local State Member for Peats from 1985 to 1994, and the track was built in his memory.
It followed a commonly-used bush path, which originally skirted the bottom on the Warrah Trig rock.
A team from the Kariong Juvenile Justice Centre helped the National Parks service construct the track.