This strip of bush is remarkable because it consists of three major types of soil which in turn support different communities of plants. This diversity generates a rich array of vertebrate and invertebrate animals.

All of this is accessible within minutes to many Campbelltown residents.

The junction between housing and the bush, however, is a fragile one where we have seen increasing contact between humans and koalas. Two such boundaries are Darling Avenue and its side-roads at Ruse and Ironside Avenue at St Helens Park.

Several koalas have been spotted recently near Darling Avenue including Alice who appears to have established a territory a kilometre down Old Kent Road from her mother, June, and her sister, Vicki, who live near the Russian Orthodox Retirement village and Kentlyn Primary School.

The Ironside Avenue boundary is more precarious because it is closer to thick bushland and Spring Creek, an important tributary of the Georges River.

Spring Creek is the home of at least three female koalas, Kris, Martine and Courtney and at least one male, Cramar. The latter two are regularly sighted by residents of Ironside Avenue. Because Courtney carries a radio-collar we find her every second week and now know her area well. Sadly, her beautiful area has been badly affected by thoughtlessness.

In the first few metres from the road piles of dumped garden waste have led to foreign species establishing themselves. A few metres further in we see dumped litter, shopping trolleys and occasional piles of building waste. From here we can see across the creek to where arsonists have burned a large area of Courtney's territory.

The creek-side vegetation is festooned with ribbons of plastic waste despite the gross pollutant trap at the head of the creek, while the creek itself contains old tyres, shopping trolleys and a variety of unsightly materials.

Above the pollutant trap, the creek becomes a concrete-based washway stained by a white liquid released from somewhere above.

Fortunately, Courtney has survived the fires and presumably doesn't notice the rubbish.

However, the dead trees near a storm water outlet off Ironside Avenue would concern her.

Don't forget the talk on local dingoes on Wednesday, March11, at 7.30pm, at Campbelltown Art Centre.

Report koala sightings to the UWS pager, 99629996.