Reported plan to move Rosehill racecourse to endangered bell frog habitat surprises conservationists | Sydney

Conservations have expressed surprise at reported plans to move Sydney’s Rosehill racecourse to a historic brickpit at Olympic Park, which is home to a colony of endangered green and golden bell frogs.

The plan has reportedly been devised by racing bosses, alongside the deal between the Australian Turf Club and the New South Wales government to redevelop the famous track into new housing, as well as two additional metro stations.

Known for its bright pea green and golden colours – and “motorbike-like call” – the green and golden bell frog has become an unofficial mascot of the Homebush area.

The frogs were found living in the wetlands of the former industrial brickpit, which closed in 1988 after a century of operation.

Their presence scuppered plans for the construction of a tennis complex for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the area was then converted into a $6.5m wildlife sanctuary.

The latest reported proposal is for horses to race around the endangered species’ habitat on a new track, leaving the sanctuary untouched and protected, and still open to the public.

“This is probably the only proposal for the use of this land that can exist symbiotically with the endangered frogs,” a racing insider told the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

No one has yet been named as a supporting the proposal and it would have to pass a series of planning and environmental requirements.

The Sydney Olympic Park Authority and the Australian Turf Club did not respond to requests for comment.

Dr Arthur White, a leading expert on the frogs, said: “Bell frogs are a bit different to other frogs in that they are normally found in disturbed and unstable sites … [not] a pond with lily pads.”

“They are a colonising species and move around a lot in search of new freshwater sites that they can colonise first. This means that they often end up in old industrial sites, quarries, open wasteland and flooded areas.”

It is believed that the high metal content in water at the site helped to suppress the growth of chytrid fungus, which causes chytridiomycosis disease, David Jones, a project manager for Conservation Volunteers Australia, said.

“Chytridiomycosis disease is the biggest threat facing the frog, along with loss of habitat,” Jones said. “So it seems like the metals in the water actually helped the frogs survive in that particular location.”

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In 2021 CVA partnered with Sydney Olympic Park Authority to plant more native habitat to keep the frogs from moving on from the site.

“Our main objective through our most recent project was to connect breeding ponds for the frogs, so that they can safely move between them without getting predated on,” Jones said.

“Before there were isolated ponds and low grass in between with not much cover for ongoing reproduction and dispersal.”

Today the colony is one of the largest populations of the endangered species remaining in NSW. And visitors are able to see and hear the beloved frogs from a 550-metre-circular walkway, raised 18.5m above the floor of the sanctuary.

“I would be very surprised if anything was being done that would threaten the Sydney Olympic Park population,” Jones said.

“My understanding is that the place has been carefully protected, and cared for the benefit of the frogs and all the other species.”

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, announced the proposal of 25,000 new homes, a school and the extension of the Metro West, all at the site of Rosehill racecourse, in December last year.

He called the plan a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” that could help fix the state’s housing crisis.

The ATC chair, Peter McGauran, called the projected $50bn sale an opportunity to “leapfrog” racing in Sydney by 50 years.