Liverpool, Campbelltown, Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown
South West Sydney runs from Bankstown and Canterbury out through Fairfield and Liverpool to Campbelltown, Camden and the fringe at Bringelly. It sits almost entirely on the Cumberland Plain — Wianamatta shale, heavy reactive clay, and the flattest large expanse of ground in the Sydney basin.
The exception is the Georges River corridor, which cuts sandstone gorges through the middle of it. Blocks backing onto the river at Illawong, Alfords Point, East Hills and Picnic Point behave far more like Sutherland Shire bushland blocks than like the surrounding plain.
Cumberland Plain woodland
This is the thing that catches people out. The original vegetation here was Cumberland Plain woodland — open grassy forest of forest red gum and grey box, with narrow-leaved ironbark on the drier rises. Less than ten per cent of it survives and it is listed as a critically endangered ecological community.
What that means in practice is that a single large gum in a back yard at Minto, Prestons or Bonnyrigg can be a protected remnant even where the council's ordinary tree threshold would not catch it. Have the mapping checked before assuming a removal is routine. Retrospective approval does not exist.
The trees
Forest red gum is the defining species: heavy, dense timber, prone to shedding large limbs, and often carrying decades of drought stress in a landscape that gets hot. Grey box, narrow-leaved ironbark and swamp oak along the creek lines make up the rest of the native canopy. Garden stock is dominated by the exotics of the seventies and eighties — liquidambar, jacaranda, camphor laurel, cocos palm and a great deal of privet.
Cocos palms are a significant proportion of the work. They are exempt in most councils here, they are quick to drop, and their seed spreads into the Georges River bushland, so removal is generally encouraged rather than resisted.
The conditions
Hot, dry summers and reactive clay. The same soil-movement caution applies as elsewhere on shale: a very large eucalypt close to a house is drawing a lot of moisture out of the clay, and removing it can cause heave over the following seasons on shallow footings.
Storms coming across the plain from the west are the main failure driver. It is almost always a dead or defective limb in an otherwise healthy tree that comes down, which makes deadwooding the cheapest insurance available on a mature gum.
Local pages
Detailed pages cover Campbelltown, Bankstown and Hurstville on the eastern edge, with Menai across the Georges River. Western Sydney and the Sutherland Shire adjoin.
Ring (02) 9000 1943 or read the cost guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cumberland Plain woodland and why does it matter to me?
It is the grassy woodland that originally covered the shale plains of western and south-western Sydney, dominated by forest red gum and grey box. Less than a tenth of it remains and it is listed as critically endangered. Scattered remnant trees in back yards and on road reserves across Liverpool, Campbelltown and Fairfield are part of it and carry protection accordingly.
Are the councils here strict?
Moderately. Liverpool, Fairfield, Campbelltown and Canterbury-Bankstown apply higher size thresholds than the eastern councils and maintain useful exempt-species lists, so ordinary garden trees are often unregulated. The complication is the biodiversity overlays, which can protect a single remnant gum on an otherwise unremarkable block.
Is access easier in the south west?
Usually. Post-war and later subdivision means wider streets, useable driveways and side gates that fit a machine, so a crew can often get gear close to the tree. Older parts of Bankstown and Canterbury, and the acreage around Bringelly and Wallacia, are the exceptions — the first for tight lots, the second for distance.