New Town Rivulet Estuary Restoration Project
The City of Hobart, in partnership with Glenorchy City Council, has started work on a project to return the heavily concreted New Town Rivulet outlet to a natural, estuarine environment.
Access to the rowing club will be maintained throughout project, which is expected to be completed by August 2025, weather permitting.
Why is this project important?
- The concrete embankment walls are up to 60 years old and beginning to degrade, risking bank erosion.
- Replacing the concrete walls with bouldering and other natural materials while planting out the area with native plants will help bring back native waterbirds, aquatic life and create a beautiful natural area for residents.
- The project will formalise parking and walking tracks to improve accessibility and amenity.
- Native plants and landscaping help trap sediment and historical contamination of river beds and help stabilise embankments.
What to expect from this project
The current weir will remain and its structure improved to help prevent sediment build-up at the rivulet mouth.
Excavated materials will be managed in an environmentally sustainable manner and re-used for landscaping near the rivulet mouth and a new maintenance access ramp off Marine Esplanade will allow for the regular removal of accumulated sediment.
This project will benefit local birdlife, improve estuarine health in the River Derwent and create a beautiful recreational area for residents.
The plans have been updated following feedback from the community, including suggestions to widen new gravel paths to ensure they are accessible for people of all abilities.
Native plantings
The project will involve major earthworks and landscaping including the planting of almost 45 000 native trees, shrubs, water plants and grasses.
More than 30 different native species will be planted as part of this project, including Tasmanian blue gums, white gums, silver banksia and Tasmanian flax-lily.
Nearly half the plants that will be used onsite have been grown and cared for by our own nursery team.
We have collected local seeds of the rare plant species sea clubsedge and are growing them into tube stock specially for this project.
This will be one of, if not the largest tree planting initiatives the City of Hobart has ever undertaken.
Background
Community feedback on the draft designs were accepted through the Your Say Hobart website.
The project builds on a concept described in the New Town Rivulet Sediment Weir Removal Feasibility Report prepared by Dryside Engineering in October 2021, and complements the Selfs Point Masterplan (2009).
The project consists of two distinct phases:
Stage one: Design, investigations, approvals and stakeholder relations.
Stage two: Construction of the approved design solution.
Extensive site investigations were conducted as part of stage one, including:
- detailed site survey
- geotechnical assessment of site stability
- assessment of legacy contamination from past land management practice
- flora and fauna assessments, including arboreal assessment of existing mature trees.
Stage two, the construction phase, will involve some disruption to public access of the area. Surrounding residents and organisations will be kept informed of project developments.
Location
Marine Esplanade, New Town 7008 View Map
-42.849142, 147.313651
Marine Esplanade ,
New Town 7008
Marine Esplanade ,
New Town 7008
New Town Rivulet Estuary Restoration Project