Ironpot Creek

Information from  City of Ipswich Waterway Health Strategy, 2020

Iron Pot Creek is a tributary of the Bremer River and is a small 16.7km2 largely urbanised sub-catchment within the Ipswich LGA. It flows south through the suburbs of Blacksoil, Brassall, Karrabin, Pine Mountain and Wulkuraka and joins the Bremer River just upstream of the Albion Street Bridge.

The sub-catchment contains mixed land uses, including urban, large lot residential and rural residential. Despite the level of urbanisation, the floodplain and riparian corridor is predominantly vegetated, creating a continuous riparian corridor. There are a large number of public parks and reserves along the waterway providing opportunities for access for the community. The Brassall bikeway is also located in the sub-catchment, but is outside the main waterway corridor.

The upper reaches of Iron Pot Creek have experienced severe erosion as a result of past clearing, urbanisation and the construction of infrastructure such as roads, rail and power corridors. Active incision is still occurring in these upper reaches which is lowering the bed level and resulting in steep, unstable banks. Further downstream, the channel transitions into a more stable channel with some chains of ponds sections present.

There have been a number of studies and works carried out across the sub-catchment including erosion and riparian works in the upper reaches and weed management in the lower. 

Information from Ironpot Creek, City of Ipswich website

Ironpot Creek is one of the northernmost waterways of the Bremer River Catchment.  The headwaters of the creek begin in the steep, heavily vegetated hills of Pine Mountain and continue down through the suburbs of Blacksoil, Brassall, Karrabin and Wulkuraka before meeting the Bremer River

History

The underlying geology of the catchment presents unique challenges for Ironpot Creek, with the upper reaches in and around Walter Zimmerman Park subject to serve erosion.  While the origin of this erosion is difficult to pinpoint, it's likely that changes to runoff characteristics following t he construction of the Brisbane Valley railway line in the 1890s instigated the erosion of the waterway, resulting in the upper reaches of the creek becoming deeper and steeper with numerous sheer banks.

Clearing historic native vegetation, logging and urbanisation within the catchment have made these issues worse, resulting in ongoing pressures and challenges for the waterway.  Fortunately, much of the vegetation holding the banks together sits to the south of the Warrego Highway and remains a valued asset to the city, however, the waterway still needs our help and ongoing management.