Nameless Sylvan

Hidden within the steep entanglement of the NSW Illawarra Escarpment lies a small but magical place – ‘Nameless’ Sylvan Reserve.

The first Europeans to venture here would have been searching for Red Cedar – the tall, majestic rainforest trees that turn copper red when flushed with new growth.

Known by sawmillers as ‘red gold’ during the early days of colonial settlement, they were highly prized on international markets and for many years were the most valuable trees in NSW.

Now, along with the Illawarra subtropical rainforests it once dominated, it’s a rarity protected only in a handful of places, including ‘Nameless’.

Illawarra subtropical rainforest is an endangered ecological community in NSW so its ongoing protection on this reserve is crucial.

This mesmerising place also hides Irwin’s Creek, a playground for Freshwater Crayfish and Swamp Wallabies.

Below the rainforest canopy is an understory filled with native vines, lianas, shrubs and scramblers, and high up in the trees perch epiphytic ferns and orchids – plants that take nutrients from the bark and leaf litter of other plants.

All this is protected thanks to our generous supporters.

What’s in a name?

When this property was generously donated to us by Louise Sylvan, it came with subtropical rainforest and Lyrebirds, but it didn’t come with a name.

The title ‘Nameless’ was chosen by Louise’s late husband Richard Sylvan, a philosopher and environmentalist, whose foresight secured the land for conservation. Richard was interested in the philosophical question of what it means when we humans assign a name to something in the natural world.

According to Louise, “the ambiguity of the reserve’s name pleased him – the reserve is nameless, yet it does actually have a name.”