Flora and Fauna
Flora on the mountain includes blackwood, native peach, bastard rosewood, native cucumber,Sandpaper Fig, Moreton Bay Fig, native Ginger, native Raspberries and hibiscus. Locally rare species include White Beech and Bangalow Palm.
Fauna on the mountain includes swamp wallabies, Deer, spotted-tailed quolls, southern brown bandicoots, grey-headed flying foxes, sugar gliders, wombats, possums, giant burrowing frogs, red-crowned toadlets, Striped Marsh Frogs, Eastern Water Dragons, Water Skinks, blue-tongued lizards, Diamond Pythons, red-bellied black snakes, Golden-Crowned Snakes and broad-headed snakes, although it is not common to see snakes, as some sources state incorrectly. Common birds are Lyrebirds, spotted turtle doves, kookaburras, satin bower birds, superb blue wrens,Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, White-Headed Pigeons, Brown Cuckoo-Doves, Silvereyes, Eastern Yellow Robins, Rainbow Lorrikeets, Little Wattlebirds, grey and pied butcherbirds, Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos, Golden Whistlers, Topknot ("Flocker") Pigeons, Wonga Pigeons, Australian magpies, pied currawongs, Australian ravens, noisy miners, honeyeaters (Lewin's, New Holland, Spinebill, Yellow-Faced) Eastern Whipbirds, White-Browed Scrub Wrens, Rufous Fantails, Red-Browed Finches, and welcome swallows. In 1804 a logrunner bird was collected on Mount Kembla, this being the first to be scientifically described, although it is not common to see logrunners, or brush turkeys as some sources incorrectly state.
The European and scientific discovery of the koala in Australia was made at Mount Kembla and took place between June–August 1803 and involved type specimens collected and brought in to Sydney in August 1803 where they were immediately figured by botanical draughtsman Ferdinand Bauer (1760–1826) and described by noted botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858). Koalas disappeared from the area probably during a subsequent gradual period of time due to the effect of clearing of forest in the habitat by settlers - however they were noticeably absent after a great fire of 1909 swept the Cordeax Valley and Mount Kembla area. The last report of suspected koala activity was in 1919 in the Cordeaux area.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)