A BioBlitz on September 17-18 will help scientists and the community better appreciate Montreal Goldfield's living treasure of flora and fauna.
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The site was clear felled in 1880 when it was proclaimed a goldfield and diggers descended in droves to dig 30- to 40-foot shafts to mine the alluvial gold.
Barry Virtue is one of the volunteer guides at Montreal Goldfield and he is particularly interested in the plants and animals inhabiting the site.
It has regenerated over the last 135 years without any human intervention.
Prior to moving to Bermagui five years ago, Mr Virtue did "quite a bit of work" in the Shoalhaven area surveying the flora and fauna of land being assessed for potential development.
The flora at Montreal Goldfield is "special because it hasn't been grazed or logged since 1884 when the mining stopped so it hasn't been disturbed", he said.
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"After the area was felled to mine for gold and the timber was used for firewood and to make humpies and buildings, the original seed bank was buried."
Over time, weather and erosion have exposed those seeds "so this is likely the original complex of forest that Captain Cook would have sailed by".
The area is also remarkable for escaping much of the fire activity of the last 100 years and only had "very minor burns in the 1970s compared with a lot of the forest in the surrounding area".
"As a result the site has species of plants and animals that don't occur in the forested areas around it," Mr Virtue said.
Bermagui's own Vivid
The purpose of a BioBlitz is for scientists and the community to come together to survey and record as many species within a nominated timeframe - usually 24-48 hours - to compile a snapshot study of a particular location.
Expert botanists will be on site to identify and record species and to lead walks.
The tours and walks include bird tours, frog forages, nocturnal animal calls playback, arboreal mammal spotlighting, bird surveys, plant surveys, reptile searches and moth and insect collection and observation.
The tours and walks are free but numbers are limited on some so registration is encouraged.
At 7pm on Saturday Bioluminescence will transform the goldfield into an illuminated wonderland.
The video projection and light show is a partnership between the Atlas of Life, some local high school students and Bermagui video projection artist .
You can view the weekend's program here and register for Bioluminescence @ Montreal Goldfield here.
All the weekend's events are free, with the first one kicking off at 8.30am at Montreal Goldfield, 769 Wallaga Lake Road, Bermagui.
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