A halt or complete reversal in the decline of the Green and Golden Bell Frog throughout NSW could come from observing a large colony of the endangered species at Incitec Manufacturing’s Port Kembla sulfuric acid plant.
The unlikely location of the colony is a proud achievement for the Australian fertilizer and chemical manufacturer, which has allocated one hectare of its land to ensure the frogs are properly cared for.
Since the 1960s, there has been a rapid, but so far unexplained disappearance of the frog from much of its native habitat – first in the southern highlands and ACT, and then followed by declining numbers in metropolitan Sydney and coastal areas in the early 80s.
Those populations that have survived have shown an ability to colonise highly disturbed artificial sites, such as deserted industrial plants, brick pits and quarries.
It is not uncommon for the female Green and Golden Bell Frog to lay its eggs in storm water overflows or flooded cow hoof prints in mud.
According to leading herpetologist, Dr Arthur White, the Port Kembla habitat could help solve the puzzle as to why the Green and Golden Bell Frog seems to thrive in areas that other frog species would find unsuitable.
One theory is that it has been a victim of various micro fungal diseases, which can easily penetrate the frogs’ natural habitat but struggle to survive on artificial sites.
The introduced Gambusia, or mosquito fish, has also been observed to eat the spawn or tadpoles, which explains why successful breeding often takes place in fish-free water.
The successful on-site breeding program at Port Kembla began 12 months ago, when shift coordinator, Chris Wade, discovered about 70 frogs living in the bunds of the plant’s sulfuric acid export tanks.

Mr Wade and other employees first heard the frogs calling to each other during the summer months while working the nightshift. It’s apparently a noise that sounds nothing like a bell, but more like a Harley Davidson changing gears.
“I noticed a number of large Green and Golden frogs when I was about to pump water out of the bunded area,” Mr Wade explains.
“Closer inspection revealed numerous tadpoles also thriving in the bund. I spoke to Brett Palmer, our former engineering manager, about the possibility that these frogs were Green and Golden Bell Frogs and Brett emphasised that we should do everything we could to protect them.”
Once permits from the National Parks and Wildlife Service had been obtained, the frogs were collected by Dr White and Mr Wade, and placed in aquarium cages in one of the plant stores.
This intensive first stage of the conservation project ran over a period of eight months, requiring daily feeding of live crickets and carefully controlled surrounds.

“By the end, the frogs were fed a total of 8,000 crickets, which the company had to bring in direct from an insect breeding farm in Queensland,” Mr Wade said.
“The frogs were placed in cages each with a water container and bark shelter in a room heated between 16 to 22 degrees C. Every few days they had a few hours basking in the sun transforming them to a dazzling green and gold.”
Mr Wade said the company was proud of the results achieved so far, and the local effort that has helped create one of Australia’s last remaining refuges for an endangered species.
Wollongong company Affective Services, headed by managing director, Gene Stewart, built the ponds at no cost to Incitec from sketches taken of Dr White’s designs by earthmoving manager, Murray McMillan.

Ironically, Affective Services was the contractor that originally built the bunding for one of the export acid tanks, the soil of which was removed and used as the base for the ponds.
The habitat is thought to be one of the largest privately managed colonies of Green and Golden Bell Frogs in Australia, second only to the Sydney Olympics site at Homebush Bay.
Representatives of local government, business and the community attended an official opening of the ponds on April 12, 2002. The area includes a walkway and viewing deck, which the company hopes will be used by study groups from schools or nature societies in the future.
Dr White commended Incitec for the approach it had taken during the whole project.
“It’s been the sensible thing to do and it has shown other industry that our native animals don’t need to be removed from our industrial sites – the two can co-exist together quite successfully with proper planning and management.”