Second lyrebird wiped out on Buttenshaw Drive, bush silent, residents gutted
First Frank and now what's thought to be his songbird son have been run over in the escarpment backroads of Coledale
Another superb lyrebird has been killed on Buttenshaw Drive this week, residents report.
In July 2020, Coledale ecologist Kylie Madden wrote a lament for Frank, the accomplished song mimic killed in 4WD hit-and-run. On Monday night, on the same stretch of road outside Kylie's home, another iconic bird was lost, a young male lyrebird thought to be Frank's son.
"When I saw the feathers on the road, I felt sick. Sick to the stomach," Kylie said.
"I immediately started searching for some evidence that maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked, and maybe it had been a glancing blow and he had run off into the bush. Maybe it wasn’t Son of Frank. But I quickly realised that my worst fears were true. And the silence of the bush today has confirmed it."
Another resident, Ed Birt, said he felt "absolutely gutted". The Illawarra Bicycle Users Group president is among several locals who have requested speed bumps on Buttenshaw Drive.
On Tuesday, Kylie wrote to Wollongong City Council's Traffic Management Committee, Ward 1 councillors and Heathcote MP Maryanne Stuart to report the songbird's death.
"This lyrebird that was killed yesterday is well known to my family, and I have footage of him using the dancing platforms that once belonged to Frank – the old resident Lyrebird well known to the community," Kylie wrote.
"Frank had lived in this stretch for a decade or more before he was killed. In all likelihood, the lyrebird hit yesterday was Frank's son. For those of us who have lived in this community for decades, and who have been watching this road claim wildlife and near-miss pedestrians for years, it is a moment that is difficult to put into words."
As the Illawarra Flame reported in Call for traffic calming on ‘river of death’ in October 2025, the wildlife road toll has also included diamond pythons, wallabies, possums, echidnas and water dragons. Residents of the leafy streets where the forest meets suburbia are horrified and for decades have called on the government to install traffic calming measures.
Over the years, the Madden family has logged 40 species killed by cars – this includes 15 species of birds, 10 mammals, 12 reptiles, three frogs and a giant spiny crayfish.
In a December 2025 report, WIRES calls for study as wildlife toll rises on escarpment backroads, Council told the Flame that Buttenshaw Drive was not a funding priority for traffic calming, while Transport for NSW said without calming measures to slow cars, the rural road would not be a priority for a 30km/h zone.
In her latest letter to council, Kylie said: "I have been writing to Council about traffic safety on the northern Illawarra backroads — Buttenshaw Drive, Morrison Avenue, Cater Street, Denmark Street, Asquith Street and Foothills Road — since 2020. In that time I have reported wallaby strikes, near-miss collisions involving pedestrians, hooning incidents, and the death of Frank the Lyrebird …
"Seven years on, the core problems remain unchanged: drivers routinely travelling 20–30km/hr over the 50km/hr limit, no speed enforcement, no footpaths, no centreline, narrow roads with blind crests and curves, and bush on both sides providing habitat for wildlife that must cross to survive."
Kylie is now calling for:
- A request for regular speed enforcement by NSW Police on Buttenshaw Drive and Morrison Avenue, particularly during mornings and evenings where those people obviously avoiding the 50km/hr of LHD will travel at speeds up to 80-100km/hr
- Reinstatement of variable message speed signs at known problematic areas – e.g. Buttenshaw on the crest through the residential area (but starting in the bush near Cater St so thereby capturing both the road kill issue and the risk to children in the residential area.
- A clear update on the status of the traffic study that has been referenced in Council's responses to my correspondence over many years — whether it was completed, what it found, and what actions if any have followed from it
"I am not interested in the installation of static signs as all evidence points to them not being effective," Kylie wrote. "A permanent solution should be considered in the form of additional speed humps."
Wildlife toll on the backroads
A list of 40 species killed by cars, compiled by Madden family.
Mammals (10 species)
Swamp wallaby, Echidna, Sugar glider, Ringtail possum, Brushtail possum, Eastern horseshoe bat, Brown Antechinus, Dusky Antechinus, Long-nosed bandicoot, Rusa Deer.
Birds (15 species)
Superb Lyrebird, Brown cuckoo-dove, Brown Thornbill, Eastern Spinebill, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Rufous Fantail, Eastern yellow Robin, Silvereye, Bassian Thrush, Pied Currawong, Eastern Whipcord, Golden Whistler, Yellow-throated scrub-wren, White-browed scrub-wren, Noisy Miner.
Reptiles (12 species)
Eastern water dragon, Diamond python, Broad-tailed gecko, Blind snake, Eastern small-eyed snake, Golden crowned snake, Red-bellied black snake, Marsh snake, Tiger snake, Garden skink, Yellow-bellied three-toed skink, Water skink.
Frogs (3 species)
Striped marsh frog, Peron's tree frog, Southern green stream frog.
Other
Giant Spiny Crayfish.
