Uriarra Loop and Shepherd's Lookout (6.5km)

Start walking along the Uriarra Loop from Uriarra East picnic area, then cross the Molonglo River and start up towards Shepherd's Lookout. You will pass stands of Black Cypress Pine and the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre. From the lookout you will get excellent views of the river.

Shepherds Lookout - History

Named after nearby property owners, Shepherd's Lookout is the ACT's northern-most viewing point of the Murrumbidgee River. The power lines spanning the river mark the border between the ACT and New South Wales.

Hundreds of stone tool scatter sites in the area are evidence that the Ngunnawal Aboriginal people have lived in the Murrumbidgee and Molonglo catchments for thousands of years. The river provided water as well as fish, yabbies and water birds. The first Europeans to the area came in search of the Murrumbidgee River in 1820. On the opposite bank, there was a sand mining venture that operated until the early 1980s. Behind it lies the Retallick rural lease, one of the first properties in the area.

The deep river pool below provides important habitat for platypus and native fish including the endangered Macquarie Perch and Murray Cod.
Black Cypress Pines, Callitris endlicheri, grow here on thin rocky soil. Their winged seeds are protected in tough woody cones and are a favourite food of Gang Gang Cockatoos.

The adjacent Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre was built in the 1970’s and is the main wastewater treatment facility for Canberra. Trees along the Shepherd's Lookout Loop were planted in the 1970s to rehabilitate a road and temporary workshed sites associated with the construction of the centre.