Hidden in Camperdown Cemetery in Newtown is a patch of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda australis) considered a remnant of the Turpentine-Ironbark Forests that once covered most of the Inner West. The original trees and most of the shrubs have disappeared from this remnant, but a patch of native grasses and groundcovers dominated by the Kangaroo Grass remain. Very little Turpentine-Ironbark Forest remains today and it is listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.
In 2000, Marrickville Council formed partnership with St Stephen's Anglican Church, Marrickville Heritage Society, Camperdown Cemetery Trust and Greening Australia for the conservation of the remnant kangaroo grassland in the Camperdown Cemetery and decided to initiate a small community project to protect and restore this precious remnant. Remnants now only exist in patches in the Cooks River Valley with only two sites in the Marrickville Area, one in Camperdown Cemetery and other near the Dulwich Hill Railway Station.