Merewether Beach Revegetation Project

Introduction

 

A dozen Year 11 geography students visited our worksite recently. They wanted to know about the aims and dynamics of our Landcare project. So we ran through its history, very much as you’ll read it here. At the end of the session I said that a society like ours is made up of three elements—business, which produces; government, which regulates; and civil society, which is us.  I explained that in our society, a lot of things do not happen unless we citizens do them. Our project, I said, is one of these things.

When I speak to community groups about our work, I usually tell a similar story of what we have achieved and how we have done it. But from very early in the project we have had to deal with issues of power. This is unsurprising: any human endeavour has a political dimension. Some of the documents on this page and the next touch on this aspect of community conservation. One issue stands out: the problematic relationship of community volunteers and bureaucrats.

I have worked in bureaucracies. I understand their dynamics and the pressures placed on staff.  But our experience, and that of many other community groups, highlights a dysfunctional mode of work. As I write, government is failing to deal with a host of issues: climate change, water, energy, ecological collapse, refugees, the quality of education and health. We would do so much better if government agencies developed an enabling and mobilising way of working with communities, rather than the regulatory and disabling mode of work that currently holds sway (see Going Deeper: Landcare as Learning, downloadable from the Evaluation & Learning page).  

 Griff Foley, June 2011                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Phase 1- Merewether Dunes

At the beginning of 2004 the Merewether Beach sand dunes were covered with Bitou Bush, a South African saltbush first brought to Australia in ships’ bilges in the 19th century, and later used extensively to revegetate dunes after sand mining.  Bitou Bush did its work all too well.  By the end of the 20th century it had colonised 80 per cent of the east coast of Australia and there were national, state and regional control strategies. (For the NSW strategy, see h­ere. For a comprehensive regional strategy, see here)

In late 2003 Merewether Landcare won a $25,000 grant from the federal government’s Envirofund.  We used the money to buy native plants, tools and a toolshed (which you can see behind Merewether Surf Club).  In 2004—2005 we removed (by hand) Bitou Bush from the dunes between Merewether Surf Club and Dixon Park carpark.  We replaced the Biotu Bush with local native plants, the sort of plants that were here before white settlement. 
 

Click on a document to download it onto your desktop as a Word file

June 2005 Daily Telegraph article about the Merewether Beach project
 

Click on a photo to enlarge it and read its caption

The Merewether dunes before work commenced in February 2004. The dunes were infested with Bitou Bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata), Gazania (Gazania rigens) and other weeds. There were a few surviving Coastal Wattle (Acacia sophorae) and a single Coastal Tea-tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) from an earlier restoration project. The same site in July 2005. We have removed all the Bitou Bush, got other weeds under control, and planted native tubestock and cuttings. Note in the foreground, healthy Coastal Pigface (Carpobrotus glaucescen), and in the middle ground, Coastal Spinifex (Spinifex sericeus). Rita’s dog Buster supervising secondary planting on the site in July 2005. We are weeding Gazania and replacing it with Lepstospermum laevigatum, (Coastal Tea-tree), Banksia integrifolia (Coastal Banksia), Lomandra longifolia (Mat Rush), Knobby Club Rush and Leucopogon parviflorus. A ground-level view of dune regrowth, 28 October 2008. Note: left foreground: Coastal Pigface interspersed with seed-heads of Coastal Spinifex; right foreground, and along the fence: Lomandra longifolia. Middle of picture: a healthy stand of Coastal Wattle. (Photo courtesy of Australian Department of Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts) The lovely flower of Beach Fan Flower (Scaevola calendulacea) on Merewether dune, October 2008. (Photo courtesy of DEWHA) Merewether Landcare members who showed graduate trainees from the Australian Department of Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts over our project in October 2008. (Photo courtesy of DEWHA)

 

Phase 2 - Merewether Baths & Headland

At the beginning of 2006 with the dunes revegetated, we turned our attention to the land behind Merewether Baths. The Baths sit on a rock shelf immediately below the northern slope of Merewether Headland.  

The southern part of the site is a natural amphitheatre: see the photos on this page.

Running north from the amphitheatre a steep clay and rock slope meets a long set of stairs running down from a carpark (the Upper Carpark) to the Baths.  Immediately north of the stairs are two more carparks, one at the bottom of the stairs (the Lower Carpark), the other  between the lower and upper carparks (the Middle Carpark). A steep clay slope runs between the middle and upper carparks. We call all this the Baths Surrounds.

When we began work at the Baths in February 2006 the whole area was overrun with Bitou Bush.  We began with the amphitheatre, cutting a swathe through the Bitou Bush to reach a lone Port Jackson fig.  We uncovered depleted soil riddled with shale and rock.  Several coal seams run through Merewether Headland.  From 1862 to 1946 a coal railway ran behind the Baths and through the Headland to Burwood Colliery on the shore of Glenrock Lagoon.

February 2006: Merewether Headland before we commenced work. A lone Port Jackson Fig (Ficus rubiginosa) rises above the Bitou Bush. Until the mid-1940s the coal train for Burwood No. 2 colliery ran between Glenrock Lagoon and The Junction. A railway tunnel passed through Merewether Headland, right behind where this fig tree now stands. The coal truck in the foreground was placed there as a memento of Merewethers coal mining days. The headland site in September 2007. We have carefully removed much of the Bitou Bush. The headland, mainly comprising shale and coal, is brittle and erodes easily. We have also planted several thousand local native plants. The temporary fencing in the foreground is the result of a violent storm in June 2007, which tore the roof off the Merewether Baths dressing sheds. Merewether Landcare workers on Merewether Headland, May 2006. In 2006 and 2007 we cleared Bitou Bush from the headland and planted local native species. The Port Jackson Fig (Ficus rubiginosa) in the top right hand corner of the photo was planted in 1991 by a Merewether lifeguard, to celebrate the birth of his daughter. Otto building a rock wall to secure a planting bed on the headland, May 2006.

In our work we find one thing leads to another. The dunes revegetated, we turned to the Baths and Headland.  Once we had liberated the fig, we kept moving up the slope, clearing, terracing, planting. This was an exciting time.  We were restoring native vegetation communities obliterated by more than a century of coal mining and weed invasion. But by the end of 2007 we felt that we had gone as far as we could in the amphitheatre. We  believed that the upper slopes, still covered in Bitou Bush, were too steep to clear and plant.

The amphitheatre site cleared of Bitou Bush and ready for planting, September 2007 A section of the same site two years later. Despite harsh salt winds, Banksia integrifolia (foreground), Westringia fruticosa (in flower, middle-ground) and other local native plants are flourishing. The northern slope of the amphitheatre, September 2007. This section was unusually water-laden and boggy. In 2007 we installed wooden swales and then planted water-loving plants to absorb the run-off. Late in 2008 we discovered the source of the water—a natural spring further up the slope. Since then we have run the spring water through soaker hoses to water new plantings. The amphitheatre late November 2010. We have cleared, terraced and planted most of the site. The section in the foreground was rebuilt by an earth-mover after the 2007 Pasha Bulka storm; we replanted it once the remediation was carried out in mid-2009. Note the remaining Bitou Bush in the top left- and right-hand corners of the photo The upper section of the amphitheatre, November 2010. Note the vigorous growth on the lower slope. We terraced and planted the upper slope in the second half of 2010.

Since early 2006 we have also been working on the slopes and weed-infested garden beds bordering the Baths carparks.

The middle carpark at Merewether Baths, 3 May 2006. Barbara (in foreground) and Rita are about to begin clearing a garden bed overrun by Bitou Bush. What you can achieve in a single morning! The same site 3 hours later. Rita, Barbara, Andrea and Lori have cleared the weeds and planted Coastal Rosemary, White Correa and Coastal Wattle. The same site, native plants flourishing, September 2007. We also planted the Coastal Pigface miraculously growing in the rocky cavities of the cement crib wall. September 2007: Barbara and Lori clearing Bitou alongside Merewether Baths stairs. Note the new plantings of Lomandra longifolia in the foreground. Lori at Merewether Baths stairs, late September 2007. In five working days in Spring 2007 we made 15 garden beds and planted them with Mat Rush, Knobby Club Rush, Coastal Rosemary, White Correa and She Oak (Allocasaurina distyla). At the bottom of the stairs are temporary dressing sheds installed after the June 2007 storms unroofed the Baths change rooms. Flourishing native plants on the same site a year later (11 9 08). Looking south from the top of the Baths stairs, 20 May 2009, showing new terracing and planting. The same site six months later (November 2009). The same site in late November 2010.

Nature does not always work with us:

Clearing Bitou and planting on the slope between the middle and upper Baths carpark, 8 May 2007. A month later the violent storm that drove the MV Pasha Bulker onto Nobbys Beach caused this site to slump. The slope between the upper and middle carparks two days after it slumped during the Pasha Bulker storm

But as the work has progressed we have found that we are able to terrace and plant apparently impossible slopes:  

Barbara planting native Coastal Pigface on the same slope after it had been remediated, July 2009. As shown in the previous photo, this slope collapsed in the June 2007 Pasha Bulka storm. Two years later a contractor rebuilt the slope, compacting clay and rubble and adding a jute cover. To plant this slope we had to hack holes in the compacted earth, fill them with sand and then plant pigface. So we could safely do this work, Newcastle City Council paid for ropes training for 10 of our members. The same slope four months later (30 11 09). Coastal Pigface is growing vigorously and will soon cover the slope. A little south of the slump site, January 2010. We generally go into recess during summer. But in early 2010 we took advantage of good rains to forge ahead with the work. Here Mandy & Andrea are doing infill planting on a previously planted section, while Lori is preparing a new bed and Doug & Otto are building treated pine terraces. A panoramic view of the headland work site, January 2010: This photo captures the character of the worksite with its steep, Bitou-infested slopes. We divided the site into sections (S1, S2 etc) and systematically cleared, terraced and planted them. Panoramic view of the work site, late November 2010. It took a little over a year for our group to clear, ,terrace and plant these steep slopes. Barbara (in foreground) and Otto (barely visible) clearing Bitou Bush from the slope shown the previous two photos, 29 June 2010. The same view, mid-May 2011: The site is now free of Bitou Bush and fully planted with native species Ann watering recently planted native tubestock on this slope, September 2010 Barbara, Jan & Jono preparing another slope for terracing, November 2010 From early 2006 we worked our way up the slopes of this natural amphitheatre, clearing Bitou Bush and planting local native species. Here, in November 2010, the plants are flourishing and group members are collecting seed (rear of photo), weeding (middle ground) and terracing the upper slopes (foreground). Lori, Jan and Judy opening up a new section of the site, June 2011

Merewether Heritage Park

In 2008 we realised that the regenerated amphitheatre would make an ideal site for a heritage park.  We are currently working with Newcastle City Council to realise this idea. Government grants have enabled us to accelerate site works and do initial work on park design. Stage 1 of the park, involving construction of a boardwalk and viewing platform above the regenerated bush, will be completed by mid-2012.

The Merewether Heritage Park site November 2009 showing the location of the proposed deck and boardwalk. The Merewether Heritage Park concept plan. Boardwalks will allow visitors to walk through the regenerated bushland. The park will link the B

A newspaper article on the heritage park

For another newspaper article, January 2009 Newcastle Herald article about the proposed heritage park

For a fuller explanation of the heritage park concept Click here

Constructive conservation

Our project is an example of constructive community conservation.  There is a long history of this sort of work in Newcastle.  Residents working cooperatively with government created many of the city’s parks and reserves.

For examples, see:
Botanising Awabakal
Newcastle's Green Spaces
Title of steel does not ring true any more.
Three generations of the Schofield family are helping to restore native habitat at Merewether Beach

All Merewether Landcare members are locals, most of us are retirees.  

Barbara and Beverley (on ropes), assisted by Peter and Griff, clearing Bitou Bush from the steep slope behind Merewether Baths amenities block, March 2010. Doug & Otto building a retaining wall, March 2010 Merewether Landcare members enjoying their morning tea at the end of a hard morning's work, May 4 2010

We do this work because we like doing it. The physical work and social contact are enjoyable, and there is great satisfaction in seeing plants grow and the beach and headland looking more attractive.

Three generations of the Schofield family are helping to restore native habitat at Merewether Beach (Newcastle Herald November 10, 2009)

  Winning Weed by Weed (Newcastle Herald July 4 2009) )