Ideas in the Morning. AGM after lunch.

The CPPA Open Day is an opportunity for the community to connect, contribute and help shape the year ahead. It’s a chance to share ideas with the Progress Committee, explore new initiatives and celebrate what makes our community such a special place to live.

From 10am to 12pm, on Saturday 14th March, Progress Hall will be buzzing.

The Landcare team will host a Grow Me Instead weed display along with local native plants available for sale and to order. 

Conversation tables will invite your input on projects we are proposing, events we hope to host and initiatives we are exploring. Committee members will be available for a chat. Memberships can be renewed. A rolling morning tea will keep the conversations flowing. All the details are here.

At midday, we will pause, share a simple lunch together and reset for the formal business part of the day, because while the Open Day is about ideas and imagination, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) is about governance and accountability.

The AGM will be held from 12.30 to 1pm. It is where we formally receive reports, review the Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statements, and elect the Committee for the coming year. Transparent governance ensures the Association continues to operate responsibly and in the best interests of the community.

This year’s AGM will be efficient. The Achievements Report will be shared, the Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statements are already available on our website, along with the formal Notice of Meeting and Agenda. 

The current Committee has nominated to return with enthusiasm. That said, there is always room for new voices. If you are interested in joining the Committee, please get in touch. There is no pressure, just opportunity.

We warmly invite the whole community to attend both the Open Day and the AGM.

5 Community Conversations at one Open Day

Saturday 14 March 10am-noon
Progress Hall. 197 Skye Point Rd
(Parking at Gurranba Reserve)

1. Grow Me Instead Display - Protecting Coal Point’s Living Web

An important Open Day conversation centres on something slowly disappearing all around us, our biodiversity. Globally, species are disappearing at unprecedented rates. Habitat is shrinking. Ecosystems are under pressure.

And yet here on the Coal Point peninsula, we are in a rare and precious window of time. We still have extraordinary diversity in our yards, reserves and verges. Bushes, shrubs, trees, groundcovers, grasses, insects, birds, possums, fungi and flying foxes, all the intricate threads that form the web of life.

Some of it is obvious. Some lies hidden in dormant seed banks beneath lawns, but it is still here. Given the chance, it returns. Our local landscape has strong regenerative capacity. Birds move through the canopy spreading seed and maintaining genetic diversity. Life is ready. The question is, will we make room for it?

The garden escape problem

At the Open Day a Grow Me Instead display will highlight common weeds across the peninsula.

Some are already established in bushland. Others remain mostly in gardens but have the potential to escape.

Once certain species move beyond the fence line, they outcompete local natives, alter soil conditions, suppress regeneration and reduce habitat complexity for wildlife.

That’s why we need local heroes. Native species that provide nectar, pollen, fruit and shelter. Plants adapted to our soils and climate extremes. Species that strengthen the genetic diversity of our isolated peninsula.

What you’ll see at our Landcare team’s display:

• Common environmental weeds

• Garden plants to keep under watch

• Recommended native replacements

Bring a sample or photo of a mystery plant and we’ll help identify it.

Have the conversation about why small decisions matter, the verge planting, the creeper allowed to spread, the clippings dumped in the reserve. Each choice either strengthens or weakens the web of life.

We will also take orders for autumn plantings, where cooler soil and better rainfall makes for strong establishment before summer.

Join the conversation. Let’s strengthen the strands of our living web.

2. Progress Hall Access, Inclusion and the Next Chapter

In 1951, the people of Coal Point built Progress Hall through garden parties, fundraising and working bees. For more than seventy years it has hosted dances, concerts, meetings and celebrations. It is owned by the community, not council.

But expectations have changed. Accessibility standards have strengthened, community understanding of inclusion has grown. What was once acceptable no longer meets contemporary standards.

If the Hall is to serve everyone into the future, we must plan for it now with a strategic approach.

This year, CPPA will develop a detailed Disability and Access Plan, with a staged, strategic framework that assesses the current limitations, identifies best-practice solutions, integrates building and landscape design and positions the CPPA to apply for grant funding to implement the design.

We are seeking expertise from landscape architects, design specialists, surveyors and grant writers.

More than compliance, accessible design benefits everyone; parents with prams, less mobile residents, hall users moving equipment. Good access is good design.

At the Open Day we invite imagination. What could be possible? Seamless pathways, integrated landscape design or flexible outdoor spaces. The Hall was built by the community. Its next chapter will be shaped by the community too.

3. Dancing Through the Decades with music, movement and community.

When Progress Hall was built, it was designed for dancing, with a raised stage, sprung timber floor, and plenty of room to roam with razzle and dazzle.

This year we want to bring that intention back to life with Dancing Through the Decades, a celebration of music from the 1950s to the 2020s across eight events.

And who better to provide the soundtrack than our own community? Coal Point is rich with talented musicians. Bands. Duos. Solo artists. Some gig regularly, others may just need the right invitation...you’re invited!

The concept is that each event will include a dance instructor to guide a few moves from the era, nothing formal, just enough to get started, then the floor is yours.

Dancing dissolves age barriers, it builds connection without saying a word and is good for the brain and the body.

If you would like to attend, perform, organise or suggest some songs for a decade, come to the Open Day or get in touch through this Expression of interest form.

Let’s fill the Hall with music and dance again. 

4. From Brighton Avenue to a Nature-Positive Future

Thinking Ahead of the Curve

Some conversations take years. In 2016, a DA for 2 Brighton Avenue/133 Excelsior Pde proposed removal of 215 of 218 trees on the block. Community concern was strong with 133 submissions and the matter progressed to the Land and Environment Court. The amended proposal retained 31 trees in keeping with Council’s recommendation “the applicant should give strong consideration to retaining continuous canopy vegetation to conserve scenic amenity to the Toronto Bay area”

As the implementation of the DA works began with the gruesome grind of the arborist’s arsenal it has again highlighted how confronting canopy loss can be. Biodiversity decline rarely happens in one sweep. It happens incrementally, tree by tree.

Across the Coal Point peninsula, connected canopy corridors allow wildlife to glide, flit and forage between the Spotted Gum Open Forest, remnant rainforest gullies and Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest. When those corridors are thinned or broken, fragmentation compounds and safe movement through the landscape becomes harder with each passing year.

The bigger picture

In February, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released its Business and Biodiversity Assessment.

Its message is clear. Biodiversity loss is not just environmental. It affects economic systems, property values and community resilience. Nature underpins everything. The report calls for shifting financial flows toward protection and regeneration, not simply managing decline.

A local response?

One Open Day conversation will explore the idea of a local Green Investment Fund.

Not an offset scheme or a protest mechanism but a proactive investment model supporting habitat protection and restoration, linking of wildlife corridors and collaborative and sustainable housing

This would require careful design and collaboration. It is not about stopping development. It is about recognising biodiversity as living infrastructure.

The Brighton Avenue story reminds us that decisions today shape canopy cover for decades. How do we move from reacting to shaping? Join the conversation.

5. Fortify Your Foreshore

Walk the waterfront after a storm and you can see the change. Exposed roots. Slumping banks. Sections of foreshore that are quietly disappearing. The foreshore is under pressure.

This year, CPPA proposes a workshop series titled Fortify Your Foreshore. You can register your interest in the workshops here.

Workshop One – Where and When

Where is the foreshore? It is not a fixed line. It shifts over time with water levels, storm surge, sediment movement and vegetation change.

Experts, historical mapping and current mapping will help demonstrate where the foreshore sits now and where it may move in future.

Workshop Two – What and Why

The foreshore is the transition zone between land and lake. Water meets soil. Roots bind banks. Fish shelter. Birds feed. It is one of the most biologically rich areas in the landscape.

Healthy foreshores absorb wave energy, filter runoff, protect property and safeguard water quality. When degraded, impacts ripple outward.

Workshop Three – Who and How

Responsibility for the foreshore is shared between landholders, Council and State agencies. But practically, one property owner’s actions affect their neighbour.

Hard structures can deflect wave energy. Clearing vegetation can accelerate erosion. We will explore soft engineering approaches such as strategic native planting and appropriate structural responses.

Protecting foreshores is not a single-property issue. It is a whole-of-community project. If you live by the water, walk the shoreline or care about the health of our lake, this conversation is for you.

Complete the Expression of Interest form to keep in touch about the event.

Notice of CPPA AGM 14 March 12:30-1pm

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) this year will be swift and efficient. The achievements report will be provided in the Chronicle that will be distributed in the first week of March, the all important Treasurer's Report and Financial Statements are provided below.

The CPPA is very fortunate to have an amazing Committee who are making great things happen within our community and are keen to keep doing that, so the Committee have all nominated to return. 

Of course if you'd like to join the Committee there's still room...but there's no pressure.

Preceding the AGM will be an open day at the Hall from 10am-12pm, where the landcare team will have a weed display and native plants for sale, conversation tables will have places to share your ideas about projects we want to undertake, events we want to host.The Committee will be available to chat, you can also renew your membership. There'll be a rolling morning tea and snacks to sustain you. 

A warm and hearty invitation will be extended to the whole community via the The Chronicle where all the details will be provided.

If you have any ideas you'd like incorporated in celebrating this community milestone or would like to be involved in making it happen please get in touch.
Email: cppasecretary@gmail.com or
M: 0438 596 741 sms/ring

The formal proceedings of the AGM will be 12:30 -1pm

Hope to see you
Suzanne Pritchard
President-Secretary CPPA

Notice of the AGM for the
Coal Point Progress Association

To be held at Progress Hall

197 Skye Point Rd Coal Point

12:30 - 1pm

Agenda 

1. Welcome
2. Attendance & Apologies
3. Confirmation of minutes of previous Annual General Meeting held 22nd March 2025
4. President's Report
5. Treasurer’s Report and Financial statements
6. Nomination of Returning Officer
7. Election of Office Bearers and up to six other Committee members
8. Confirmation of Public Officer- Suzanne Pritchard
9. Close of AGM

Dates For doing Feb Update

 

 Visit the calendar for updates

https://coalpointprogress.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html

CPPA Monthly Meeting 
Monday 9 Feb, 9 March 

3-4:30 pm Progress Hall, 197 Skye Pt Rd, Coal Point
contact cppasecretary@gmail.com

TASNG Meeting
Wednesday 11 Feb, 11 March 

5-6:30 The Hub,
97 The Boulevarde, Toronto

Progress Hall Open Day
Saturday 14 March

• Grow Me Instead weed display
• Native plants for sale
• Meet the members, join up
• Community conversations
• Cafe-style beverages and bites

Locals Landcaring -
Every Thursday 8am-11ish 

Check the Calendar for locations

Tools & training provided
Morning tea is always at 10am

• 29/1 Burnage
• 5/2 Gurranba
• 12/2 Stansfield- neet behind the hall
• 19/2 Puntei Creek 
• 26/2 Threlkeld
• 5/3 Kilibinbin
• 12/3 Hampton St link- Jabiru Street end
• 19/3 West Ridge
• 26/3 Burnage
• 2/4 Gurranba

Crocodile Point (TASNG)
1st &3rd Wed
8:30-10am. Meet under the Fennel Bay bridge

Want to join Us?
Receive weekly emails about landcaring and what we will be doing, send a request to Ros cppalandcare@gmail.com

Heaven Can Wait Charity Sailing Regatta, 5-8 February

One of Lake Macquarie’s most loved charity events is back on the water in February 2026. The Heaven Can Wait Charity Sailing Regatta celebrates its 20th year, bringing together sailors, supporters and the wider community to raise funds for people living with cancer.

The regatta runs from 5–8 February 2026, hosted by the Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto, with races spanning the length and breadth of beautiful Lake Macquarie. From short, sharp dashes to endurance events (12 and 24 hour races), there’s something for everyone who loves sailing, or simply loves seeing sails on the lake.These events are open to yachts, multihulls and trailer sailers, creating a vibrant mix of vessels and crews on the water.

Once again, the Toronto Sunrise Rotary Club is a Major Sponsor, continuing their long-standing support of this important community fundraiser.

The Heaven Can Wait Regatta was founded by local Lake Macquarie resident, keen sailor and cancer survivor Shaun Lewicki. What began as a way to promote sailing and our region has grown into a major annual fundraiser for the Cancer Council Hunter Branch Home Help Program.

This program provides practical, in-home support for people who are terminally ill or recovering from cancer, helping with everyday tasks at a time when it matters most. Each year, more than 200 patients receive assistance thanks to funds raised through Heaven Can Wait.A small portion of funds raised also supports Lake Macquarie Marine Rescue, who provide on-water safety and rescue services during the regatta.

Since its inception, the event has raised over $700,000, with all entry fees and additional “virtual” fundraising by participating boats going directly to the charities.

You don’t need a boat to be part of this event. There are three easy ways the wider community can get involved. https://www.rmyctoronto.com.au/heaven-can-wait.

Buy a raffle ticket! Over $8,000 worth of prizes, including artwork, houseboat holidays, wine packages, joy flights, two-night marina berths, tote bags, meat trays and banquet vouchers. Tickets are here, and QR code.

Attend the fundraising dinner. The fundraising dinner is on Friday 6 February 2026 at the Royal Yacht Club of Toronto. Fewer than 20 tickets remain, book now. 

Grab a family BBQ Brekky on the lawn at the RMYC and watch the Paul Bennett Airshow from the Club, 10-10:30am Saturday 7 February

This is a true Lake Macquarie success story, built on community spirit, volunteering and generosity. Whether you buy a raffle ticket, attend the dinner, the family brekky or cheer from the shore, every contribution helps make life a little easier for local people doing it tough.

Heaven really can wait, but support is needed now.

80 years of connecting our community

This year marks a significant milestone for the Coal Point Progress Association(CPPA). Formed in 1946, the CPPA is celebrating 80 years of advocating for local services and infrastructure, strengthening community connections, protecting the local environment and representing community concerns to Council.

The anniversary year is a chance to look back and look forward. We’ll be sharing snippets from the archives (first issue of The Chronicle from 1980), reflecting on where we’ve come from, and exploring where we want to head next through a series of Conversation Cafés. Along the way, there will be plenty of opportunities to come together socially at Progress Hall.

Our first anniversary event will be held on Saturday 14 March, starting with an open day from 10.00am to 12.00pm at Progress Hall. The morning will feature the very popular a Grow Me Instead weed display and plant sale, a chance to meet members and the Committee and a Conversation Café, with café-style beverages and light bites, and opportunities to share your ideas on

• How will we celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the CPPA?
• How can people move safely around the Coal Point peninsula without relying on cars?
• What role should the CPPA play in the community over the next few years?
• How can we protect local bushland as housing density increases?

After a break for lunch, we’ll come back together for an efficient Annual General Meeting, where committee positions will be filled and reports presented.

We look forward to celebrating this milestone year with the community that has shaped the CPPA for eight decades.

Time to renew or Join Up

A CPPA membership helps keep our community-owned hall open, our bushland cared for and our community informed. Join or renew today and be part of what keeps our community connected. Here's an online form. Or click on the form below. More information about the CPPA membership is here

 

Toronto Foreshore Upgrade Update

The Toronto Foreshore Master Plan has long been a key community priority, and questions continue to be asked about the pace of progress, particularly around Stage 2. Council has recently provided clarification (below) on the current status.

To date, $5.1 million has been spent on the Toronto Foreshore Master Plan. This funding has delivered the Town Green Precinct, completed in 2022, and covered significant preparatory work across the remaining precincts. This includes site investigations, detailed design work, approvals, and the demolition of two properties at Victory Row.

In the 2025–2026 Operational Plan, Council has allocated a further $200,000 for continued planning and design. Decisions about when construction of future stages will proceed are made annually through Council’s operational planning process and its four-year capital works program.

Recent works at Edward Gain Park are maintenance works only, aimed at keeping the playground safe and usable until the broader foreshore redevelopment is delivered.

The next major focus area is the Wharf Road Precinct. This site presents particular challenges due to contaminated soils, which require formal remediation before construction can proceed. A Development Application for contamination remediation at Wharf Road is under assessment. Until all approvals are in place, construction funding cannot be confirmed.

The Toronto Foreshore Master Plan divides the foreshore into four precincts, intended to be delivered in stages over time. While the Town Green precinct was completed soon after adoption of the plan in 2021, the remaining precincts, Wharf Road, The Terraces and Bath Street, have proven far more complex.

Investigations across these sites have identified a range of constraints, including:

• contaminated soils requiring remedial action plans
• geotechnical challenges
• Aboriginal and European heritage investigations and approvals
• complex Development Applications

These issues have added both time and cost to the process, but they are necessary steps to ensure the foreshore is safe, compliant and fit for long-term community use.

The playground upgrade remains the major children-focused element of the Master Plan. It is planned to be supported by complementary improvements across the remaining precincts, including seating, shaded areas, shared path connections and landscaping.

Council’s Delivery Program 2025–2029 includes the Toronto Foreshore Reserve, with the intention of securing all remaining approvals and completing detailed design for the Terraces and Bath Street precincts in 2026–2027. The allocation of construction funding will then be considered alongside other community facility upgrades across the city, balancing competing needs within Council’s overall budget.

The CPPA will continue to monitor this project closely and advocate for timely delivery, keeping the community informed as decisions are made.

As always, we encourage residents to stay engaged, ask questions and make their voices heard about the future of our foreshore. You can keep up top date on Council's webpage for the Toronto Foreshore Revitalisation project.

Learning at Landcare

From the Awabakal calendar season:

Wunal on Awabakal Country (Summer)

“Wunal is the hot time on Awabakal Country. Many animals are active and breeding and it is a great time for hunting and fishing. The weather is hot and humid, with warm nights and mosquitoes biting. Often, afternoon thunderstorms bring heavy rain and lightning, but some years Wunal is dry with little rain and dry heat.

This time of year is wirokaliko (hot), humid and often wet with koyiwon (rain) typically increasing as the weather begins moyiyakowa (cooling) towards the end of Wunal. Sometimes however, Wunal can be dry and last much longer, with drought leaving Country parched.”

Bark at Its Best - Gum trees of Coal Point

This time of year reveals some stunning colours as our gum trees shed their old bark and reveal the salmon pink of the Smooth-barked Apple (Angophora costata), the creamy tones of the Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata), and the warm orange blotches of the Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata).

Our eleven local gums are big trees, many of them very old. While plenty grow in our local reserves, others stand quietly in backyards, where they play an important role. They provide shade, habitat for birds and animals, and vital links between gardens and surrounding bushland. More information is available on our website in the Our Bigger Backyard section:Common Gum Trees of Coal Point

When it comes to identifying gum trees, bark is a great place to start. Is the trunk completely rough, mostly rough with smooth bark at the top, or smooth with ribbons of rough bark hanging loose?

Another useful clue is the fruit, or gumnuts, which are often found on the ground beneath the tree:* images from PlantNET

• Angophora gumnuts are ribbed
  
• Corymbia gumnuts are urn-shaped
• Eucalyptus gumnuts come in many forms, but thinking of them as cup-shaped is a good starting point

You could even turn it into a game of gumnut bingo and see if you can find all three.

While you’re out noticing the trees of Coal Point, consider recording what you see on iNaturalist. Shedding bark, flowering plants, birds and insects can all be logged and added to the Coal Point Progress Landcare project. Over time, this builds a valuable record of what lives here and how it changes.

For example, this summer has seen plenty of King Parrots feeding on seeds and fruit around Carey Bay. If that pattern changes, we can look back and see when they were last recorded, perhaps in the summer of 2025–26. And what about the Powerful Owl? People say they’ve been seen in the past. These owls rely on hollows in big old trees to nest. Are we still seeing them, and are their food sources, possums and gliders, around?

If you spot something special, photos uploaded to iNaturalist are especially helpful. Every observation adds to the story of Coal Point’s bigger backyard.

Less poison, more protection for local wildlife

Last month, regulators failed to act on clear evidence about the dangers of long-lasting rat poisons, second-generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides known as SGARs. These poisons continue to harm local wildlife, including Powerful Owls, Tawny Frogmouths, Magpies, Kookaburras, White-bellied Sea-Eagles, Crested Pigeons and Ravens,and even family pets after they eat poisoned rodents or contaminated prey.

Our wildlife is already under pressure from the loss of large hollow-bearing trees and the fragmentation of the canopied corridors. Adding persistent poisons to the environment only worsens the problem.

Reducing poisons is one action we can all take. Wildlife can’t choose what it eats. Choosing non-toxic to wildlife rodent control helps protect the bush, our backyards and the species that still call our local bushland home.

There is lots of information on SGARs and a quick submission form to restrict SGAR availability on Birdlife Australia’s page 

Happy Australia Day of Contemplation

January 26 -Remembering Country, history and Coal Point’s shared past

January 26 is a day that carries very different meanings. For many it has been a day of national celebration since the public holiday was declared in 1994. For First Nations people, it is a day of mourning, recognising the ongoing impacts of colonisation. As a community it provides a time to reflect on our shared history and the stories written into the places we live.

In our community, that history is very close. The Coal Point-Toronto peninsula sits beside one of Lake Macquarie’s most significant historic sites, the former mission station and homestead of Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld, established in January 1831 at Ebenezer, now known as Toronto. Today, the Toronto Hotel stands on that site.

This mission operated on Awabakal Country, home to the Awabakal people whose connection to this land and water stretches back tens of thousands of years. Central to Threlkeld’s work was his close collaboration with Biraban, a respected Awabakal leader, teacher and interpreter. With Biraban’s guidance, Threlkeld learned the Awabakal language and documented it in detail. These records are now recognised as landmarks in Aboriginal studies, preserving knowledge that might otherwise have been lost.

Biraban was not simply an assistant, but a cultural authority who bridged worlds, sharing language, law and knowledge at a time of profound upheaval for his people.

What remains today is not just a colonial story but a story of Country, of Awabakal people who never ceded their connection to land and lake, of cultural knowledge shared under pressure, and of a local landscape shaped by these encounters. We have Biraban and Threlkeld Reserves honouring this connection.

On January 26, as we walk the foreshore, the numerous shell middens tell stories of gatherings where people feasted on the bounty of the lake. Look deeper into our bushland and scar trees can still be found. Together, these quiet markers remind us that our home is part of a much older and continuing history.

Acknowledging this past is not about blame. It is about truth, respect and understanding. It is about recognising First Nations people as the first custodians of this place, and listening to their voices today.

January 26 invites us to pause, reflect, and consider how we can walk more gently on Country, with respect for the past and a shared vision for the future.

References:

• Australian Dictionary of Biography – Lancelot Edward Threlkeld
• 1938 Day of Mourning - AIATSIS

Coal Point Public School – Happy 70th Anniversary

On 21 November, despite miserable weather, the Coal Point Public School community came together for a joyful day of reunions to celebrate our 70th anniversary . With the support of our dedicated P&C and staff, the afternoon was filled with activity and warmth. This event was preceded by exploration of old records and photographs, including from former students and sharing with children stories such as from the discipline book, which were met with wide-eyed giggles and disbelief as they learned what the boys got up to in years gone by.

The P&C ran a scavenger hunt for the children, along with the canteen and stalls, creating a lively and welcoming atmosphere. One of the highlights of the day was the slideshow, which was warmly received. Laughter rippled through the room as people spotted themselves, classmates and friends in the photos, sparking stories and fond memories. Another memorable moment was the cake cutting, shared by one of Coal Point’s very first students alongside one of our youngest current students, a beautiful symbol of the school’s past, present and future.

What makes Coal Point Public School so special is the number of generations that have passed through its gates. Former students often return as parents, volunteers and even teachers, continuing a proud tradition of learning and community connection.

As we celebrate 70 years of Coal Point Public School, we honour not only our history, but the many people who have shaped the school into the nurturing and vibrant community it is today. We look forward to many more years of learning, growth and shared memories.