Dates for Doing - March 2026

Visit the Calendar for details of events and hall activities

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

Progress Hall OPEN DAY & AGM

Saturday 14 March 
10-12 Open Day
12:30-1pm AGM

Progress Hall, 197 Skye Pt Rd
Details of the Open Day
Details of the AGM

TASNG Meeting

Wed,11 Mar

4:30-6pm, The Hub,

97 The Boulevarde.

Locals Landcaring

Tools & training provided

Morning tea at 10am

12/3 Hampton St Link - Hampton St end

19/3 West Ridge

26/3 Gurranba

2/4 Burnage

9/4 Stansfield

16/4 Puntie Creek Reserve

23/4 Threlkeld

30/4 Yarul

7/5 Hampton St link - Laycock St end

14/5 West Ridge

Ponte Point (TASNG)

1st &3rd Wed

8:30-10am. Meet under the Fennel Bay bridge

Want to join us?

To receive weekly updates email Ros

cppalandcare@gmail.com

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. If you can't make it to the open day and are interested in contributing to the discussion, register your interest here

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 or register you interest in the project here.

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

What’s on at the hall

In our 80th year it’s wonderful to see our hall being used to bring people together for yoga, pilates, sound baths, wine appreciation, fibre and textiles classes, private functions and CPPA meetings. The online calendar shows when the events are on.

Back by popular demand is Cheese and Yoghurt Making, offering a hands-on class where you’ll learn to make Fetta, Persian Fetta, Haloumi, Yoghurt, Labne, Ricotta, Mascarpone, Paneer and Cream Cheese... and take it home.

You’ll leave with the skills and confidence to recreate these dairy delights in your own kitchen. This is a practical, small-group workshop. Places are limited to 12 per class. Bookings are essential.

Dates in MAY: Sunday 3, Saturday 9, Sunday 10

Cost: $150 per person

Catering: Lots of tastings and a sumptuous morning tea. Please advise in advance of any special dietary requirements.

Hosted by: Lyn & Pete Malcolm - Mobile Cheese Class.

How to Book: A $50 deposit is required to secure your place.

Phone/text 0402 978 820 or Email: mobilecheeseclass@gmail.com

Facebook & Instagram: @mobilecheeseclass

Learning at Landcare - March

Autumn has arrived on Awabakal Country. The air cools, dew settles overnight, rainfall increases. In many years, this is our wettest season as breeding cycles shift with some species finishing, and others just beginning. The birabaan, the Wedge-tailed Eagle, begins its breeding season now.

Country is never still. It turns quietly, precisely, season by season. One of the most noticeable autumn movements happens at yareya, dusk.

Have you noticed the nightly flyover?

There are several species of winakang, bats, on Awabakal Country. The Grey-headed Flying Fox is the largest. These are our local fruit bats, a threatened keystone species protected by law.

They are the only mammals capable of true flight. Their wings are modified hands, a fine membrane stretched over elongated fingers. With these, they can travel up to 50 kilometres in a single night searching for pollen, nectar and small aru, insects. Unlike the smaller microbats, flying foxes do not use echolocation. They rely on keen eyesight and smell to locate flowering trees and fruiting forests.

In Australia, bats are major pollinators. They spread pollen and seed across distances far greater than birds and bees. They support forest regeneration. They provide prey for owls and other raptors.

On Coal Point you can watch and hear them foraging in our mature eucalypts, moving through late summer blossoms before drifting off into the dark.

If you would like to know more about our local flying fox population, there’s a comprehensive management plan for the Blackalls Park Flying-fox Camp and advice about injured wildlife is available 24/7 on Hunter Wildlife’s Rescue Line: 0418 628 483.

Feeding the pollinators

So what is in flower for autumn’s pollinators? Red Bloodwood, Corymbia gummifera (pic), is still blooming from January through to April, look for its tessellated rough bark and distinctive urn-shaped gum nuts. You will find it at Hampton Street, Stansfield Close, Threlkeld and West Ridge Landcare sites.

Grey Gum, Eucalyptus punctata, also flowers from summer into autumn, its smooth bark sheds in ribbons, revealing fresh pale trunks beneath.

Along the road to Myuna Bay, Paperbark, Melaleuca species, Tea Tree, Leptospermum species, and Banksia species provide valuable nectar sources. Autumn is not a quiet time in the bush. It is the feeding season. A replenishing season.

Watching and learning

Our Landcare team is always learning. One of the tools helping us build knowledge is iNaturalist. Observations logged around Coal Point are creating a living record of our local biodiversity. Every plant, insect, bird and fungus adds to the picture. You are welcome to contribute. We are happy to help you learn how. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/coal-point-progress-landcare

A tale of two groundcovers

An attractive native groundcover you may notice in reserves and backyards is Commelina cyanea.

It has lance-shaped leaves that trail across the ground and vivid blue flowers loved by native blue-banded bees. Early settlers gave it the unfortunate name “scurvy weed” after eating it to ward off scurvy. Despite the name, it is hardy, shade-tolerant and forms a useful dense groundcover. (Image from PlantNET)

It is often confused with a serious environmental weed, Tradescantia fluminensis, commonly called Trad or Wandering Trad.

At first glance they look similar. But Trad has fleshier leaves, white flowers and far more vigour. It spreads aggressively, rooting at every node. Any fragment left behind can regrow. It can smother large areas of bushland if left unchecked. There is good news though.

CSIRO has developed a biological control for Trad, a leaf smut fungus, Kordyana brasiliensis. Approved for release in Australia in 2019, it weakens the plant gradually over time. We are hopeful it will reduce some of the dense infestations in our reserves when it is released.

Learning at Landcare is never finished. Autumn is a season of movement and change.

Each Thursday morning from 8am to noon, with morning tea at 10, we work, observe, question and share knowledge.

Heaven Can Wait – What a Result.

What a weekend. What a community.

This year’s Heaven Can Wait event has once again shown what can happen when people come together with purpose and heart.

After costs, the organising team are proud to report that over $80,000 was raised. From that total, $5,000 will be donated to Marine Rescue, recognising the vital role it plays in keeping our waterways safe.

A remarkable $75,000 will go to the Cancer Council, supporting the Home Help Program, providing practical assistance to people undergoing cancer treatment. Real help. When it’s needed most.

On the water, 57 boats took part in the races, creating a spectacular sight and a strong show of support for the cause.

To everyone who sailed, volunteered, donated, organised, BBQd, cheered and supported, thank you.

Heaven Can Wait continues to prove that community spirit is alive and well on our lake.

DAs In Play 21/1/26 to 3/3/26

The CPPA endeavours to provide a summary of active applications in our area as outlined in the table. Please consult LMCC’s website for a full listing

• DA = Development Application
• BC = Building Information Certificate
• TA = Tree Assessment
• CC = Construction Certificate
• CDC = Complying Development Certificate
• REF = Review Environmental Factors
• SC = Subdivision Certificate.
• MU = Mixed use
• RFB = Residential flat Building
• OC =Occupation Certificate

Toronto is Proud to be a Tidy Town

Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group (TASNG) continues to work towards a cleaner, safer, sustainable and more welcoming town. Chair, Steve Dewer, filed this report.

We are currently seeking grant funding to deliver a mural in the alleyway between The Boulevarde and ALDI, a space frequently targeted by graffiti. This mural forms part of the broader anti-graffiti campaign and our efforts to lift the image of Toronto for residents and visitors alike.

TASNG is grateful for the support of local businesses who share this vision. Sam and his team at Simply Pharmacy have supported the creation of a mural, painted by First Nations artists, that has cultural imagery. Eagles honour the traditional homeland of the Awabakal people, while turtles symbolise the wellbeing of land and lake, representing endurance and resilience within the community. It is a powerful statement, and a vast improvement on the graffiti previously covering the walls of the well-used lane.

Prompt removal of graffiti remains one of the most effective deterrents to the damage it causes. Friths Properties have demonstrated this by quickly removing it from their premises. Thank you Friths Properties.

Beyond the mural project, we continue hands-on work across the area. Over Christmas, volunters collected rubbish along Main Road from Fennell Bay to Woodrising. Clean-up efforts continued at Toronto Lions Park for Clean Up Australia Day.

As a Landcare group, we are actively restoring a remnant wetland at the southern end of Fennell Bay Bridge and another project involves maintaining the Toronto West Garden on Awaba Road, creating a welcoming entry to Awabakal Country.

TASNG are also keen to encourage Council to progress the Toronto Foreshore Plan and will keep advicating to improve safety along The Boulevarde, by painting of the wheelstops.

TASNG meets at 4.30pm on the second Wednesday of each month at the Toronto Hub. New members are welcome.

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