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

National Tree Day 2012 at Threlkeld Reserve

Sunday 29th July between 9.30-11.30am there will be an opportunity to pop a few plants in the ground at Threlkeld Reserve, near the Grant Rd access for National Tree Day.

Threlkeld Reserve is home to a colony of Squirrel Gliders and provides critical habitat for their survival. On a walk through the bushland you may also find the Magenta Lilly Pilly and the local cycad, Macozamia flexuosa .

National Tree Day coordinators Jean Austen and John Greenhalgh will be there to great you. A morning tea will be provided.

The National Tree Day website  http://treeday.planetark.org/site/53002 has a few more details.

National Tree Day- Sunday 31st July

National Tree Day will be celebrated throughout the community this year with a planting at Threlkeld Reserve on National Tree Day, Sunday 31^st July from 10-noon. The planting location will be off the Grant Road entrance. After the planting there will be a guided tour throughout the reserve to give an appreciation of the reasons why this reserve has high conservation status. A BBQ lunch will finish off the session.

Carey Bay Preschool will also be celebrating National Tree Day with their grounds having their biodiversity boosted with border beds, frog ponds and butterfly gardens, the plants being provided by the Landcare4Youth project.

A Link With the History of Coal Point

Robyn Gill -Coal Point Landcare Coordinator

In recent years Lake Macquarie City Council has acquired 16 lots of land zoned for voluntary acquisition to help link parcels to create a significant reserve area along the top of the ridge. 

Locally unique, as all but one other of  Coal Point’s 13 reserves adjoin the lake, it suffers less from the problems of drainage carrying seeds of exotic plants from gardens. Exotic seeds sprout enthusiastically further down the catchment in the foreshore reserves with their moist, nutrient rich refuges.

This ridge reserve also contains very special and rarer plants that we don’t see in any other areas around here due to the hilltop geography and geology. It provides a window back in time for the local vegetation.

This reserve also contains the remnants of the track that was used by miners walking to work at the Ebenezer Coal Mine, the first commercial activity on Coal Point. The track was developed by the Christian missionary  Rev. Lance Threlkeld who worked with the Aboriginal philosopher and linguist Biraban to compile the first dictionary of Awabakal language (An Australian Grammar 1834) from which many of our reserve names have come.

Recently volunteers of Coal Point Landcare Group worked in this reserve as a group for the first time along with some volunteers from the Landcare Resource Office and two professional bush regenerators and were happy to see so much plant beauty with fewer weeds giving us a somewhat more achievable targets than usual.

If you'd like to come landcaring and get a very different perspective on our local bushland give me ring on 4959 4019.

How do you keep your fire burning?

It’s that time of year when the warm glow of a log fire warms the heart and the hearth, and often it’s the local bush that is the provider of the generous log bounty, a seemingly never ending supply. But if you’ve been out scavenging recently you might have noticed you needed to go further a field because the logs are getting far and few between.

In the local bush a log is so much more than a hearth warmer. For 20% of birds and 30% of mammals a hollow tree is home, a home that can take upto 120 years to build. For ground feeding birds, frogs, lizards and 20% of mammals fallen trees i.e laying around logs are home and habitat.

In our bushland suburb we are very fortunate to still have possums, gliders and bats as well as an impressive variety of bids, and ground dwelling lizards and snakes. The fallen timber, logs branches and sticks provide valuable shelter for the local wildlife.
There are other reasons too, to leave a fallen log lay.

The Florabank website explains “Logs provide both habitat and nutrients. As they gradually break down due to the actions of weather, fungi, and termites, they release nutrients into the soil. They also act as mulch, conserving niches of damp soil, which allows soil invertebrates to thrive and even assists plants to germinate and grow. At ground level, logs can act as mini-windbreaks, providing shelter from extreme weather for ground-dwelling fauna. Logs and sticks also trap soil and nutrients that are washed or blown across a site, and are particularly valuable in degraded sites to build up pockets of soil and organic matter for plant germination.”

Along the Coal Point peninsula we have a lot of bush that is worthy of considering and caring about. We also have one place that has the highest environmental zoning possible, Threlkeld Reserve.

Threlkeld’s exceptional environmental status is because it’s a bushland foreshore reserve. The reserve’s purpose is to protect the plants and wildlife, this means removing rocks, logs, sticks or other bits that the wildlife need to survive is not permitted because it compromises the intent of the zoning on the  land.

National Tree Day and Local Landcaring

National Tree Day this year on Sunday 2nd August. As with the previous few years it will be held at the Carey Bay Wetlands, expanding the Melaleuca Swamp complex. This area has been growing great gums over the past few years, cleaning the waterways and providing habitat for our feathered and furry friends.
 
There’ll be a Green Team day with the local landcarers in July to prepare the site for the planting pleasure.
 
On 3rd June a Green Team Day with Lake Mac Landcare will be held at Threlkeld Reserve. The day will be a great opportunity to learn about the local bushland and what it takes to keep it in tip-top condition. Threlkeld Reserve is the only bushland along the Coal Point Peninsula that has a Primary Conservation Zoning, so it’s rather special with great species diversity. This is a good chance to have a wander with some locals who can share their knowledge and enjoyment of the reserve.

Locals Landcaring

Landcaring continues around the reserves with a keen and committed crew getting together every Thursday to learn a bit more about the local bushland, what has been growing and what needs knowing.

There is a focus reserve every month and once a month bush-regenerators from Lake Mac Landcare Network (LMLN)come out and lend a hand.

• In March the Carey Bay Wetlands will be the focus. 
• April is Gurranba’s turn on the foreshore( 8th LMLN)
• May the energy will turn to Burnage (6th LMLN) – the Excelsior Parade side aka Giant Reed area, 
• in June the joy will be shed at Threlkeld (3rd LMLN), 
• July sees Laycock St South get a go-(1st  LMLN) and
• in August the Stansfield Reserves will have some energy spent on them.

If you’re interested in finding out a little more about what is involved in local Landcaring give Robyn a ring 4959 1507.

Wild-thing you make my heart sing

The change of season is a reminder to take care when in the bushland. We have a lot of high quality bush about and with it comes a range of native animals.
Living in a bushland suburb has lots of advantages if you're a nature lover and enjoy the birds a-chirping, the bees a buzzing and the possums a-pounding on the rooftops. Whilst the friendly faces of the mild marsupials are cute and adorable, spying a reptilian lovely sunning and slithering can promote a range of feelings from awe to fear.
All wildlife deserve respect and our bushland suburb is also their home. Recently there have been sightings of a Red-belly Black Snake around Threlkeld reserve. “This snake is dangerously venomous but bites are rare because it is usually a placid and fairly docile snake, preferring to enact a lengthy bluff display with flattened neck and deep hisses rather than bite. It is a very distinctive snake because of its simple and unvarying coloration. The upper surface of this snake is glossy black while the belly is light pink to brilliant red.” (http://www.reptilepark.com.au)
If you know of young people who like to play in the bush some timely advice may be to wear sturdy shoes and long pants, do not reach under logs or stones ‘cause they’re animal homes and do not provoke or threaten wildlife. It may even be worthwhile to go over an emergency response to a snake bite…not to panic, keep as still as possible, get help ASAP.

The Native Animal Trust Fund are the local wildlife carers if you come across an injured animal or need some advice- 0418628483 (0418NATIVE).