Greetings Swampcarers,

Wednesday, 21 June Celebrate 10 years of Swampcare Swamp Symposium and field trip. Venue Blue Mountains Cultural Centre 30 Parke Street Katoomba.

An exciting all day Swamp Conference and field trip in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the foundation of Swampcare and the listing of Blue Mountains Swamps under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act.

Please go to this webpage to review the presentations happening at the event and it would be great if you can register for the day:

Celebrate 10 years of Swampcare! Swamp Symposium and field trip

The presentations will be followed by a field trip to visit the latest soft engineering innovations being developed and/or adapted to local conditions by Eric Mahony and his team from Blue Mountains City Council to protect swamps from stormwater by controlling, slowing, cleansing and infiltrating stormwater flows prior to them entering swamps as well as now tried and trusted techniques for rehydrating and repairing damaged and channelised swamps.

Book early to avoid disappointment at the website above. Looking at the website I’m guessing you e-mail or call Michael Hensen the organiser.

Hope to see you there,

David King
Garguree Swampcare Tea Maker

From Dave the Tea Maker –  I didn’t get to take any photos until it was all over yesterday but thanks to everyone who came to Garguree Swampcare and made it another awesome workday. I’m always amazed at how brilliant and functional this group is. Yesterday we managed to run a weeding session, a morning tea session, a presentation with multiple guests and then sit back around a campfire looking relaxed with no hint that around 50 people had been with us. Congratulations on achieving the LLS Indigenous Land Management Award.

From Blue Mountains City Council – The group won the prestigious Indigenous Land Management Award from the Greater Sydney Local Land Services for their hard yakka over many years to restore the natural ecosystem and Connecting to Country by sharing cultural knowledge & practice. Council is proud to continue supporting Garguree Swampcare.

Greetings Swampcare People,

My current period of unemployment is going well I still haven’t decided what is next but I have had the opportunity to work with Aunty Sharyn and a number of other people and groups over the last few weeks. Whilst working with GAHAI I picked up a new nickname. The Dingo doesn’t cope very well in amongst people and Darbo is Gundungurra for strong black tea. So a few close friends now call me Dingo Darbo.

We start at 9am finishes at 12pm. Our goal at GTO and Garguree Swampcare to reconnect community and Country so please feel free to enjoy yourself as well as helping restoring Country.

The Gully, Garguree Swampcare, meeting point for this Sunday will be middle swamp enter the path from 23 Gates Avenue and head up until you see the BMCC work truck where Jane will be. If you drive please park in the cul de sac.

Under the guidance of Jane, you will be guided around the area to start the continual restoration of this weed heartland.Some of our plantings haven’t worked out that well, some of our plantings have been highly successful, some plants need to be found again and set free, some weeds are trying to overtake our plantings, there always seems to be a blackberry, some of our plants are standing strong, so over the next few workdays we will address this area.

Morning Tea from 11.30am until 12pm (We might go until 12.30pm). Our brilliant morning tea lady Sandy Holmes will be there once again supporting us with scrumptious delights.

We have an extra item this month thanks to all the brilliant work done over the years by everyone we have been honoured with the Indigenous Land Management award presented on site this Sunday. We will also be honoured by the presence of Chris O singing a brilliant song that was written about Country.

I will arrive around 9am after a Welcome to Country at Wentworth Falls and set up for 11.30am Morning Tea at the Heritage Centre (23 Gates Avenue).

We won’t have Ellen with us this month as Ellen has absconded to Uni at Geelong due to her artistic abilities plus all the free food. So you will have to put up with Dingo Darbo managing the table which is always a tough gig.

Thank You,

David King
The Tea Maker aka Dingo Darbo

Greetings this will occur at the end of our Weeding time from 9am to 11.30am around the middle swamp perimeter.

Garguree Swampcare in the regional “indigenous land management” category has been awarded “winner”.

Thanks everyone for all your hard work and dedication.

On June 4 we will be meeting in the middle swamp area which is passed Frogs Hollow (The Lake) and you will see the group on the left up the rise.

Photographic reflection of the Garguree Swampcare work day.

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You cannot beat the feeling of restoring Country. Thanks again Garguree swampcarers.

Join happy people like this bloke named Dave at Garguree Swampcare. BYO Cup and there will be some morning tea to go along with your cup as well as tea, chai. coffee and hot chocolate.

We are continuing the creation of a Bush Tucker Garden whilst addressing the weeds and runoff.There are still a few plants to plant and some watering to be done. There will be a campfire and time for a chat.

A relaxing morning free of stress and no direct pressure to work hard for 3 hours. Dave may looked stressed but Jane will be relaxed and Ellen will have the cuppas on. Rumour has it Kelsie Sarah will be visiting telling beautiful stories about her father Dave all of the stories will just be for laughs.

Reminder: Garguree Swampcare is on this Sunday coming May 7 from 9am to 12pm. Meeting place The Gully Heritage Centre 23 Gates Avenue Katoomba please park in the cul-de-sac. Back to normal regenerating from 9am to 11.15am then clean up and pack up with a cuppa and some morning tea from 11.30am to 12pm.