At 11.30am until 12pm we will gather for our morning tea around the campfire. Please bring your own cup. Morning tea will be back to its normal place which is next to the work area. This means we won’t be near a toilet so please go before you leave your place of abode or on your journey to Garguree. I like the Woolies Katoomba car park toilet because it has hot water when you wash your hands.

I think we will work the middle swamp area for a few months as it is a gathering place for a large amount of weeds. When the race track destroyed the area drains were placed in strategic areas around middle swamp. So we will strategise minimising the impacts and look at ways to use our on site materials to do this.

I’m keen to gather sticks to filter the water through the drains, mark native seedlings and growth so I can mow around the area to give us clearer and better access. The downside to better access are people who leave rubbish, dog poo and maybe wreck some of our work. I’m fine with this for the short term as the native bush will kick in and minimise this issue.

I like to look at new ideas to encourage better regeneration. It is interesting that we (GAHAI and GTO) find artefacts of glass and pottery. So using modern items to do the job is not an issue as long as the earth isn’t damaged. I have a personal preference to try not to poison the land (weeds). We have developed a methodology of using plastic tools on rock sites to minimise impact and risk. We always encourage people not just to look at items as rocks and antiques as there could be a long term relationship with that item to Aboriginal history.

So I look forward to working on Middle Swamp for the next few months before the summer growth and heat where we will head for the shady areas.

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David King
Garguree Swampcare Tea Maker.