Monthly Archives: March 2017

Sunday April 2 Garguree Swampcare Workday 9am to 12pm meet at 23 Gates Avenue the Gully Heritage Centre, Katoomba.

Sunday April 2 Garguree Swampcare Workday 9am to 12pm meet at 23 Gates Avenue the Gully Heritage Centre, Katoomba.

Daylight Saving Time (AEDT) will conclude at 3am on the first Sunday in April 2017, when clocks are put back one hour.

We are back Sunday morning (April 2) to work on bushland restoration around the Heritage Centre at 23 Gates Avenue.

If we have enough time we will follow up along the Kedumba River (according to Google that is the creek name along the side of the path).

(1) We will start on the Bush Tucker Garden – I have a goal where we can turn the mentality of this Country away from exotic food back to the food that belongs here. Hopefully this garden will start this journey and I have already been in discussion with some local food producers. There are a fair amount of weeds to be worked on, some branches to be removed, 136 tubestock to be planted which means 136 holes to be dug and 136 to be watered.

(2) The memorial garden – we (GTO) are looking to set up the garden in the cul-de-sac with native plants in memory of the Gully people. By placing it on the edge of the cul-de-sac it will allow people easy access to the garden. So we need to remove most if not all the vegetation so that I can run a rock wall, hessian matting and place some mulch loads into the garden. This will occur out of hours not this Sunday we will only work on vegetation removal.

(3) Kedumba river – if time allows or it just works on the day we will follow up on the wet line where we planted the ferns during Threatened Species Day last year.

Our morning tea will be pre-dominantly provided by Fred’s Bush Tucker;

* Vegetarian frittata with warrigal greens (gluten free)
* Kakadu plum Kangaroo tartlets
* Mango curry crocodile baskets with crushed macadamia
* Quandong crumble slice (gluten free)
* Lilli Pilli cordial
* Coffee (percolated) and a selection of teas including bush teas

Thanks,

David King
Gully Traditional Owner (GTO) and not the Garguree Swampcare tea maker on April 2.

Garguree Swampcare News March 14, 2017

Thank You

Thanks for all the great effort and support at Maple Grove Reserve for our last workday which was also Clean Up Australia Day.
I’m always amazed and humbled when the day and the week prior had continuous rain and 30 people (including the 2 Italian Tourists) came to support caring for the Gully, the swamps and Country.

Reflection

We collected a total of 17 bags of rubbish, a large cushion, an old bushcare sign and the remains of a Jewels trolley.
This is amazing considering we went for the microscopic rubbish and also sad.
The great result is that a lot of animals will have their lives extended because of all the work we did.
We also had the great BM MUGS Ukulele players who were awesome.
Then there was the always amazing Australian native animals with Anthony Stimson from Australian Wildlife Displays

Saturday March 18 from 10am to 2pm at the Co-Op Katoomba

We will be setting up a kind of exhibition to talk about my mother Aunty Mary King and the Gully. So if you are in Katoomba drop into Shop 3 at the Co-Op between 10am and 2pm. I have stated I will do a talk at 10.30am but I will just play it by ear.

Sunday April 2 Garguree Swampcare Workday 9am to 12pm.

Our next workday will cover 3 areas in and around the building (Gully Heritage Centre) 23 Gates Avenue. We will start on the Bush Tucker Garden, the memorial garden and follow up on the wet line where we planted the ferns during Threatened Species Day last year. So we should be back to normal with weeding etc from 9am to 11.30am. We will be planting so there will be digging and watering. Then from 11.30am to 12pm sit about, have a chat, cuppa and one of those great Garguree Swampcare morning teas.

Saturday and Sunday April 8 and 9 Jenolan Caves Sycamore Removal

There were some vacancies left in April but May is booked out. They tell me it is a great weekend on large sloping ridges. I’m going to this one in April.

The Bushcare Picnic for 2017 is on Saturday April 29. There will also be a camp out in the valley on Friday night April 28.

May 6 Capertee Tree Planting and May 7 Garguree Swampcare.

On May 6 there is the test called Capertee Valley Tree Planting. A few thousand tubestock planted in one day.
I’m planning on heading out to this one and then I camp overnight before coming back for 9am Garguree Swampcare.

Saturday May 13 Katoomba Christian Convention Centre (KCC) Landcare.

A great operations manager at KCC named Shelley Taylor has formed a Landcare group which officially meets twice a year.

This area is vital in the catchment as it really enables us to address a greater area. The next workday is Saturday May 13 from 9am to 4pm. The centre have about 10 tool kits so if you have your own tools can you bring them with you. I think there is a goal to plant 200 trees on this workday so some digging and planting tools would be awesome.Please register at this website http://www.kcc.org.au/working-bees.html
I attend this one. .