In 1994, a group of residents saw that the natural environment, in an area around the southern parts of Lake Macquarie, was seriously degraded. This saw the commencement of Sunshine-Silverwater Landcare, under the umbrella of the recently formed Landcare Australia. This was the start of Landcare in our area and, from what we can ascertain, Landcare in the City of Lake Macquarie
This Landcare group concentrates its efforts on the 28 hectares of Sunshine Reserve, Johnys Point and the foreshore reserve connecting the two. Over the years we have received many financial contributions and sponsorships. Sponsorships have been received from Delta Electricity and Origin Energy. Financial grants have been received from the Federal Government and Lake Macquarie City Council. Other funding has been received from Eraring Energy, Coles and local residents.
We have received help from "The Green Team", from the Lake Macquarie Landcare network, cubs and scouts and SES trained volunteers. The scouts and cubs have been involved in weeding, mulching and planting. On one of their visits, they were helping to remove a large clump of bamboo, which prompted them to take a load of bamboo away for use in construction activities and raft building!
This next photo show two volunteers, both trained in vertical rescue, removing asparagus fern growing in the fork of a fig tree. The volunteer in the tree is also a trained ecologist
Many truckloads of mulch have been donated and spread, boardwalks and walking tracks constructed and, of course, many years have been spent removing hectares of invasive weeds, spread throughout the bush. Lantana, bitou bush, asparagus fern, blackberry, camphor laurel, fishbone fern, mother of millions, ochna, privet and bamboo are just some of the weeds which were creating havoc throughout Sunshine Reserve and Johnys Point. Over the years, large numbers of Bushcare volunteers have worked tirelessly, and for many hours, manually removing these weeds; the natural regeneration of the bush has been amazing, to the extent that newcomers have no idea of how degraded it was at the time this Landcare group commenced work.
Timber for 240 metres of boardwalk was mainly delivered to a member's shed where it was pre-cut before being moved on site; likewise, the timber used for 190 metres of formed pathway. This work commenced in 2009 and, in stages, was completed in 2016.
The reserve is home to a colony of squirrel gliders, as well as ring and brush tailed possums, and a very wide variety of birds. Unfortunately, ground-dwelling fauna has been decimated by foxes, dogs and cats. We do have the occasional visit by a grey kangaroo, including one which went for a swim in the lake — possibly to get away from a dog.
At all times, we have acknowledged that we are working on land which was originally inhabited by the Awabakal people, who have left behind little evidence of their past occupation of this area. We recognise that the Aboriginal people neither dominated the environment nor sought to change it. They lived with it and cared for it and were "at one" with nature.
There is still a great amount which needs to be achieved: erosion control on old fire-trails and ensuring the biodiversity of the area need to be priorities in the coming years.