A successful day all round with a good roll-up of regulars and new faces as well. 

The plant sales tables, full at the start of the day, were left a lot lighter by the end. 

The weather held up for us enabling visitors to wander the Mounds section (of the Groups activities) and the outer gardens of the Illawong Fire Station all of which were planted out and maintained by MWG.

At the appointed time a goodly group followed Pam Forbes and Greg Jackson, our resident historians/ archaeologists, down to the Georges River and DeLardes Park for a tour and fascinating talk about this part of the Shire. You can read all about the area in Greg’s report of a previous tour of this area in this website.

Be fascinated when you read about Castles, escaped crims, the road to The South, the punts that used to ply these waters and pleasure grounds on the river and the ferries from Como train station that took folks up the river.

APS President Heather Miles then welcomed Chris Gambian, CEO of the National Conservation Council, who provided us with some interesting facts regarding the destruction of our native plants in Australia. He cited Queensland’s record of destroying one football field’s area every 17 seconds – not something we should be proud of. Chris raised these issues to encourage us all to become more active in this process and suggested that 10 phone calls from interested parties was a more influential way of getting politicians interest that 10,000 signatures on a Petition.

Afternoon tea was followed by MWGs Vice President and Nursery Manager Lloyd Hedges explaining the work he and his band of merry men and women who have assisted in the Big Island of the 5 Islands off Port Kembla clearing and replanting native species and the immense task of providing some 15,000 seedlings of species Eucalyptus racemosa, Leptospemum polygalifolium and L. junerperinum, Allocasuarina littoralis, Hakea dactyloides and H. sericea for the “Glossies in the Mist” project. Reports on the enormous effort of both these projects and MWG involvement can also be found on this website.

As is often the case, one of the most important parts of days like this is the interaction of members and interested members of the communities to come together and discuss and encourage the love of our wonderful native plants. It is an ongoing process to bring more people into this environment but the rewards for the individuals and communities is immense.

These were the overwhelming messages from Heather Miles and John Aitken who thanked members of the MWG as they closed.

Graeme Davies