Landcarers tend to think about long-term goals for nature and community connection. A Landcare Legend who was doing that thirty years ago is Jenny Castles. Jenny is a tireless community organiser who has led and championed many transformative projects for Landcare in the Newcastle region. Today Jenny continues to volunteer as a committee member of HRLN.
Among her many community volunteering roles, Jenny has been a dedicated on-ground Landcare group leader. She initiated the Shortland to Wallsend Landcare group and was the group’s President for many years. Later she was Volunteer Landcare coordinator of the Butcher Bird Gully team at Hunter Wetlands Centre, as well as a board member. Jenny has been the Vice-President of Hunter Region Landcare Network a number of times and is a Life Member of HRLN. Jenny encouraged Landcare groups to get involved with each other and spread the word about Landcare.
Jenny is still passionate about Landcare and the community benefits of volunteering. Here she shares her story of Landcaring in Newcastle and some of the history of how HRLN got started.
“In 1993 The Newcastle City Council asked me if I could form a group to take part in Clean-up Australia Day at the Wallsend Cemetery. I was happy to take on ‘the challenge’ and rounded-up a dozen or so people who turned up on the day. The group enjoyed the outing so much they were keen to take on a similar activity and do so on a more regular basis.”
“I had read a bit of information about a ‘new activity’ called Landcare. I had found out that Landcare involved the rejuvenating of degraded soil and the planting of native plants, either trees or understorey plants. I contacted a few people to see if I had local support to start up a Landcare Group to work on Council land. I then approached a City Councillor, Greg Heys and we inspected sites in some of the parks in the Shortland/Wallsend area that were suitable for our Landcare group.”
Betty Nyman, Russell Pardie (Greening Centre), Tom Diamond, Jack Nyman, Jenny Castles, Loretta Block, Alan Maxwell, Greg Heys and John King on a work day at Wallsend Cemetery.
“The Councillor was keen to get involved and asked for a work plan to present to Council. To do this I needed volunteers, so I arranged a community meeting at The Regal Cinema at Birmingham Gardens. I was hoping to brainstorm with like-minded people interested in the environment. About twenty people turned up with ‘Great Ideas’ and plans were made to go forward. We created a work plan and assured the Councillor that we could do the work with support from Council with in-kind assistance such as tools, mulch and plants. We called the group Shortland to Wallsend Landcare.”
“We nominated four sites to Council as our work areas. All of the sites were either denuded of trees, were suffering from soil erosion or had very little in the way of understorey plants. Most of the sites were also weed-infested. The sites we nominated to work on were The Wallsend Cemetery, Shelsea Park Wallsend, Lyall Park Shortland and Northcott Park Shortland. The first work day was on a Sunday and the first plant ever planted by the group was at the Wallsend Cemetery.”
The Shortland to Wallsend group begin the Landcare project at Wallsend Cemetery
“When the group first started we worked one Sunday per month starting at 9am and finishing at about 1pm most days. This was the agenda for many years as most of the members were still working when the group formed. One long-standing tradition for the group which has always been maintained is the shared morning tea. Lots of morning tea recipes have been tried and handed on by some of the long-standing members who are all good cooks.”
“The group simultaneously started working near the Wallsend Hospital at a small, degraded, unnamed park. After finding out the park did have a name, Shelsea Park, we lobbied the Council to erect a name sign at the park. After that we applied for some funding and received a grant from the Council. Two taps, some playground furniture and a picnic table handy for the group’s volunteers to use for morning teas were installed. Our group planted 500 native plants and maintained the site for 5 years. Then we handed the site back to Council to maintain and we moved on to our next work site.”
The transformation of Lyall Park, Shortland
The next site I was keen to get working on was at Lyall Park at Shortland which is a small park. This site had a major soil erosion problem with top soil washing into the Hunter Wetland ponds every time it rained. I applied for and was successful in getting a small grant from the Catchment Management Authority to fix and manage the site. On the first work day we shovelled and moved with wheel-barrows tip-truck loads of new soil and mulch to prepare the ground for planting native trees and ground cover plants.”
Erosion control activities at Crawchie Creek, Northcott Park
Another key project Jenny led was the restoration and naming of Crawchie Creek. This is a tributary of Ironbark Creek located 1.7km upstream in the Hunter Wetlands National Park. A community competition was hosted to name the creek and the name “Crawchie Creek” was selected. The winning name was offered by local resident, Robert Harborne who remembered going to the creek to catch yabbies with his mates as a boy. The site is now several hectares of riparian vegetation surrounded by suburbia. The habitat is still cared for with 2500 plants added last April 2024 with the support of the City of Newcastle Council to augment and enrich this important wildlife corridor.
How did the Hunter Region Landcare Network get started?
“In 1998 a meeting was held at Tocal and about 70 people attended. Some of the people involved were Jenny Robinson, Fran Corner and John Hughson. John Hughson had been doing Landcare early on in Lake Macquarie and they already had the Lower Hunter Urban Landcare Network. It was decided that we would form an alliance of Landcare groups across the greater Hunter. I suggested we call it a “network” because in a network all the parts are connected and strengthen each other. We held meetings across the Hunter, visiting each other’s sites. Delegates from each area would attend the meetings and report back about what was going on in their region, so we called ourselves Hunter Region Landcare Network.”
What are the priorities for Hunter Region Landcare Network today?
“It is still important to organise communication about what people are doing in different parts of the region, maybe they can help each other out or give advice. There’s a lot of experience in Landcare and we can help other people apply for grants or start up new groups. The network also needs to keep being able to have paid staff. There is a big workload for committees and paid staff can help with that. We need to keep spreading the word about Landcare and get more people involved. We can show the impact Landcare has and bring the community together.”
What is a key message you would like to share with people?
“Landcare is personal, not formal. Also, for people who aren’t very confident about stepping up or joining we can encourage them: “You too can be a volunteer!” Focus on your Landcare work but also enjoy the social side.”
Shortland to Wallsend Landcare is a member group of Hunter Region Landcare Network. In 2000 the group’s focus changed to bushland rehabilitation at Northcott Park, based around a stand of remnant bushland. This dedicated and experienced group of volunteers meets every Tuesday at 9am and the first Saturday of the month from 2-4pm at the picnic table opposite 33, Cobby Street in Northcott Park. New volunteers are very welcome. To enquire about joining a working bee, email Carol Rayner on: candj.rayner@bigpond.com or call her on (02) 49517073.
You can also contact the City of Newcastle Council Landcare staff at landcareadmin@ncc.nsw.gov.au get involved with groups. Visit https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/environment/get-involved/landcare