What is Mosman Parks & Bushland? What do we do? How do we do it?

Kate Eccles Talk: Local Studies FaceBook event Mosman Library

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello. I'd like to pay my respects to the traditional owners of this land. The Mosman Parks & Bushland Association in caring for parks and bushland is carrying on the legacy of our first carers for Country. And next I would like to thank Donna Bray, Mosman Local Studies Librarian. These talks were her idea to spread the word about local groups to the wider community. Thank you, Donna. 

I'm Kay Eccles. I'm the current president of the Mosman Parks & Bushland Association. 

What is Mosman Parks & Bushland? What do we do? How do we do it?

We preserve and protect the bushland parks and open space of Mosman. 

We're an advocacy group and a bush regeneration group, they go together and have done so right from the very beginning. 

A little history… a road was bulldozed across a park, and that was the origin of our advocacy. In February, 1964 a Mosman resident on her way home, on the ferry, couldn't believe her eyes.

When she saw a bulldozer tearing into the bush on Bradleys Head, preparing to build a road. Other residents were similarly shocked, including some Council members. It wasn't the Council building the road. It was a trust related to the Zoo. Anyway, there was a big fuss, there were meetings, and shirt fronting of politicians.

In 1964 when Mosman Parks & Bushland began (it had a different name for a few years, but that's too long a story for now), the aim was to preserve the parkland for public recreation and enjoyment with as much bushland as possible. At the same time, the idea of bush regeneration was being born. Among the founding members of the association were two remarkable women, Joan and Eileen Bradley. Joan and Eileen were sisters who lived in Iluka Road, Mosman, no relation by the way of Lieutenant William Bradley, after whom Bradleys Head is named.

But they had been observing the bushland near Iluka Road, now in the Sydney Harbor national park. They had been noting the encroachment of weeds there and conducting bird surveys, particularly grieving at the decline in the number of small birds. Joan had a bachelor of science and Eileen an arts degree.

Joan’s science degree allowed her to be taken seriously to get some action on the weeds. However what the sisters observed was that this action wasn't working. Joan wrote to a friend in 1964  “the council hacked away, burned and uprooted the weeds in the parkland. But of course it grew back into Lantana practically, overnight. But we began to pull away the weeds in good bushland. And we could see that the bush was beginning to help itself.” The native plants were beginning to grow back by themselves. The Bush was regenerating on its own and this was the origin of their method of bush regeneration. Now known as the Bradley Method. The little book “Bush Regeneration” was published by the Mosman Parks &Bushland Association. And the book “Bringing Back the Bush” is still used as a handbook today. It was recently reprinted. 

The method is really simple, you work from good areas of bush to the bad weed infested areas. Disturb the soil as little as possible so that the seeds can germinate on their own. And then allow the regeneration to dictate the rate of clearing. In other words, don't do more than you can keep under control. So simple, but so new at the time, it's now applied widely here and overseas too. Joan and Eileen Bradley and their friends began applying their principles around Mosman.

Their friends included the mayor of Mosman Barry O'Keefe, who, the story goes, would sing funeral dirges in Latin to lift their spirits while working. Another of their friends, Audrey Lenning, was my mentor and she told the story of how they chose the words to describe their work, ‘bush regenerator’ or ‘bush generation’. So we started off weeding on Saturday mornings. During a break one Saturday discussion came around to our sign, which read “weeders at work”. Weeding didn't seem to express the positive nature of what we were doing. So ideas and words were tossed around. And finally someone said ‘regenerator’, which was unanimously accepted. The sign was now to read “bush regenerators at work”, however the sign writer made a mistake and wrote “bush regerators at work”, leaving out an E and an N. It wasn't until several months later that a seven year-old asked us what does ‘regerator’ mean?

Bushcare is a term often used to describe caring for the bush, but I prefer bush regeneration, partly because of our history, but also because it seems to me that it expresses the idea behind what we do. We pull out weeds and plants that are foreign to the area, and then we wait to see what the bush will provide by itself.

And we hope it will be a native plant. It isn't always though. Saving public land and the conservation of bushland have continued to be intertwined in the history of the Mosman Parks & Bushland Association. You see, if a piece of land is covered in Lantana and weeds, it can be dismissed as just a piece of worthless land. Who would want it preserved?

The battles, for example Kelly's Bush in Hunters Hill in the 1970s. A group of women gained the support of Jack Mundy and the Builder's Federation Union to conserve land at Hunters Hill. The union placed a green ban on the proposed development, and eventually the land was saved. At the time our association, including Joan Bradley, weighed in with support, and introducing bush regeneration to the battlers too.

Over the years, Mosman Parks & Bushland has mainly been concerned with Mosman. And I think we can say that the role we've played in preserving Mosman’s character and landscape has been significant. There have been successes and losses. But the successes have outweighed the losses. I will mention just a few.

There was the battle for the Bathers Pavilion, which kept it open to the public and saved public land. There was the battle for the Harbour Trust land. The Headland Preservation Group led by Linda Bergen and Don Goodsir spearheaded that campaign along with Phil Jenkin and the Defenders of Sydney Harbour.

And Mosman Parks & Bushland was right in that too. There was a 20 year battle for Wyargine Reserve culminating in a land and environment case which saved the land eventually for Wyargine Reserve. 

So what do we get up to now? Well, we're very lucky in having a local council that recognizes the value of our parks and bushland and a community that votes for those councillors

It was not always thus once upon a time, there was a mayor of Mosman who said, if people wanted trees, they should go and live in the mountains. Times have changed. Usually, but not always, Mosman Parks & Bushland and Mosman Council see eye to eye. And we are supporting them rather than battling. We review Council's plans and policies as they're made or updated and we add our comments.

The policy for unmade roads was a recent one, but looking through my list, I note that we also made submissions on the nature strip policy, the urban forest policy, Mosplan and various plans of management for parks, to name but a few. Council amalgamations. Remember them? We were fully behind Mosman Council in its struggle against forced amalgamations. We were out there giving talks and attending rallies. We were very determined that our independent un-amalgamated council would hear us more clearly than distant headquarters in Manly or Chatswood. 

The scenic protection area was another recent effort. We wanted to make sure that the view of Mosman from the Harbour continued to be covered in trees and not covered in concrete. 

Joel's reserve, we were invited by the then mayor to work with residents and Council to diffuse the confrontation that had developed, sometimes Council needs persuasion. 

Harnett Park is a tiny little green patch on Mosman Bay, there was a development application to cover half of that green space with kayak sheds. Kayaking is an excellent recreation, but the loss of that green space to a building had to be opposed. The sheds were refused in the end, and the space was saved. A win for the Harbour and the public. 

Middle Head Oval and synthetic turf. We know so much about the awful effect of plastics on the environment. We had to oppose that, we joined forces with the Headland Preservation Group and prevailed andMosman council is now taking excellent care of the natural turf on that oval.

Our advocacy isn't restricted to Mosman council. We take on the state and federal issues too, because of course state and federal level policies affect us locally. For instance, the state biodiversity legislation is dreadful. Those new laws allow a shocking amount of unnecessary land clearing, and clearing diminishes our flora and means. It diminishes our flora and means loss of habitat for our fauna. Think of our koalas that may become extinct in New South Wales by 2050 and the 10 50 code of vegetation clearing. We lost 80 trees in Mosman, over 80 trees, and none of them were because of bush fires. 

At the federal level we urge that the Sydney Harbour Federation trust and its nationally important lands, including our own Middle Head, Georges Head and Chowder Bay should remain in federal hands. And we also urge that the act of parliament protecting them should be continued and for funding so that the Trust can do its job without resorting to over commercialisation.

Our members responded valiantly with letters and submissions, we were pleased with the result. The lands remain under federal control. 

The EPBC act is another one, the environment protection and biodiversity act. We should be advocating for better legal protections and for an independent regulator. 

And last on my list, climate change, which of course is without question, the most important issue. 

We are also proud that our own elected Member of Parliament Zali Stegall has initiated a climate change bill that is both reasonable and possible. Our submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the bill was one of the most recent we've done. Can you believe that our iconic platypus will shortly be on the list of vulnerable species due to climate change and loss of habitat?

That brings us back to Mosman. And saving our own trees, and that then brings us back to our current bush regeneration activities. You'll recall that I began saying that we're an advocacy group and a bush regeneration group. They both have their roles in protecting and preserving parks and bushland, Mosman Parks & Bushland coordinates several groups, the Bradley Bushland Reserve, Wyargine and the Sydney Harbour National Park, and many of our members work in other reserves as well.

We also have a nesting box project, for which our state government member for North Shore Felicity Wilson got us a grant. 

And the Rawson Slopes project, that is the slopes below Rawson Oval encouraged by our MP Zali Steggles. We encouraged the Mosman Council to apply for that grant. And, Hugh Wiley from Mosman Council had the bright idea of fixing up the horrible slopes. Council did the landscaping, and then we had the fun of planting the plants. In the midst of COVID and last year Zali and the mayor Carolyn Corrigan came for morning tea and an inspection.

Sometimes there are one-off activities, the Aboriginal girls hostel, The ?????  Project was one. The veggie garden at Mosman Public School was another, the headmaster lent a hand as well. So that's what we do. 

What can we do for you? You can become a bush regenerator. You can give up your gym membership and you can enjoy a sense of community and working and make new friends.

But if you're better with a pen than a trowel, there will be lots of opportunities to write letters. Or if you're good at advocacy, there will be opportunities to attend a council or panel meetings, or if you're better on your feet with a plaque card, there are plenty of opportunities for support.

Last but not least. What can you do for us? Well, you could join our email list and you could join the association, a modest fee, and we'd love some fresh faces. You could spread the word about saving Mosman, saving parks and bushland. It all helps.

Thank you. 

Q&A

Q1: Can you explain the relationship between the friends of Bradley's bushland and Mosman parks & Bushland association, the Bradley parks and the friends of Bradley bushland?

A1: They wound up a few years ago and we took over their operation, but they had an interesting little history of their own because they worked in the area of the Bradley Bushland just beside the tennis courts, particularly Barry O’Keefe. Once again he was hard at it. He got a federal grant, the tennis courts, where there was a room that they were going to expand. So, um, Barry O'Keefe got the bright idea that he would doubly protect this land by getting a grant for a wildflower walk.

And that's what the friends of Bradley Bushland looked after. We've taken over their role and now we work in the bushland as a whole.

Q2: Do you need any pre-knowledge or skill to become a volunteer Bush regenerator? 

A2: Absolutely not. No, you don't. You learn about weeds. While you're doing while you're doing it while you're there, while you're on the job. Often we give you a particular weed to deal with, to start with. And after you've done that weed for a few hours, I can tell you that you don't forget it. I remember one bush regenerator in the national park saying to me, rolling her eyes, “I will never forget ribbon weed.” So, no, you don't need any special skills. You learn it. 

Q3: How often do the bush regeneration groups meet?

A3: Different times for different groups. Wyargine meets twice a month for four hours. At Bradleys Head we meet four times a month, but two hours on each one. In the national parks, we just do a mere XX hours a month and we have a great time there.