Erosion of Thomatis Creek has been an identified issue as far back as 1980, but it wasn’t until 2017 that site rehabilitation kicked off.
An initial funding injection from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries kickstarted the reveg, and as of 2022 an area of XX hectares has been planted out with close to 6,500 trees.
There’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears over the years – and in some years there’s been more tears than usual!
Like in 2018 when a flood took out a big chunk of the revegation work, including most of 10,000 mangrove propagules that had been planted on the lower bank. Since then, there has been renewed focus on the upper bank.
Similarly, there’s perhaps a bit more sweat involved with our landcare group than others because we maintain the site totally chemical free. No weed killer here! We’ve got some trusty lawn mowers, amazing vollies, and we’re motivated by the cold bevvies that Coral Sea Brewing Co donate to us!
The site is currently managed by us (Holloways Beach Coastcare), but there’s been a lot of other organisations and groups involved over the years. We became incorporated in 2021 which meant we have insurance for public plantings, and could start a schedule of regular planting and maintenance days that we could invite the community along to.
Others who have contributed money or project management since 2017 and deserve a shout-out are Cairns Creation Care Nursery, Cairns Regional Council, Conservation Volunteers Australia, Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland Corrective Services, Terrain NRM and Holloways Beach Community Garden.
We currently receive funding from Cairns Regional Council.
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