Bushcare programs
Council's Bushcare volunteer working bees will recommence for 2024. Please see details below and look out for updates coming soon.
Becoming a Bushcare volunteer is a great way to help build and protect habitat for native wildlife. It is also a good way to gain on-ground skills such as native plant identification and weed control techniques.
Read the Bushcare Volunteer Duty Statement.
For Bushcare enquiries please click on the link below.
Make an enquiry about Bushcare volunteering
Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown
Hidden in Camperdown Cemetery in Newtown is a patch of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda australis) considered a remnant of the Turpentine-Ironbark Forests that once covered most of the Inner West. The original trees and most of the shrubs have disappeared from this remnant, but a patch of native grasses and groundcovers dominated by the Kangaroo Grass remain. Very little Turpentine-Ironbark Forest remains today and it is listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.
In 2000, Marrickville Council formed partnership with St Stephen's Anglican Church, Marrickville Heritage Society, Camperdown Cemetery Trust and Greening Australia for the conservation of the remnant kangaroo grassland in the Camperdown Cemetery and decided to initiate a small community project to protect and restore this precious remnant. Remnants now only exist in patches in the Cooks River Valley with only two sites in the Marrickville Area, one in Camperdown Cemetery and other near the Dulwich Hill Railway Station.
Working bees run from 9:30am to 12:30pm once a month alternating between the third Thursday and third Saturday.
GreenWay Bushcare
There are five Bushcare sites located along the GreenWay listed below.
Cadigal Reserve, Summer Hill
Working bees run from 9:00am to 12:00pm once a month on a Sunday.
Richard Murden Reserve, Haberfield
Working bees run from 9:00am to 12:00pm once a month on a Sunday.
Hoskins Park (Pigott Street) Bushcare, Dulwich Hill
Working bees run from 9:00 to 11:30am once a month on the second Friday of the month.
Johnson Park Bushcare, Dulwich Hill
Working bees run from 9:00 to 11:30am once a month on the third Wednesday of the month.
Waratah Mills Bushcare, Dulwich Hill
Working bees run from 9:30am to 12:30pm once a month on the third Sunday of the month.
Marrickville Golf Course Roving Bushcare
Working bees run from 9:00am – 12:00pm the third Monday of each month
Mort Bay Park Bushcare, Birchgrove
Working bees run from 9:00am to 12:00pm twice a month on a Thursday.
Sydney Secondary College, Balmain Campus Bushcare
Maintained by community volunteers since the 2000s, the area below Sydney Secondary College, Balmain Campus is a rare patch of bushland on the Balmain Peninsula.
Situated on the waterfront at the mouth of Iron Cove, the original sandstone cliffs and rock shelves were greatly disturbed, first by use as a boat-building site, then in building the school in the 1970s.
Now, tall eucalypts and an understorey of shrubs and grasses are appreciated by the community who use the wooden walkway, provided by Inner West Council, to walk from waterfront to Balmain and Rozelle streets. School and community members, with and without experience, are welcome to join us in weeding and other tasks.
Group meets each 3rd and 4rd Sunday of the month, 9am to 12:30pm. Meet at school carpark, end of Longview Street, off Bayville Street.
For more information, contact Angela Michaelis 0410 716 478.
Wave Rock, Marrickville Golf Course
Working bees run from 9am to 12pm on a Monday, monthly, alternating with other project sites within the Golf Course.
Wilkins Green Bushcare Group, Marrickville
Join us in Wilkins Green's unique urban forest oasis:
- All ages, no experience required.
- Tools and guidance provided.
- Bring your own flask for morning tea.
Fortnightly on Saturday mornings from 9am to 11am.
Contact us at wilkinsgreenmarrickville@gmail.com to find out how.