Our History & Achievements
Our History
We have undertaken over 35 environmental rehabilitation projects since our beginnings, as shown on the map below. Activities of removing rubbish, planting, fencing, weeding, providing for recreational access, and maintaining sites over time. Funds have been raised for plants, equipment and works, and representation made to council and government. We have a number of active projects at present, with more in the planning stages so our list of projects will grow over time. We welcome new members and volunteers who just want to stay in contact.
This page will be updated with stories of the history of a selected number of projects we’ve worked hard to rehabilitate and care for, with storytelling from the members themselves.
Above: Our list of completed projects via location from 1985-2016 by Tom Baker & Dave Dempster.
THE QUEANBEYAN LANDCARE HISTORY PROJECT
The activities of Queanbeyan Landcare Incorporated have left their mark across our city: rehabilitated areas now supporting native vegetation and animals, scenic backdrops to urban areas, and well-used and pleasant recreational areas and community facilities. To newcomers and those unaware of the group’s activities, it might be assumed that these valuable places “just are”, when in fact they are the product of years of dedication, planning, advocacy and above all, on-ground work by Queanbeyan Landcare volunteers and its partner organisations and volunteers.
Queanbeyan Landcare, and its predecessor organisations, have worked positively with successive Councils and other organisations to protect the unusual variety of natural landscapes, regionally significant habitat qualities and threatened plants and animals.
The Queanbeyan Landcare History Project was initiated to celebrate 25 years of the group’s work, to record the places, the people and the efforts – to celebrate achievements and people, and to evidence how much can be achieved by a small, ever changing group of dedicated volunteers in improving our local environment.
These pages tell you about Queanbeyan Landcare and its history, and about its major projects – how those places you use and value came to be, and the hundreds of people and the work behind them. The projects stories celebrate successes, but they describe the hard work and setbacks as well!
All this amounts to a significant contribution to the social and physical development of the city and district, as well as the sense of place and identity.
The Project Stories
The stories of our projects will be updated over time, hopefully with feedback and information from you. The sources for these stories below include the Minutes of the meetings, media reports, interviews with past and present members, Council records and other sources. The Queanbeyan Palerang Library in particular has been of great assistance, having archived the minutes and reports of Queanbeyan Landcare, Trees for Queanbeyan and other groups – a priceless service libraries offer to local communities. As part of the project, key sources are being digitised and securely stored. If you’re interested in this aspect of the Project or wish to help in any way please contact us below. Read the stories below.
