IT HAS little to do with global warming and the world’s increased need for trees. Basically, as one volunteer at North Queensland’s Tully Revegetation Unit put it, it has to do with learning and a love of native trees. It is also an outstanding example of the power of volunteering. The group, now numbering about 15, meets at the Cassowary Coast Regional Council Revegetation Nursery each Friday morning. Gardening gloves at the ready, they pot probably 1300 seedlings. Native trees their growing concern Sometimes, the mornings are taken up with planting out. Recent events included work on the local golf course, and planting and seed collection to stabilise dunes on a beautiful nearby beach. Planting and replenishing corridors and scrub for the region’s two endangered species, the southern cassowary and the mahogany glider, is ongoing. It’s always a happy morning, a meeting of friends who are mostly retired or semi-retired. Regular volunteers include school teachers, writers, a farmer, and an ex-lighthouse keeper. Long-time volunteer David Everist, a retired headmaster, is transforming his originally bare, steep 10 acres into an eclectic and beautiful mix of native and rare tropical fruit trees. “For anyone who cares about the wild and has an interest in the region’s plants, volunteering like this is an ideal way to spend a morning,” he said.
“There is no better way to learn about native plants than to work producing them. Every region should have a nursery like this.” Most group members are revegetating blocks or transforming their own gardens. All have joined because of a fascination with plants, large and small. “Tully nursery was founded by Cardwell Shire Council soon after the area was listed for World Heritage, and the volunteer group began soon after, when customers began to express an interest in the work there,” said nursery supervisor Judy Murphy. “Cane town Tully was less tree-orientated in those days, but more and more people were beginning to be interested.
“The nursery itself was tiny then. Now, on average, 50,000 trees are grown and either sold or planted out in the region each year.
“All the seed is locally collected, often brought in by our volunteers. The nursery carries well over 200 tree and shrub varieties.” The young trees, mostly grown in tubes or the larger rocket pots, are also distributed at regular give-aways or sold on to other catchment groups, landscapers and for major projects. The 2009 upgrade and flood mitigation work of a long section of the Bruce Highway leading into Tully took 40,000 – and individual sales of 5000 are not unusual. “Most regular volunteers say they come because of all the shared knowledge and how much they can learn,” David Everist said.
“But it’s more than that. The more you find out the more there is to find out.
“There is also the research aspect. Planting seeds from cassowary scats and from regular visitors like the Torres Strait pigeon and the beautiful shining starling is a valuable source of knowledge – and often surprises – when the plants come up.
“You learn what they eat, so can plant more trees to attract them.” More significant growth to the project occurred when Cardwell and Johnstone Shires merged to become the Cassowary Coast Regional Council. Innisfail, Johnstone Shire’s major town, already had a volunteer group, and the two nurseries now share knowledge and often, work and outings. “This kind of work certainly widens one’s horizons,” David said. Details on the revegetation unit on 4068-3105,
email tully@cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au or write to CCRC, PO Box 887,
Innisfail 4860.
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