Mallacoota Endemic Garden – Max Elliott and Bryce Watts-Parker
The devastating fires of 2019 at Mallacoota and surrounding areas are still a vivid memory to anyone who saw the televised scenes, with 110 homes destroyed amid almost complete destruction of the area’s fauna and flora.
Our guest speakers, Max (brother of ex Treasurer Peter), and Bryce (who is still living in a shed), told us an inspiring story of their efforts to revegetate the surroundings of Mallacoota.
By setting up a nursery, and encouraging locals to collect and propagate native grasses, sedges, shrubs and trees, their hope is that through community engagement and careful management, the area will be reborn.
They have been able to attract philanthropic funding, grants and donations which have made possible the setting up of a small Botanical Garden in the centre of town, a completely new idea, which has brought employment opportunities for trainees working on bush regeneration plans, and the training for a Certificate 2/3 in Land Management.
Max introduced us to the Propagation bed, a thermostatically controlled complete environment, which takes plants from seeds through to seedlings before replanting in the wild.
He was proud of their work in replanting extremely rare local Banksia seedlings throughout the town, as well as Bolworra, a type of native Guava fruit.
As well, they are planting 500 Casuarina, the only plant that the Glossy Black Cockatoo will eat. The Cockatoo population has been reduced to 300 in East Gippsland from the effects of habitat destruction.
Max and Bryce are very thankful for the level of community engagement and enthusiasm for their project. We thank them very much for their initiative, hard work, and inspirational message.
Chris Purton
