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Welcome to the October issue of Sustainable Shellharbour. This month in celebration of Fair Food week we're having a nursery plant sale and open day with gardening workshops on a Saturday. We're also supporting the regional Connecting Over Fair Food week event with a screening of the inspiring film 2040. We have a great Nature Talk in the Library on stingless native bees with Dr Tim Heard, The Aussie Backyard Bird Count is happening, and Shellharbour's Bike About event is on this weekend. Keep on reading for details.
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Nursery Open Day and Plant Sale
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Everyone is welcome to come along, not just Shellharbour City Council ratepayers. See Council’s Facebook page or website for further details.
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Connecting Over Fair Food - Screening of 2040
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Places are limited and bookings essential through Eventbrite or by calling Healthy Cities Illawarra on 4283 8111.
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Nature Talk in the Library - Australia's native stingless bees
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Come along on Thursday 7 November from 6pm – 7:30pm and hear entomologist and author of the Australian Native Bee Book Dr Tim Heard talk about Australia’s native stingless bees, including those which can be kept in hives in the Illawarra.
Find out about the fascinating lives of these social bees, their role in the environment, the small amounts of unique honey they produce and why they are so popular and appreciated by people.
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Image by Dr Tim Heard.
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Our free Nature Talks in the Library are designed for adults and older children (8 years+) to hear firsthand from people working in biodiversity conservation and research, nature photography and wildlife care.
Copies of the book The Australian Native Bee book will be available for $35.
Bookings essential through Eventbrite or by calling City Library on 4221 6222.
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The Big Draw Open Day - see and draw frogs!
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The Big Draw is the World's Largest Drawing Festival! This October, Shellharbour City Council is bringing the Big Draw to Shellharbour, in partnership with Rumpus.
At the free Big Draw open day on Saturday 12 October from 10am – 12 noon at the Shellharbour Civic Centre, drawing station 1 will be ‘The Natural Wonders of our World - Frogs & Butterflies of the Illawarra.’ Join in and create a wall of frogs! Coloured, patterned, monochrome. Let them croak together! Be inspired by Louise Manner’s illustrations of our local frogs and see some gorgeous live frogs up close with a display with the Frog and Tadpole Study Group of NSW.
Pick up your free copy of the Shellharbour City Council Frogs of the Illawarra and Butterflies of the Illawarra brochures on how to make your garden frog-friendly and how to plant a garden to attract and provide food sources for our beautiful local butterflies.
For more details about this open day, and a fantastic range of other events happening as part of the Big Draw Festival visit Shellharbour City Council’s events page.
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Frog image by Martin Lander.
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Shellharbour Bike About 2019
Peddle into spring with this year's annual Shellharbour Bike About on Sunday 29 September at Lake Illawarra PCYC. Bring along your picnic basket and enjoy live music, food, entertainment, giveaways and activities hosted by Lake Illawarra PCYC. Participants can also go into the draw to win a bike from Simple Cycles!
Details and registration forms are available here or find us on Facebook.
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Aussie Backyard Bird Count
Celebrate National Bird Week (21-27 October) by taking part in BirdLife Australia’s Aussie Backyard Bird Count. To get involved all you need is 20 minutes, your favourite outdoor space, and some keen eyesight.
Simply record the birds you see on the Aussie Bird Count app or at https://aussiebirdcount.org.au/. Not only will you get to know your feathered neighbours, but you’ll be contributing to a vital pool of information from across the nation that will help us see how Australian birds are faring. Shellharbour City Council is supporting this activity, and will receive data about our local bird counts that we can share with you all. So get your friends and family together, head into the great outdoors and start counting!
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The Tinkerage is a community-use space for the making, repairing, and re-purposing of things that would otherwise end up in landfill. Come and join our creative, can-do, tinkering community behind the Revolve shop at Dunmore Recycling and Waste Disposal Depot. The Tinkerage is a joint venture between Shellharbour City Council and Resource Recovery Australia.
Open for drop-in tinkering every Friday between 10am to 3pm by a gold coin donation.
Email: tinkerage@resourcerecovery.org.au
Instagram: @the_tinkerage
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Macramé Revamping - workshop at The Tinkerage
Come along on Saturday 12 October from 10am – 3pm and join teacher Bonnie Austin to learn basic knots that are useful for repairing and making things such as hangings, wall decorations, handles for things, ends on hammocks, or how to incorporate macramé into and around found objects.
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This workshop is free for residents living in the Shellharbour council area. A $40 fee applies for non-Shellharbour residents. Please wear enclosed protective shoes and BYO scissors, paper and pen for note taking. Feel free to bring along lunch/drink too. Participants must be over 16 years old.
Bookings for Tinkerage workshops can be made by emailing tinkerage@resourcerecovery.org.au, phoning the Revolve Shop on 42375193, or in person at the Revolve Shop or The Tinkerage at 44 Buckleys Road Dunmore.
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Plant in the veggie garden now
The days are getting warmer and longer, and it’s time to start thinking about planting:
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Zucchini
- Potato
If you're keen to add veggies and herbs to your garden, head on into Council's Nursery on River Oak Place, Oak Flats, or contact them on 4221 6191 or at nursery@shellharbour.nsw.gov.au. They're open Monday to Friday 7.30am to 3.45pm (except public holidays), with a special Saturday opening on 19 October from 8:30am – 3:30pm. Everyone is welcome — not just Shellharbour City Council ratepayers. Staff are happy to help you with advice on what to plant when, what’s easy to grow, what can be grown in a pot and how to prepare your soil for the next crop.
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BushCare and LandCare
Shellharbour Council's BushCare and LandCare volunteer groups provide an incredible service greening our city and improving the local environment. Why not join in a working bee and see what it's all about?
- Oakey Creek BushCare usually meets in Oak Flats fortnightly on Wednesdays, all are welcome to come along and help out. This month the group will be meeting on Wednesday 9th and 23rd October from 9am – 12pm. Contact Council on 4221 6111 for details.
- Tullimbah LandCare will be meeting on Saturday October 26th at 9am at Elizabeth Brownlee Reserve (end of Digby Close, Albion Park). Contact Ruth Jenkins for details on 0402027221.
- Currambene Reserve BushCare meets fortnightly on Saturdays in Flinders. Contact Council on 4221 6111 for details.
- Blackbutt BushCare has scheduled the third Sunday of each month for regular working bees in Blackbutt Reserve. The next working bee is on Sunday 20th October from 9am - 12 noon. Please ring Tony Hepworth on 4297 6490 to be advised of future meeting places and times.
- The Watercourse BushCare at Campaspe Circuit Albion Park normally meets on the second Sunday of each month from 9.30am until 12:30pm on Campaspe CCT Albion Park, however this month they are scheduled to meet again on Sunday 20th October. For more details, please contact Council on 4221 6111.
- Koona Bay BushCare usually meets on the first Sunday of each month and are scheduled to meet on Sunday October 6 from 1pm to 4pm. For details about further working bees please contact Council on 4221 6111.
- Warilla Dunes Bushcare meets in the north side of the surf club on Osborne Parade. The next working bee is on Saturday 12 October between 8am and 10:30am. Contact Dane Fitzpatrick on 0419299635.
If you are keen to start a BushCare group to help look after your local patch, we'd love to hear from you. Please call Council's Bush Regeneration team on 4221 6111.
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At the Koona Bay Reserve working bee on Sunday 16 September the group had the extra assistance of Liam Grant and the Jamberoo Scouts group. The extra hands got stuck in to remove invasive weeds Lantana and Mother-of-millions and also received some brochures and insight into threatened native shorebirds in Lake Illawarra with a brief talk on the Pied Oyster Catchers that forage on the mudflats.
A big thankyou from Council to Liam and the group for coming along to lend hand and be a part of Koona Bay Bushcare.
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