Volunteers invited: Flood Recovery Clean Up Day at four locations

21 May 2021

A fleet of volunteers in kayaks will soon be sailing down Cattai Creek in an ambitious effort to clean two kilometres of both sides of the creek – the Hawkesbury side and the Hills side – of flood debris. The special Flood Recovery Clean Up Day will be held in four locations on Sunday, 30 May: Cattai, Ebenezer, McGraths Hill and Cornwallis.

To make it happen, Hawkesbury City Council is partnering with Clean Up Australia. OzFish will coordinate the Cattai Creek Clean Up, also in partnership with Hawkesbury Council and Clean Up Australia. Volunteers are invited to participate so, to get involved, please register at the Clean Up Australia website at cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/hawkesbury

Hawkesbury City Council will provide skip bins at each of the locations to assist with the Clean Up day, with Council staff also being involved, the Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Patrick Conolly explained.

“Council has been contacted by individuals, local volunteer groups and other organisations who all want to contribute to our flood recovery and flood clean up in the Hawkesbury,” Mayor Conolly said.

“Our thanks go to all volunteers, Clean Up Australia and Ozfish for getting involved.

“This coordinated Clean Up is an opportunity for everyone wanting to help to get together to play a part in the long-term recovery of our environment and our community.”

Pip Kiernan, Chairman of Clean Up Australia said, “It’s wonderful to see the community coming together to clean up shared spaces in flood-affected areas. Clean Up Australia has always been about more than just one day of action, we support communities to clean up all through the year and it's particularly important that we can respond quickly and provide support when natural disasters occur.”

Protective gloves and rubbish collection bags are being provided by Clean Up Australia to all registered volunteers at the sites, along with refreshments.

Pip Kiernan said, “Materials provided by Clean Up Australia for this activity have been funded through donations received from the thousands of Coles’ shoppers across Australia who purchased multi-use hessian bags as an alternative to single-use plastics at the checkout. A great example of communities funding communities.”

Hawkesbury City Council invites you to join one of the four Clean Up sites listed below to help restore our local parks and natural environment following the major flood in March this year. Remember to register before the event at cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/hawkesbury

CLEAN UP LOCATIONS ON SUNDAY, 30 MAY 2021

Argyle Bailey Memorial Park, Ebenezer
(Also known as Swallow Rock Reserve or Ebenezer Church Reserve)
8:30am to 1pm
Meet at the carpark near the toilet block at the start of the Swallow Rock Reach Walking Trail, located off Coromandel Rd, Ebenezer. Please turn off at Ebenezer Church.

Colbee Park
8:30am to 1pm
Meet near the BMX Track, at Colbee Park, Old Hawkesbury Road, McGraths Hill.

Deerubbin Park
9:30am to 1pm
Meet at the Clubhouse in Deerubbin Park; enter via Cornwallis Road, Cornwallis.

3Z Newman Road, Glenorie – Cattai Creek, Glenorie
9:30am to 1pm
Meet at 3Z Newman Road, Glenorie.

This Clean Up will be held at 3Z Newman Road, Glenorie with a number of local volunteer groups coming on board including Galston-Glenorie Fishing Club, Hawkesbury-Nepean Landcare, Glenorie Progress Association and the Cattai Hills Environment Network. Council staff will be assisting Ozfish to coordinate the clean-up.

For more information, contact Pablo Bateson, Resilience Planning Coordinator at Hawkesbury City Council on 4560 4682 or 0427 849 321 or email council@hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au

About Clean Up Australia

Founded by Ian Kiernan, AO, Clean Up Australia is the nation's largest community-based environmental event and one of the country’s most recognised and trusted environmental organisations, inspiring and empowering communities to clean up, fix up and conserve our environment. More than 18.3 million Australians have participated in a Clean Up activity over the past three decades and over that time 38 million hours of volunteer time have been donated to Clean Up activities benefiting our environment.

Since inception, Clean Up Australia has evolved into an organisation that works with community, government and businesses to provide practical solutions to help Australians all live more sustainably every day of the year. Today the organisation’s focus is as much on preventing rubbish entering our environment as it is removing what has already accumulated.

About OzFish
OzFish Unlimited is a not-for-profit charity dedicated to helping the millions of Aussie recreational fishers take control of the health of their rivers, lakes and estuaries and shore up the future of the sport they love. OzFish Unlimited partners with fishers and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of our waterways.