Cabins Landcare

Royal National Park Cabin Communities Landcare Group Inc.

The RNP CCLG was founded in April 1993 by members of the three State Heritage listed cabin communities of Little Garie, Era and Burning Palms.

One of the early projects of the group was to undertake works to stabilise the 0.5ha Aboriginal Midden at North Era Beach.

Between 1950 and 1995 the midden had become heavily degraded, the main cause being people camping on, and walking over the site, with grazing and hoof damage by feral deer greatly adding to the problem

In 1997 a grant application was successful and resulted in the construction of a 300m star-picket and strand-wire fence and the planting of provenance grasses, however, vandalism became a problem, people who had previously accessed the area had perhaps resented the erection of the fence and it required constant maintenance and repair. The resultant strike rate of plantings was also low, and the re-stabilisation of dune was below the community’s expectations.

In 2003 another grant was obtained to replace the star pickets with more substantial wooden posts (110 posts) and in 2004 the strand wires were supplemented with 1.2m high strand and wire mesh fence. The immediate results were encouraging, a “blow-out” of sand on the southern perimeter soon showed signs self-revegetation and the wind erosion in that area stopped, and native plants returned to some of the more exposed areas.

Consultations with the Aboriginal community and NPWS continued throughout that time and following the strong indications of the success of the works, in September 2005, the Midden was declared an “Dharawal Resting Place”.

In 2006 we were informed that the ancestral remains of an Aboriginal person, that previously become exposed and removed from the site, had been re-interred to a stable area of the Midden.

Periodic maintenance has continued since on an as needs basis, with major maintenance works (financed by grants and community funds), being undertaken in 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018.  In 2019, 500 spinifex seedlings that had been grown from provenance seeds that had been collected from the local coast were planted to assist the natural regrowth.

In 2009 the similar sized midden at Garie Beach was fenced and in 2011 it too was declared an “Dharawal Resting Place” and remains that had been exhumed years earlier were re-interred there. In 2018 – 2019 major fence repairs were carried out and in June of 2019, 500 Spinifex seedlings were planted on that midden.

In addition to the Midden works, projects have been undertaken in the cabin precincts to address Fire, Water Quality, Bush Regeneration, Weed Control and Erosion issues. Many cabin community members are active in litter collection and weed control on a regular basis.

The Cabin Communities Landcare Group meets on a formal basis on the second Sunday of the odd months of the year with extra community days being scheduled according to the size of the project.