Over the past two years, the Brogers Creek community has been exploring what landscape rehydration could look like in its own catchment. Demonstration sites, field days, creek walks, citizen science, professional training and plenty of conversations have all played a role. Many of those threads came together and the community spirit was on full display on the 28th of September at Rising Still, where landholders and project partners rolled up their sleeves for a hands-on day of learning and collaboration.
The September event, jokingly renamed “Boots-in-the-Mud Day”, was part of the Water Stewardship Program (WSP), delivered by Mulloon Institute and supported by WaterNSW and The Ian Potter Foundation, with additional support through Mulloon’s Landscape Function Toolkit (LiFT) project, funded by the DAFF Climate Smart Agriculture Program Natural Heritage Trust. It provided an opportunity for the Brogers Creek community to continue building its collective knowledge of landscape rehydration and catchment-scale thinking alongside neighbours, project partners and local organisations.
The day built on a year of momentum. Participants began at Beauridge, where the WSP’s first demonstration site in the Brogers Creek catchment provided a chance to see completed works, ask questions and discuss the broader catchment vision. From there, the group headed to Rising Still to put theory into practice, working side-by-side on a series of small-scale, low rock structures designed to slow water, reduce erosion and support waterway health.
What made the day particularly special was the number of partnerships that came together to make it possible. Landcare coordinators and earthworks operators who had participated in professional training earlier in the year were able to share their experience. Landholders shared local knowledge and lessons learned from their own projects. The local council contributed local bedrock from nearby flood-recovery road works, providing materials that may otherwise have gone unused. It was a simple but powerful example of different organisations pulling in the same direction.
As Greg Thompson, Vice Chair of South East Landcare, reflected:
“Wonderful for Landcare to partner with Mulloon. The combination of Mulloon engineering expertise, design skills with Landcare knowledge of the local environment and enthusiastic volunteers is a great match.”
For Liz Cuninghame, the day demonstrated the value of learning by doing:
“The Boots-on-Ground day at Wattamolla fulfilled all expectations. It was great to see the progress of the work on Beauridge Farm and the transformation from Mulloon’s involvement. Getting muddy at Rising Still and learning the techniques was a really good experience combining technical and practical knowledge. Wonderful to have 30 people contributing their energy.”
The group got busy with boots in the mud, building for small-scale, low rock structures in Rising Still’s secret creek.
And there was one final surprise. The evening after the event, Ruben FitzSimmons visited the site and spotted a freshwater eel moving through one of the newly created pools. News quickly spread through the Brogers Creek community, adding a little extra excitement to a day that had already shown what can happen when people come together around a shared goal: healthier waterways, stronger communities and a more resilient catchment for the future.
A huge thank you to Andrew, Liz, Ruben and Vida for hosting at Rising Still, to Alexandra and John from Beauridge for welcoming the group at the start of the day, to David and Belinda from Hidden Valley for coordinating logistics and parking, and to Greg Thompson and Sonya Reyes for helping bring the event together. This event was presented by the wonderful Sharni Pike, Tony Wells and Erin Healy from the Mulloon team, who can’t wait to visit Brogers Creek again.
This event was supported by funding from WaterNSW, The Ian Potter Foundation and funding provided by DAFF Climate Smart Agriculture Program, Natural Heritage Trust Grant for Mulloon’s Landscape Function Toolkit (LiFT) project.
The local council’s contribution formed part of Natural Disaster Reconstruction works, jointly funded by the Australian Government and NSW Government.
