Save Our Waterways Now

Last updated

Mark Crocker, SOWN Community Liaison Officer and Robert Whyte, SOWN Director at Walton Bridge Reserve, Enoggera Creek, The Gap, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Sown mcrocker rwhyte P2051135.JPG
Mark Crocker, SOWN Community Liaison Officer and Robert Whyte, SOWN Director at Walton Bridge Reserve, Enoggera Creek, The Gap, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Save Our Waterways Now (SOWN) is a community-based organisation rehabilitating Enoggera catchment in Brisbane, the largest city in Queensland, Australia. [1] The principal waterway in the Enoggera catchment is Enoggera Creek with two main tributaries, Fish Creek and Ithaca Creek. [2]

Contents

SOWN was incorporated on 18 February 1998 as Save Our Waterways - Now Inc., organisation number IA19057, an association under the jurisdiction of the Office of Fair Trading, Queensland. [3] SOWN was formed as a response to habitat loss and environmental degradation. Enoggera Creek and its tributaries had been degraded by past agricultural land-uses and by the dumping of refuse and garden waste from the homes and developments in the catchment. [4]

SOWN operates a volunteer-run plant nursery which propagates more than 30,000 locally native species every year and provides them free to SOWN members. [5]

History

The first record of major tree planting and habitat restoration in the Enoggera catchment was reported in January 1982 as an activity of Men of the Trees whose newsletter reported "... to date 1,800 trees have been placed, of which about 1,700 have survived.”. [6] Another local group, the Enoggera Creek Beautification Committee, held its first planting on 26 January 1986. [2]

In 1994 Brian Hallinan, Brisbane City Council Alderman for The Gap Ward, created SOWN by bringing together the environmental activists and interested residents as a project of Men of the Trees. [2] The project received National Heritage Trust funding for a coordinator, equipment and expenses.

By the late 1990s SOWN was a major environmental organisation with many restoration sites and active volunteers. On 30 March 1998 in a speech to the Australian Senate, Senator Ian Macdonald reported "the project was developed to provide a working model of waterways management, with an emphasis on ongoing maintenance ... In the last year alone some 20,000 native trees and grasses were planted, with 900 cubic metres of mulch being spread. The strength of the project has been the work by 700 or so volunteers, who have contributed more than 68,000 volunteer hours since the project's inception..." [7]

In 2007, SOWN merged with the Brisbane Rainforest Action and Information Network (BRAIN). [5] In 2008 SOWN launched Ithaca Intact, a flagship project to restore the entire seven kilometre length of Ithaca Creek. [2]

Related Research Articles

Brisbane River River in Queensland, Australia

The Brisbane River is the longest river in South-East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1823. The penal colony of Moreton Bay later adopted the same name, eventually becoming the present city of Brisbane. The river is a tidal estuary and the water is brackish from its mouth through the majority of the Brisbane metropolitan area westward to the Mount Crosby Weir. The river is wide and navigable throughout the Brisbane metropolitan area.

Logan River

The Logan River is a perennial river located in the Scenic Rim, Logan and Gold Coast local government areas of the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The 184-kilometre (114 mi)-long river is one of the dominant waterways in South East Queensland that drains the southern ranges of the Scenic Rim and empties into Moreton Bay after navigating the City of Logan, a major suburban centre located south of Brisbane. The catchment is dominated by urban and agricultural land use. Near the river mouth are mangrove forests and a number of aquaculture farms.

Bulimba Creek

Bulimba Creek, originally known as Doboy Creek or Doughboy Creek, ia a perennial stream that is a tributary of the Brisbane River, located in suburban Brisbane in the South East region of Queensland, Australia.

Taylor Range

The Taylor Range or Herbert Taylor Range is a mountain range on the western edge of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first named The Glenmorrison Range by John Oxley during his exploration of the area in January 1824. In 1828, the colonial botanist Charles Fraser, whilst looking at the range from the Ipswich area, noted the bearings as Sir Herbert Taylor’s Range from which the current name derived.

Bremer River (Queensland)

The Bremer River is a river that is a tributary of the Brisbane River, located in the Scenic Rim and Brisbane regions of South East Queensland, Australia. The 100-kilometre (62 mi)-long Bremer River drains several Scenic Rim valleys in south-east Queensland, including the Fassifern Valley, with its catchment area covering approximately 2,032 square kilometres (785 sq mi). Most valleys within the catchment have extensive river terraces. The Bremer River system is extremely degraded.

Brisbane Forest Park Protected area in Queensland, Australia

Brisbane Forest Park, is located on parts of the D'Aguilar Range. The large nature reserve lies on the western boundary of City of Brisbane into the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, in Enoggera Reservoir, adjacent to The Gap and between the Mount Coot-tha Reserve on the Taylor Range and higher peaks to the north. Brisbane Forest Park supports plants and animals and is essential to their survival. The main entrance is located in the suburb of The Gap although there are a number of other access points.

Oxley Creek

The Oxley Creek is a creek that is a tributary of the Brisbane River, located in suburban Brisbane in the South East region of Queensland, Australia.

Lockyer Creek

The Lockyer Creek is a creek located in South East Queensland, Australia. A tributary of the Brisbane River, the creek is a major drainage system in the Lockyer Valley. Rising on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the creek flows generally north-easterly for more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) before it reaches its confluence with the Brisbane River north-northeast of Lowood, and downstream from the Wivenhoe Dam. The creek is named after Edmund Lockyer.

Paddington, Queensland Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Paddington is an inner suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Paddington had a population of 8,562 people.

Enoggera, Queensland Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Enoggera is a suburb of the City of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.

St Johns Wood, Queensland Queensland, Australia

St Johns Wood is a neighbourhood within the suburb of Ashgrove in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Town of Ithaca

The Town of Ithaca is a former local government area of Queensland, Australia, located in inner western Brisbane.

Enoggera Dam Dam in South East Queensland

The Enoggera Dam is a heritage-listed dam, which is located within the outer, western suburb of Enoggera Reservoir, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Gold Creek Dam Dam in South East Queensland

The Gold Creek Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam with an un-gated spillway across the Gold Creek that is located in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for potable water supply of the Brisbane region. The resultant reservoir is called the Gold Creek Reservoir.

Moggill Creek

Moggill Creek is a creek in Brisbane, the largest city in Queensland, Australia. The creek rises on the Taylor Range and runs in a south-easterly direction from the southern edge of Brisbane Forest Park in Kholo and Pullenvale, flowing through Upper Brookfield, Brookfield and joining the Brisbane River at Kenmore. Before entering the Brisbane River the creek is crossed by Moggill Road and winds through Rafting Ground Reserve.

Norman Creek (Queensland)

Norman Creek is a small tributary of the Brisbane River. The headwaters of the creek are located on the northern slopes of Toohey Mountain and Mount Gravatt in southern Brisbane. The name derives from a corruption of Gorman's Creek, after Lieutenant Gorman, of H. M. 8th Foot - the last commandant at Moreton Bay.

Robert Whyte Australian scientist, writer and editor (b1955)

Robert Whyte is an Australian writer. He was a founding co-owner and director of the Brisbane-based multimedia firm ToadShow. After 2012 he participated in the Australian Government's new species exploration program Bush Blitz. His works include The Creek in Our Back Yard: a practical guide to creek restoration (2011) and A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia for CSIRO Publishing 2017.

Enoggera Creek Creek in Queensland, Australia

Enoggera Creek is a creek which flows through the City of Brisbane in South-East Queensland, Australia.

Ithaca Creek

Ithaca Creek is a waterway in the Enoggera Creek catchment, in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It arises in the Taylor Range at the Mount Coot-tha forest with two streams, one arising at J C Slaughter Falls, the other and stronger source being Simpson Falls, the western branch.

Ithaca War Memorial

Ithaca War Memorial and Park is a heritage-listed memorial and park at Enoggera Terrace, Paddington, Queensland, Australia. The memorial was designed and built by Arthur Henry Thurlow between 1921 and 1925. The park was built and designed by Alexander Jolly. It is also known as Alexander Jolly Park. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

References

  1. ↑ Brisbane City Council web site
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Know your creek: Breakfast-Enoggera Creek", Brisbane City Council, 2010
  3. ↑ Australian Securities & Investments Commission database
  4. ↑ About SOWN
  5. 1 2 The Creek in Our Backyard. Save Our Waterways Now. 2011. ISBN   978-0-646-55158-6.
  6. ↑ Project Trees newsletter, page 3, January 1982
  7. ↑ Australian Senate Hansard , page 1097, 30 March 1998
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.