In 1935 many people's attitude to our flora and fauna was: 'if it moves, shoot it; if it stands still, cut it down'. However, not all Australians, or indeed Novocastrians, felt this way because in that year a Tree Planting and Preservation League was established in Newcastle.
Little is known about its activities in the first few years of its existence except that, in 1936, it objected to a decision of Newcastle Council to remove "an avenue of Morton Bay fig trees adjacent to the Bowling Club in Centennial Park" . The league also "recorded its concern at the growing tendency to appropriate areas of parks for the exclusive use of a limited number of people". The proposed alienation of parkland for other uses was to be a contentious issue that arose many times in Newcastle over the next four decades.
By 1940 the group had expanded and claimed to have a membership of 93. In its fifth annual report it said that the league "pursued its policy of inviting purchasers of building allotments to preserve some of the trees on the land. Owners of new homes on the outskirts of the city have preserved full-grown trees, thus enhancing the setting" . The league also protested "against the drastic cutting down of trees near power lines. It was pointed out that judicious trimming would serve the purpose". During 1939 "an excursion to the Wattagan State Forest was attended by 70 members and friends" .
The league found an ally in Mr R.H. Patterson who had been appointed by Newcastle Council as its Parks Superintendent. In 1941 he gave a lecture in which he said " [t]o build a city without parks and trees was like building a home without a living room. Trees were needed to relieve conditions that might become dull and monotonous" . Newcastle Council had planted about 6000 trees in the previous three years and planned "an extensive scheme of tree planting in the next three years." The league was successful in raising the awareness of council and sections of the general public about the need for parkland and trees. It appears to have ceased to function by 1945, however, many of its objectives were later carried on by the Northern Parks and Playground Movement when it was formed in Newcastle in 1951.
During the 1940s some people in Lake Macquarie Shire were also concerned about the lack of trees in their area. One example was that of the Belmont Urban Area Committee who, in 1944, decided to purchase 200 trees for street planting.
In the 1960s, the sparsity of trees in Newcastle led to the formation of another organisation with similar aims to the league. They decided to call themselves the Treetowners. Their first meeting was held on April 29 1968. At a time when men dominated public life, it is of interest that the majority of the 14 people who attended were women. The group decided to hold a public meeting and began organising speakers, a venue, publicity and an emblem. They arranged for the President, Professor Ken Robinson, to have a major article appear in the Newcastle Morning Herald (NMH) on the day prior to the meeting.
The urban landscapes of Australia contain so much that is crude, barren and soulless that we might be forgiven for thinking that this country is still in the pioneering stage of development. Most Australians appear to have little interest in the creation of a congenial environment in which to live and work. Newcastle illustrates this well. The townscape emerges as a symbol of man's technological achievements - of his conquest over Nature. But this conquest is surely a Pyrrhic victory if so much of value is lost in its achievements. One particular item of concern is that vast segments of the city have been allowed to evolve as treeless landscapes. A question that this evokes is: Does this matter - why bother with trees?
Apparently a lot of Novocastrians thought it did matter because the next day the Herald reported that about 300 people had attended a meeting the night before. It was called by the Lord Mayor, Ald McDougall, to support the newly formed organisation called Treetowners. The group were "interested in the planting and care of trees in Newcastle". Suggested areas were opposite the intersection of Hunter and Darby Streets, and the Stockton foreshore.
The editor of the NMH added his support, saying: "The Treetowner movement is refreshing in its vigorous, optimistic approach to the remedying of Newcastle's treelessness". He also suggested that council needed to allocate more funds for its parks.
Nine months later the Council's Works Committee had approved ten tree-planting programs developed by the Treetowners. The secretary, Mrs Gail Davies, said that trees would be planted in Merewether, Cooks Hill, Newcastle and in the grounds of the Mater Hospital. Most of these plans did eventuate and, more importantly, attitudes did change. In the suburbs which were developed in the 1970s and later, care was taken to leave many of the original trees. Rankin Park is one such case. Another is the University of Newcastle which began moving to its present site in 1965. Despite large-scale construction, most of the natural bushland and wetlands remain.
During the 1960s there was an expansion in the number of educated and more affluent people living in Newcastle. Many of these people were concerned with what generally came to be known as "quality of life" issues. At this time the Hunter branch of the National Trust attracted more members. Reflecting the concerns of the members, the Regional Committee formed a Landscape and Conservation committee which went on to publish the "Hunter 2000" report in mid 1972. Members of Treetowners, the Flora and Fauna Protection Society and the Northern Parks and Playgrounds Association were represented on this committee. Some of the energy of the Treetowners members, by 1969, was going into this organisation. Many were also caught up in the attempt to save Birdwood Park. Nevertheless, Treetowners continued to lobby council and private businesses to plant trees during 1970 and 1971 but appears to have ceased to function soon after. It would be almost 20 years before a similar group was formed in Newcastle.
In the meantime, local councils continued to plant trees, as did some school children. In 1972 members of the Booragul High School PYE club helped to turn an old rubbish dump at Booragul into a park area. Scouts and Guides also became more environmentally conscious during the 1970's. For example, in 1972 "…the 24 Brownies of the 1st Valentine Pack worked on conservation projects." They tidied up a local park and planted trees and shrubs under the supervision of Mrs A. Black of the Newcastle Flora and Fauna Protection Society.
Trees In Newcastle (TIN) began as the result of an idea by Claire Miller in 1989. She then lived in Adamstown, which had few trees. It occurred to her that if she could get a group of like-minded people together to plant trees, then the place would look more beautiful.
She called a public meeting in late 1989, from which a committee was formed, including herself, Ross Brown, Simon Smith and others. "Ross said that at the time he was on the dole and wanted to do something for the local environment. When I looked around the inner city I noticed that there weren't many trees but there was a lot of concrete. So I decided to get involved in a tree-planting group".
They decided that their first project would be to plant trees near Adamstown Railway Station. Ross Brown produced a leaflet announcing that the first
Annual General Meeting would be held on 9 April 1990. This attracted many people and they decided to have their first tree planting on 22 April. People intending to come were asked to bring one or more of the following: "shovels, picks, heavy shoes, kids, balls, picnic lunch and mulch".
Prior to this the committee had grown seedlings of native trees, and applied for a small financial grant. Their immediate aim was "to plant trees in public spaces to make Newcastle more beautiful and to try, in some small way, to reverse the Greenhouse Effect". Their "...long-term aim was the formation of a Newcastle tree centre to provide information, planting equipment and a storage space for seedlings, compost and mulch".
One of the reasons for the continuing success of TIN was the fact that the committee incorporated social activities along with the hard work of digging holes and planting trees. At their meeting in July 1990 Claire Miller and Alex Starropoulos reported that a bushwalk organised by TIN had been "enjoyed by the 15 people who attended". Anne Rooke expressed interest in hosting a social event and fundraiser at her place, which later proved to be a success. Producing the TIN t-shirt and a dance organised by Ross Brown were other measures which generated funds.
Trees in Newcastle Newsletter February 1990.
By September 1990 TIN News said it had 41 members and was "growing as rapidly as some of the wattles that we planted at Adamstown". The newsletter thanked John McNaughton, the then Lord Mayor of Newcastle who had arranged for Council to pay for the cost of TIN becoming incorporated and for Public Liability Insurance.
In the October newsletter there was more good news. The application to Greening Australia for funds resulted in a grant for $650 for the Adamstown project and a box trailer was purchased for $250. There was, however, a sad footnote which reported that four trees were stolen on the same afternoon on which they were planted.
By this time the group had developed a routine which involved a tree-planting day once a month. In 1990 plantings also occurred at Broadmeadow and Waratah. Of course, in dry periods the trees had to be watered on a regular basis.
Another dance was held in March 1991 and over $600 was raised. Reviewing their activities on TIN's first birthday, the group were "happy with its first year of work and will hold a party for its 50 workers". They were, however, upset that vandalism had partly ruined two of their projects.
In 1991 TIN began door knocking in various suburbs, offering tubed trees for sale. This proved successful with many people buying, and planting trees in their backyard.
The next big project for tree planting was for Braye Park which, in 1990, was almost completely denuded of trees. After much organisation, in October 1991 TIN announced that students and teachers from Waratah Primary School would help TIN plant 300 trees in the park. By March 1992, it was reported that 750 young trees had been planted on the 10ha site, but it was planned to plant more. The secretary of TIN, Simon Smith, asked the Department of Corrective Services if people doing community service orders could help plant trees. They agreed and so many more people became involved in "the biggest project we've taken on…".
A major change took place in 1993 when TIN decided to apply for a major grant under the Federal Government's Landcare and Environment Action Program (LEAP). This decision led to some conflict in TIN and a few members left the group. They were successful and this grant enabled TIN to employ a person to supervise and train 30 LEAP trainees. Over the next three years, these people planted and watered thousands of trees in the Newcastle Region. A nursery was also established for propagating trees and shrubs in a greenhouse at Broadmeadow School (Hunter School of Performing Arts).
TIN's first tree planting, Park Avenue Adamstown
April 1990.
This boost to their resources enabled TIN to expand the scope of its activities. This included work on the degraded foreshore of the Hunter River at Hexham which included landscaping with new garden beds as well as planting trees and shrubs. The banks of the river were reinforced and mangroves transplanted from other sections of the river to regenerate degraded sections.
During 1993 LEAP in Newcastle consisted of four projects. This included TIN, Throsby Land Care, the Integral Urban House (later known as the EcoHome) and Carrington Parks. This project involved the rehabilitation of industrial wasteland and degraded riverbanks. By August 1995 LEAP had "more than 300 young people from the Lower Hunter working on job training programs where they received practical experience in landcare, environment, cultural heritage and conservation activities. In 1993 TIN set up an office in the Tighes Hill community centre, sharing space with Throsby Land Care.
In 1998 TIN moved its office and nursery to a site adjacent to the Community Arts Centre in Parry Street. Boyd Carney, the current co-ordinator of TIN, says that the demand for seedlings from their nursery is so great that they are barely able to keep up with it. They are in the process of establishing a new and larger nursery on land at the University of Newcastle. It will open in 2002.
Recent projects include bush regeneration at Caves Beach, Glenrock Nature Reserve and Tomaree National Park. In some areas the largest part of the job involves removing noxious weeds, such as lantana, before tree planting can begin.
Another innovative project is "the Biodiversity in Schools Project which was set up in response to the high demand from schools for assistance in establishing bush gardens, nature trails, frog ponds and habitat areas". One example is St Pius X at Kotara which had a badly eroded area. TIN worked with teachers and pupils to transform the area into a native bush garden for study and habitat. Environmental Restoration was offered as a sports option and some pupils responded enthusiastically. The area was weeded, mulched and planted with a range of trees, shrubs and grasses. Ponds, with reeds, were also established as habitat for frogs, lizards, birds and insects.
TIN has received numerous awards over the last decade from a range of organisations, including the Keep Australia Beautiful Council, Newcastle City Council and Landcare Australia.
Looking back over the last decade, Ross Brown said that he thought TIN had been very successful. "We started out as a community group with no money. Over the years TIN attracted government funding but now most of its funds are generated through the sale of seedlings and plants".
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