Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I draw to the House’s attention the excellent work being undertaken in my electorate of Deakin to restore our local natural environment by the dedicated volunteers at Bungalook Nursery, in the suburb of Blackburn South. I recently visited Bungalook—also known as the Whitehorse Community Indigenous Plant Project—to support their efforts to get behind National Volunteer Week in May this year. Soon after my visit, Bungalook were extremely helpful in supplying plants when I recently got behind the efforts of a local school in the area that wanted to plant more native trees. Prior to being the member for Deakin, as a local resident I would occasionally get down there for my garden plants—back when I actually used to have time to get some gardening done. Unfortunately, those days are long gone! There are many nurseries in the seat of Deakin but even those that stock native plants do not have this range of truly local natives.

Going there recently in my new capacity, I was reminded of what a fantastic example they are of a local volunteer organisation on the very front line of tackling climate change and saving water. They are a fantastic showcase of what we are all about on climate change and of course on saving water, and that is community involvement, acting at the local level with truly local solutions. They actively encourage local residents, schools and organisations to go back to using plants that once dominated the natural landscape in the local area. They work every day to preserve, maintain and enhance the status of Indigenous plants and strengthen the biodiversity within the Whitehorse region.

The nursery itself is a fascinating place. You could spend hours just walking around and discovering just how many Indigenous species—that is, plants that are truly native to the local area—actually exist. Their stock list boasts almost 100 species of plants truly indigenous to the Whitehorse region, which are all grown at the nursery, ranging from Indigenous grasses to shrubs and trees. From their fully functional rain garden to the wetlands that they are slowly developing at the rear of the property, and the rows and rows of natives on offer, the entire nursery has a charming natural feel that is full of the sounds of busy volunteers and native birds.

Bungalook functions as a business and generates income from the plants it sells, but it is very much a place of learning, information sharing and upskilling locals in native plant management. Volunteers of all walks of life come to Bungalook to learn how to propagate natives and to share their tricks of the trade in a very easygoing, social and cheerful environment. These volunteers collect Indigenous seed and vegetative material and propagate about 30,000 plants per year, and every day you go there you will see various schools and other community groups coming to collect those plants to take them back and plant them in their own communities. Having the benefit of experts, they also have the capacity to support students doing horticultural courses. Students can do their required work experience hours there for course accreditation. Importantly, the nursery actively engage the general public, participating in guided walks through local bushland and taking people on excursions to sites of interest outside of Whitehorse. They even put on morning teas for the volunteers and reflect on the work they have done and how they can do things in a better way.

This terrific organisation, run from day to day by Liz Henry and Margaret Witherspoon—two extremely colourful people with an encyclopaedic knowledge of local plants—has a great history. They began as the Nunawading Indigenous Plant Project, which originated with a bicentenary grant in 1988, with the aim of propagating plants truly indigenous to the Nunawading area from seeds collected in the area. The nursery was originally located at the rear of the Horticultural Centre in Jolimont Road, Forest Hill. With the change of name of council and with the relocation in 1999, they became incorporated and changed their name to the Whitehorse Community Indigenous Plant Project. Soon after, they moved to the current site in Fulton Road, Blackburn South, which was officially opened in September 2001. It was at that time that the name for the nursery, Bungalook—Wurundjeri for ‘stringy-bark’—was chosen.

Its facility there was built from the ground up through the dedicated efforts of its supporters and it has benefited from various sources of financial assistance—from the local Whitehorse council, the federal Landcare grants scheme, various local organisations and their own locally raised money. This is a tremendous example of a local organisation working hard—and also having a great time—to help us tackle climate change. I congratulate Liz and Margaret and every volunteer at Bungalook on their work.