Bermagui's Karen Joynes will never forget August 2022 - for several reasons.
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This month saw families come together in Moruya to mark the 80th anniversary of a Japanese submarine sinking an Australian trawler during WWII.
Ms Joynes' great-grandfather, Captain William Reid, was skipper of the ill-fated Dureenbee.
Meanwhile, just a few days earlier, the Bermagui Dune Care group she joined in early 2003 received a Community Environment Grant from Bega Valley Shire Council.
However, Ms Joynes' work with dunes dates back to 1989 when she was a founding member of a dune care group around Angourie, near Yamba, on the NSW north coast.
"We were one of the first dune care groups," Ms Joynes said
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In November 2002 she moved to Bermagui because up north "got too hot and too crowded".
Ms Joynes saw a sign about restarting a dune care group and was one of the dozen who signed up in early 2003.
Stuart Cameron was another founding member of Bermagui Dune Care.
He remained a member until he moved to Narooma about 18 months ago.
"Stuart was the stalwart of the group," Ms Joynes said.
"We could not have done it without him."
The group initially focused on removing sea spurge from the Baragoot area just south of Bermagui.
"We managed to do about 300 metres of Baragoot Beach over five years," Ms Joynes said.
It was very slow work so in 2009 Mr Cameron formed a multi-agency committee.
He brought together Southern Catchment Management, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Bega Valley Shire Council and Far South Coast Landcare Association (FSCLA).
That group took over the weeding, which freed up Bermagui Dune Care to plant local species of melaleuca, eucalypts and banksia in Baragoot Swamp car park.
In 2011 they took on Cuttagee Point as a long-term project, armed with Mr Cameron's plan of management and a Caring for Country grant.
I really enjoy the dune care work. It is very satisfying work to see the progress made at the time.
- Karen Joynes, Bermagui Dune Care
Council helped with spraying kikuya, FSCLA helped apply for grants and provided tools and advice, while NPWS also supported with advice.
Grants from the council in 2015 and 2017 were mainly used for planting and grants in 2021 and 2022 for weed control.
Almost 20 years later, there is a core group of six who get on really well, bound by "a love of nature and wanting to repair the damage that has been done previously".
They have planted 1144 seedlings in over 25 species.
"We have noticed an increase in bird numbers and species so there is increased biodiversity," Ms Joynes said.
