Tathra Landcare volunteers continue effort against coastal weeds

Starting out TLC had one goal, to eliminate as much bitou bush as they could across Tathra.

"We were gonna call ourselves CRABB - Concerned Residents Against Bitou Bush," said TLC president Jim Kelly.

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The intrusive bush is a South African native, thought to have been introduced to Australia in a ship ballast.

In a bid to stabilise sand dunes, it was planted along the coast and soon spread rapidly, forming dense stands which replaced native plants and destroyed the habitat of native animals.

"It was the dominant vegetation in Tathra. It was planted here by the soil conservation service," Mr Kelly said.

"By the time we got to it in 1992, it was the dominant vegetation on the sand dunes and the cliffs and it had spread all over Tathra and it was overwhelming everything."

First planted in the 1960s on a small section of degraded dune at the southern end of Tathra Beach, by 1992 approximately 300 hectares of the surrounding area was infested by the weed.

"That's why I thought we needed to do something about it. So I started phoning people.

TLC's founding members - Jim Kelly, Bruce Hamilton, Bill Caddey and Dave Greenland - began spreading the word.

"We didn't know what to do. Our first working bee was a complete disaster. It wasn't any good at all," Mr Kelly said.

However, as the group and their skills grew, they would go on to hold working bees for the next 30 years, pulling out, spraying and recording areas they'd covered.

"The first Bitou Bush Bash was on the 5^th of December in 1992 and the second was on March 6^th 1993, on the sand dunes near the caravan park," Mr Kelly said.

"We keep records. Back in those times we'd pull out hundreds on plants.

"It was pretty bloody hard, it was thick with bitou bush."

The bush was rampant, and often in spots down cliff faces that made it almost impossible to get to.

The group would spray heavy and inaccessible infestations over the winter period, proving very successful throughout the '90s.

"We had a 300-litre spray tank on the back of a ute and it would spray about 30 feet.

"We'd get on top of the cliff and spray down the cliffs, wherever it was inaccessible.

"The spraying was part of our business and we stopped doing it around 2000 because we got it under control.

Just as important as the working bees, part of TLC's approach to eliminate the weed was to spread the word to get the community involved.

The group worked to draw awareness to bitou bush, encouraging locals to be able to spot it and pull it out.

"We worked out a three-pronged approach, working bees once a month, individuals would be able to adopt and area and thirdly publicity," Mr Kelly said.

"We used to hand out little flyers so that people found out about it."

TLC devised a method that covered the whole of Tathra over a two year period, covering specific sections at a time during working bees.

Needless to say, the group has managed to get on top of bitou bush.

In 2022 they located and pulled out just 28 bushes across 10 working bees, although Mr Kelly said Tathra wasn't in the clear.

"You won't get rid of bitou bush."

While native plants have re-captured a lot of the land that was once covered with the bush, unfortunately other weeds have taken off in recent years, some thriving following the bush fires.

Bridal creeper, asparagus fern and turkey rhubarb have become "overwhelming in recent years", according to Mr Kelly.

TLC has 26 active members and runs regular working bees, the next on March 11. It also distributes a newsletter three times a year to members along with phone calls prior to working bees.

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