90 Years of Tree Planting in Cooper Park
Cooper Park is perhaps the best loved park in our Council area. The natural beauty of the gully has been valued by the community since the park was first gazetted in 1917. It's hard to believe that before that time, sections of the park were used for logging, quarrying, market gardens and even cattle!
During the Great Depression, many improvements were made to the Park, with its first community tree planting event held in the Park on Arbor Day, 16 September 1931. Over 500 trees from around Australia were planted on the day including Tasmanian Blue Gum, Queensland Kauri, Lilly Pilly and assorted Wattles.
This year, plans were made to hold a community tree planting event on 12 September – 90 years on from that first Arbor Day. Council’s Bushland team partnered with Greening Australia for the project, selecting more than 50 different locally native species to plant near the stairs at the eastern side of the park.
Despite lockdowns necessitating the cancellation of the community event, the planting project was still able to proceed.
During the week of 13 September, our dedicated Bushland team joined forces with enthusiastic staff from Greening Australia to plant around 3000 trees and shrubs including Sydney Red Gum, Swamp Mahogany, Port Jackson Fig, Cabbage Tree Palm along with various Banksias, Wattles, Hakeas, Grevilleas, Kunzeas and more.
The species chosen will provide much-needed small bird habitat, seed pods for our yellow tailed black cockatoos, fruit and nectar for parrots and flying foxes.
Greening Australia will continue working with our Bushland team to care for the planting in the coming months to support the goal of beautifying the area, while creating habitat for local wildlife and shade for the community. We plan to host a community environmental event in the Park with walks, plant identification, weed information and a wildlife display when circumstances allow.
