Our Bushcare program is about so much more than just mopping up weeds and planting trees. It's about connecting people and communities.
A chance encounter and a shared love of badminton is all it took for Vicki Martin and Marjorie Wall to make a special connection, a connection that would lead to further friendships and shared stewardship of a small bushland park.
It was 2003 and Vicki had just retired when she bumped into Marjorie, walking down a West Hobart street, badminton racquet in hand.
They stopped and chatted, and before long Vicki had rekindled her passion for badminton and soon became a regular at the local badminton courts. She still is.
The two also discovered a second shared passion, caring for Hobart’s small bushland reserves.
Already part of the Friends of Knock lofty Bushcare group, Vicki soon joined her new friend as a stalwart of the Valley Street Bushcare group, which looks after small but important pockets of native bushland in West Hobart.
Time, connections and new friendships
The seasons came and went and in 2009 Vicki became the third convenor of the volunteer Valley Street Bushcare group.
Sadly, Marjorie died, a few more years passed, and Vicki found herself alone in the reserve.
That is, until she made a new connection. And a new friend.
Debbie Chung lives right next to Providence Gully, one of the tiny native bushland reserves Vicki and Marjorie had been looking after – keeping the weeds at bay and planting new native trees and shrubs.
In 2019 Debbie spied a Bushcare notice and decided to give volunteering a go. She joined and hasn’t looked back.
A piano teacher by profession, Debbie fits right into the Bushcare routine on a Tuesday afternoon.
“I really did turn up at the right time because Vicki was all on her own,” says Debbie.
“It’s only for an hour twice a month, and for a long time it was only the two of us, until Kathy joined in a couple of years ago.
“I find it very satisfying and you can see the difference we’ve made. We’ve got it down to a fine art!”
Work and play
Vicki and Debbie both love being outdoors and Bushcare is a great reason to get out of the house.
They spread out across the Leonard Wall/Valley Street Reserve, hunting down environmental weeds, mainly thistles and forget-me-nots.
Once done they sit down to share food and a cuppa. Vicki makes delicious savoury scones with parmesan cheese, Debbie supplies homemade treats, and the two catch up on each other’s lives.
They are both fine artists and like to show each other photos of their latest accomplishments.
Once a week they go to the Community Shed in West Moonah where they’ve both extended their artistic medium to timber, using timber offcuts that would otherwise be burnt.
Vicki made a toy garage for her grandson, Emi, who uses it to park his treasured toy cars. She is now building a wooden birdhouse.
When Vicki was ill and bedridden Debbie was there for her with minestrone soup.
“It made me feel so much better, both the soup and the lovely heartfelt gesture,” says Vicki.
The two make a great team and the connection Vicki first made with Marjorie Wall and this local patch of bushland lives on in the name of the reserve, Leonard Wall, named in honour of Marjorie’s husband, a life member of the local progress association and well known ornithologist.
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