Everything we do is reflected in the waters of our catchment. The water carries the message of whether we are caring for our land. We all live in a catchment. Water drains from the land we use into the creek. Then it drains to the river, then Moreton Bay and then the ocean. The land and the water cannot be separated, we must care for them together. Waterwatch

"There was an indigenous patch of rainforest until quite recent times on the corner of the mill property, where Mereweather Street joins Railway Terrace at Corinda, it had rainforest trees in it, and pine trees. It was a perfect little plot, but it slowly deteriorated. Also up opposite where my uncle lived off Martindale St, he had all indigenous trees growing from his fence right down to the creek, and that was joined onto the side of Nosworthy Park."
Noel Lahey

Now we wonder is it the same patch joining Nosworthy Park, Corinda where the rare specimen of Austromyrtus gonoclada or Angle-Stemmed Myrtle was rediscovered in the last few years.

By the 30's most of the local timber would already have been milled or cleared for farming, and only one small patch of original vegetation remains at Corinda.
"Memories of Oxley Creek" March 1997 (Audio tape)

Austromyrtus gonoclada
(Angle Stemmed Myrtle)

"The blood was from the pigs and the cattle, but the pigs was where all the blood was coming from. To kill a pig they used to stab the pig. (The blood) used to go down into these big sumps about 10 or 12 feet across and the water would mix with the blood. Late in the afternoon they used to release this into the creek.
They had two or three kinds of fish, bream, mullet, very big mullet, and eels. I shouldn't exaggerate, but I'd say when the eels used to run in, they'd come and they used to boil, boil with eels. And we had the catfish, and the mullet you wouldn't ever see the mullet when it was like that, ever. They used to come up to spawn, they were big mullet of course, not the small ones."
Harry Woodings

The result of this effluent was that mullet swam upstream to feed and spawn each year, locals could go down with a wire netting scoop and catch up to 30 fish in no time at all.
When the creek was beginning to suffer from the continual outflow the effluent was tanked and treated with chlorine and then released into the creek.
From that day, the mullet and all other marine life disappeared.
"Memories of Oxley Creek" March 1997 (Audio tape)

Mangroves

Foggitt Jones' Bacon Factory (Oxley) (Lona Gratham)

"I never did believe in cutting all the timber down. Just pick a log out here and you might go 200 yards before you cut another one, that way there wasn't much erosion or anything like that. But after the sandminers come in bulldozed it and dug dirty great big holes took all the sand out it. That's what caused all the banks to wash away on the creek. As far as I'm concerned they really ruined the creek. I was really crooked on the Shire Council for giving them permission to do it.

sand mining

"It's part of our family strategy to do the cutting ourselves and do it on a very selective basis so that younger, smaller stuff is left to come on and grow behind...
What basically happens is - your big timber, if you don't cut it out, it's the same as any sort, everything in this world decays, it's part of the basics of our system - a piece of steel rusts, a piece of timber rots - your tree gets old. It's the same as a human being, it gets old and dies and decays. If you leave your forests and look on and think what wonderful forests, after a while when you fall them you find a lot of them are old and hollow and ringy and whatever - you've lost the quality out of it and the next stage from that is, it starts to die out and you end up with areas that have got nothing, nothing worthwhile.

Eucalypts close to Oxley Creek

Then you'll get wattle will come in behind that and then following the wattle you might get some gum suckers or that kind of thing. ... So prudent, sensible management is that you take your big timber out and you leave the smaller stuff coming on behind all the time. ...
We have a problem in this region and its not only here.... of Cossidae Moth, which is a wood borer sort of thing. It's found in several areas of the world, ... and they love the Spotted Gum trees - so in that situation you're better off to cut the tree even if it is small and get rid of the moth problem rather than let it generate on into a wood borer eating your forest up. There's really quite a lot in the management side of it that way. It's how you cut and how you ringbark....."
Les Wilson
Les continued the family business started by his great-grandfather. His grandfather, George Benjamin, was a noted axeman.

Diana Dawson

"I love my country and believe our heritage is so special. It makes me feel almost wounded to think that our unique plants and animals might disappear. That's what started me in Landcare. How could I face my kids in years to come if I didn't get actively involved in protecting our natural heritage?
In 1994 I started a bushcare group (with help from the Brisbane City Council), at a small spot on the banks of the Brisbane River. It was very interesting learning about the plants native to the Brisbane area. Who would have thought that we were lucky enough to still have so much remnant bushland in the city?
Then I read somewhere about catchments and how waterways are the lifeblood of the land. I thought about it and tried to find a group in my area who were actively involved. There was nothing. So I wrote a small community notice in the local paper announcing the formation of an environmental group and the next meeting date.

Six people came to that first meeting. We decided to meet regularly and call ourselves the Oxley Creek Environment Group because the Creek was our common thread. It links us together. Now four years later, I can't stop thinking in catchments.
Being a landcarer in the city may seem a bit out of place with what is largely seen to be a rural endeavour. In fact our natural heritage is under extreme threat in the urban areas due to the sheer numbers of people in the city. There is water pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, soil contamination, large scale clearing of bushland, with weed invasion into what's left.

Each of us has to take heed and look carefully at what we are doing. We don't have to accept the nasty habits of others either - speak out and voice your concern! The Oxley Creek Catchment is a good example of an area under threat, containing land uses such as residential, industry, sand extraction and farming. All of these uses are necessary in the society we have today, however there are cases in our catchment where people could improve their habits and so protect the environment.
I am involved, and have involved others, in Waterwatch, Bushcare, community education programs, the Oxley Creek Water Festival, the Oxley Creek Catchment Association and Southside Environmental Education Network.
Best of all has been the connections that have formed around my catchment. A sense of community and belonging. Connectiveness with the land. Caring for our part of Australia."
Diana Dawson

Jocelyn Clarkson

"1994 and 95 were landmark years for Oxley Creek. Corinda resident Noel Standfast began planting trees on a small tributary of Oxley Creek near his home in 1994. The Oxley Creek Environment group was formed in November 1994 by Diana Dawson who became the first President.
As a foundation member of the group I was inspired to improve my local park on the creek at Strickland Terrace, Graceville/Sherwood. This would be a very small step toward the aim of the Group, to clean up Oxley Creek - a huge task!
I made a submission to the Brisbane City Council in 1995 for a Bushland Care Grant and in October we planted nearly 300 trees with the help of a group of volunteers.
There are now a total of 5 sites along Oxley Creek, including the above. The others are at the Lockwood, Whitco factory on Sherwood Road, Sherwood, Oxley Recreation Reserve Clivedon Avenue Corinda and Nosworthy Park Corinda. To date, 700 trees, shrubs and vines have been planted in Strickland Terrace.

As with all similar revegetation sites, we endeavour to use only species known to exist before European settlement. More are being recorded from remaining remnants of bush in the upper Catchment through regular seed collection and identifying trips by Greening Australia and interested local people. Seedlings are then used in the Oxley Creek revegetation sites.
Common species currently used - Araucaria cunninghamii (Hoop Pine), Acacia melanoxylon (Black Wattle/Blackwood), Grevillea robusta (Silky Oak) and numerous species of melaleucas (paper barks) and callistemons (bottle brush). Grasses include: Themeda triandra (Kangaroo Grass) and Cymbopogum refractus (Barb-Wire Grass). Various vines and shrubs, large and small are included to make up the understorey. These are essential to encourage wildlife, especially the small birds such as wrens, cisticolas, quail and finches. Over 100 species of bird life have been identified with help from many people before revegetation began.

Jocelyn Clarkson

Being involved in this project, even with no pay, has many rewards. To see the plants grow, the birds nesting and using the plantings, find small lizards and insects amongst the foliage and see the flowers in spring followed by fruits which feed the birds is so good. Especially in an area where there was just mown grass with a few exotic Broad-Leafed Pepper trees (Schinus terebinthifolia). These are regarded as a bushland weed as they become a monoculture. I love to be amongst the trees, weeding and caring for them. It brings a great sense of peace. These are some of my happiest hours and when local people say how much they appreciate the improvements in the park, I know it has been well worth it!"
Jocelyn Clarkson
(Jocelyn's full story is in the Story Collection)

References:
Interview by Ron Tooth with George Sirett, February 1998
Interview by Jocelyn Clarkson with Harry Woodings and Keith Shand, "Memories of Oxley Creek" March 1997 (Audio tape) and commentary
'Oral History of Oxley Creek'. March 1997 (Audio tape)
Interview by Jeanine Herbert with Les Wilson on 1 September 1988
'Know your Creek - Oxley Creek', Oxley Creek Environment Group, 1998
Waterwatch Booklet (Dept of Natural Resources)

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