On Saturday 11th October 2025, Greater Sydney Landcare hosted its final community planting of the Creating Canopies project, at Waterworth Park in Earlwood. A heartwarming 95 volunteers joined us to plant 1,500 native trees and shrubs. We also installed almost 500 grasses and groundcovers supplied by the City of Canterbury Bankstown, who partnered with us to run the event.
We called it the ‘Encore in Earlwood’ because the last community planting was originally meant to take place two weeks earlier at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Campus. Rain and delays in mulch and plant deliveries, however, meant Waterworth Park wasn’t completed in July as planned. Even though it wasn’t the schedule we’d intended, we were actually thrilled to host one more planting for our incredible volunteers.
Community Powered Conservation
As Red-browed Finches and Superb Fairy-wrens flitted about amongst nearby shrubs, Greater Sydney Landcare staff arrived bright and early. At 7 am we were there, setting up our marquees and putting out containers of gardening gloves, tools, and kneeling pads for volunteers, preparing for the day ahead.
Staff then carefully laid out the plants so the largest tree species were spaced out with plenty of room to grow. We also mixed the shrub species across the site, rather than grouping them, to help mimic the diversity found in natural bushland habitats. This approach supports a more resilient and ecologically balanced environment for local wildlife.
By 8:30 am, our first volunteers began arriving. By 9:15 about 70 people were on site, with more trickling in throughout the morning—ready to roll up their sleeves and restore nature.
Caring for Nature Together
It was wonderful to welcome back so many familiar faces alongside new volunteers. One participant, Katie, realised she had attended 16 Creating Canopies plantings! Another, David, had been to seven events—joining every community planting since June 2025 when he first found out about the project.
We loved chatting with volunteers old and new, and hearing what people thought about the events. Farah from The Mudcrabs, a local environmental group of volunteers who care for the Cooks River ecosystem, told Bryce, our Natural Resources Manager, that she’d been to many of our plantings and “couldn’t fault us”—high praise from a Mudcrab, which we were proud to receive.
Many who joined us had also planted at Waterworth Park in July and were excited to see how the earlier plantings had grown. Some, like the Riceflower (Ozothamnus diosmifolius), were about to start flowering.
Restoring Sydney’s Backyard
With so many helping hands, the planting was completed quickly—just in time as the temperature was climbing towards 28 degrees. Volunteers helped water in the new plants with watering cans, while our team used a watering truck to give a good soak to the area planted earlier in July.
The day’s planting site was located between two patches of existing vegetation. It will connect the July planting and existing trees and shrubs to the greenery along Wolli Creek, creating a more continuous and biodiverse area of habitat in the future.
Growing Together, Giving Thanks
By 10:30 am, we were firing up the barbeque for a final thank-you lunch, complete with veggie options. Ice blocks helped everyone cool down before we shared an early lunch together at around 11 am, followed by the raffle draw. The lucky winner—a dedicated repeat volunteer—received a gift card as a small token of our appreciation. Well deserved!
The day was run by Creating Canopies Project Manager Danielle Hughes, Natural Resources Manager Bryce Doyle, Project Officer Alicia Harb-Akins, Revegetation Officer Ryan Birtles, Communications Manager Melanie Wagner, and Environmental Restoration Officer Kylie Burrows, along with Katie Caldwell and Kimberly Omodei from Landcare NSW. Canterbury Bankstown Council staff including Robyn Young, Kate Schott and Lachlan Prentice also helped steward the day. Thank you to all who made this event such a success.
Thank You for Helping Sydney Grow
Thank you to the City of Canterbury Bankstown for working with Greater Sydney Landcare to increase canopy cover across their LGA. And a heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers who joined us from across Greater Sydney—some driving more than an hour to be part of this final planting. We loved working with you all.
Creating Canopies has been an incredible journey, and we couldn’t have done it without your enthusiasm, care, and community spirit. We can’t thank the community of Greater Sydney enough for coming together to create a cooler, greener, Greater Sydney.
Volunteer for Bushcare in Canterbury-Bankstown
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA, you can become a Bushcare volunteer and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Get Involved with Greater Sydney Landcare
Find out what events Greater Sydney Landcare has coming up on our Humanitix page.
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare here. Be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
About Creating Canopies
Landcare NSW and Greater Sydney Landcare are planting 300,000 trees from 2020-2025 as part of the Greening our City program to help reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney. Proudly funded by the NSW Government.
