On Wednesday 5th November 2025, One Tree Per Child joined forces with Landcare for a joint tree-planting event at Gannons Park in Peakhurst. 14 volunteers from Yates Australia, the main sponsor of the One Tree Per Child initiative in Australia, joined One Tree Per Child’s CEO Jon Dee to plant 350 native trees and shrubs. Their efforts contributed to Landcare’s Creating Canopies project—to create habitat and reduce urban heat island effects in Greater Sydney.
One Tree Per Child was started by Olivia Newtown-John and Jon Dee in 2013 and encourages every child to plant at least one tree before they leave school. It has now planted trees in 12 countries.
Armin Karazmian, Business Development Manager from Arborgreen, also attended and generously donated paper guards to protect the new plantings.
Working Together for Nature
Run in partnership with Georges River Council, the day’s activities were guided by Greater Sydney Landcare staff including Creating Canopies Project Manager Danielle Hughes, alongside Revegetation Officer Ryan Birtles and Environmental Restoration Officer Peter Cartwright. The Greater Sydney Landcare team had the site prepped in advance and showed volunteers how best to plant the native tubestock to give each plant the best chance of survival.
It was a sunny, lightly breezy day and perfect for being outdoors. Volunteers got stuck into the work, planting, staking, guarding and watering native species that will grow to provide shade, habitat and cooling benefits to the local community.
Restoring & Remediating Gannons Park
The group planted locally native species from the Sydney Hinterland Apple-Blackbutt Gully Forest plant community type—a kind of dry sclerophyll forest characterised by plants with hard, short and often spiky leaves adapted to low-nutrient soils. Species included Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata), Tick Bush (Kunzea Ambigua), Prickly-leaved Paperbark (Melaleuca nodosa), Needlebush (Hakea sericea), and wattles (Acacia floribunda and Acacia longifolia) which will grow to provide shade and valuable habitat for native wildlife.
This planting is part of broader land remediation efforts at Gannons Park. In the early 1900s, the site was a depot where nightsoil was buried before the area was connected to the sewage system. Over time, Gannons Park has been transformed into a scenic 35-hectare area of sportsfields, open parkland and remnant bushland.
The new planting will bolster existing vegetation, providing benefits such as filtering water, increasing biodiversity and improving habitat complexity. The trees will not only help reduce heat, but they’ll also improve air quality, and support flood mitigation by slowing and absorbing stormwater runoff.
More Trees for a Sustainable Sydney
This event supported Creating Canopies’ goal of connecting communities including children with nature through hands-on tree planting. Over the life of the project, many young people have planted trees with Creating Canopies—helping to grow a greener, cooler Sydney for future generations.
Thank you to One Tree Per Child, Yates Australia, Arborgreen and Georges River Council for working with Greater Sydney Landcare to increase the number of trees in Greater Sydney.
Volunteer for Bushcare in the Georges River Area
If you’d like to contribute to environmental efforts in the Georges River LGA, you can become a Bushcare volunteer and regenerate bushland. No experience is necessary as training is provided.
Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare
Find out more about Corporate Volunteering with Greater Sydney Landcare here. Be sure to download our Corporate Volunteering Info Pack.
About Creating Canopies
Between 2020-2025, Landcare NSW and Greater Sydney Landcare involved the community in planting 300,000 trees as part of the Greening our City program to help reduce urban heat in Greater Sydney. Proudly funded by the NSW Government.
