new members welcome

Christina Cheers and Garry Bartlett moved to Sunbury in 1999 and knew no one.  But when they saw a sign “plant trees here, new members welcome”, they joined the Friends of Emu Bottom Wetland Reserve. 

Their first job was removing barbed wire and vast tracts of gorse and boxthorn by hand and planting indigenous trees and shrubs. 

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Starting with just 17 mature native trees, Emu Bottom is now a much-loved recreation area with over 25,000 trees planted.  Garry observes, “People come down, look at it and say, ‘It’s still bushland here’, but it wasn’t!”