After a lifetime of Bushcare work at Stanwell Park and lots of local love, Kieran Tapsell has received his first official award.

On Friday, December 13, Kieran’s Banksia Bushcare group took home the 2024 Fostering Community Spirit Award at Wollongong City Council’s volunteer recognition ceremony at the Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow.

Banksia Bushcare currently has seven volunteers who look after 4.5 hectares of littoral rainforest east and west of Kieran’s home on Stanwell Avenue. The group’s name reflects the gentle humour this retired lawyer brings to the serious business of Bushcare.

“There's nothing terribly formal about it," Kieran says, laughing. "I named it after Banksy.”

Kieran has been caring for Stanwell Park's bushland for five decades but the official Bushcare group began about seven years ago when Wollongong City Council asked him to keep cleared lantana sticks on site. Worried it was a fire hazard, and inspired by Gaby Porter’s Sculpture Garden at Wombarra, Kieran turned to art. In a big way.

“I started making these ‘nests’ out of lantana. And then, because I'm a potter, and I thought, 'Oh, just as a joke, I'll put an egg in there'.

“I wrote on the back ‘Art in the Park, please do not steal me’. I didn't want to put my name on it, so I signed it ‘Banksia’ because they were really three-dimensional graffiti and no one, at least at that stage, knew who was doing it. They all do now, but it was all a mystery, these giant nests with eggs were appearing up along the bush tracks.

“The council eventually came up and saw what I was doing, and they were really pleased with it. They thought it was funny too. So, we called it the Banksia Bushcare site and that's its official name now.”

Banksias aren’t actually Kieran’s favourite tree – that honour goes to the Illawarra Flame Tree and he’s planted dozens in the area, with six blooming beautifully this year, including one outside his lounge room, a 30-year-old tree that’s only flowered three times before.

Over the decades, 40 species of mostly rainforest trees have regenerated naturally in his Bushcare area. “And I doubled the species number in there – there's now 80 different species, mostly Wollongong trees.”

In restoring the land, Kieran targets four main weeds. “Lantana, senna, ochna, which is the worst, and asparagus fern. Ochna is a very pretty flower from South Africa … but it's got very thick foliage. So what it does is it actually prevents any other trees from growing. It would eventually create a monoculture.”

Greg Fikkers, Wollongong City Council’s Natural Areas Coordinator, and his team look after more than 50 Bushcare groups and have been “very helpful”, Kieran says, including in fighting off the local “vandals” – Rusa deer.

But stopping feral deer in their tracks is a costly business. It requires star pegs and wire mesh and even a council grant for $1000 only covered half the cost of Banksia Bushcare’s biggest deer fence, which protects about 3000 square metres.

“The cages, and there's hundreds of them in there, because we have to put them up around individual trees – well, they cost about $15 each,” Kieran says.

“That's been very successful. They've never breached any of them.”

He’s paid for some of the materials himself, and several community members have chipped in $500 or so each.

“People have been wonderful, really, really wonderful.”

Alongside the trees, Kieran’s outdoor art gallery continues to grow too.

“The eggs were originally just white. Then a couple of mothers came up and said, ‘The kids really like them because they think they’re dinosaur eggs and they want to know when they're going to hatch’.”

Kieran – who opens his home studio for Northern Illawarra Art Trail weekends – went back to his kiln to create another batch of ceramic features for the forest. “So there's 20 species of baby dinosaurs coming out of eggs. I put signs up there which can be read by the parents.

“When Covid came along and we weren't allowed to go to art galleries, I then suggested to the community if anyone would like to paint some old masters on eggs… and when we get our exercise, we can actually visit an art gallery.

"Well, a hundred people came forward and painted [eggs in the style of] Picasso and Mondrian and all these famous people. That became the MATE Exhibition, which is Modern Art Tributes on Eggs.”

Kieran is also a Spanish translator and a writer, author of the free Guide to the Banksia Bush Care Site on the Stanwell Avenue Reserve and the ‘Tree of the Month’ series in the Illawarra Flame magazine. He will be turning 80 this January and, while he’s had to stop surfing, Bushcare will go on.

“To me, it's good exercise. Bushcare is great because I can take my time and, for heavy things, I've got young helpers.”

To lend a hand at Banksia Bushcare, email kierant@ozemail.com.au.

Congratulations to 2024's environmental award winners

Basil Ryan Award – Dilys Hoser from Corrimal Rotary for coordinating clean-ups all over the Wollongong LGA.

Rise and Shine Citizens Award – Rosemarie Bowden for coordinating and supporting Rise and Shine and Clean Up Australia Day events for the past 23 years, as well as fundraising as part of the Wollongong Doll Club, and supporting community gardens in schools.

Rise and Shine Business Award – Yours and Owls for bringing a new generation of volunteers to Rise and Shine and Bushcare events.

Rise and Shine Silver Awards

• Craig Morris coordinated a clean-up of the Mt Keira and Mt Kembla areas that saw over 5 tonnes of waste removed, including 237 tyres.
• Bellambi Dunes Bushcare excel in protecting the natural environment.
• Georgia Watson created partnerships with the Surfers for Climate Illawarra youth summit in May and organised the successful World Ocean Day clean-up on North Wollongong Beach.

Fiready Golden Trowel – David O’Brien began volunteering with Garden Ave Bushcare before joining his neighbours to support the Fiready group in the adjoining reserve over a decade ago. David’s objective has always been to enhance community bushfire safety, with an ecologically sensitive approach. 

Bushcare Golden Trowel – Ian McKinlay, who not only supports his own Hewitts Creek group as a coordinator but also assists other groups throughout the LGA.

Dunecare Golden Trowel – Jan Arone, commended for her passion for the dune vegetation community and for supporting a mid-week group that targets Bitou bush among other weeds throughout Puckeys.

Anders Boefeldt Award – Daniel Pritchard for his commitment to Bushcare volunteering and emerging as a leader within the bush regen community

Community Spirit Award – Banksia Bushcare Group and Kieran Tapsell continue to foster amazing community support and involve students, international travellers and the wider community in their site. A mix of conservation and art, the site is a must visit.