Landcare Australia is the name for a community

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organisation which involves local groups of volunteers repairing the natural environment. Originally projects focused on agricultural farmland. The idea was that farmers, conservationists and scientists could work together to improve both farm quality and natural ecosystems. The Landcare Australia organisation has grown and diversified since its small-scale origins in the 1980s. The Landcare concept has grown to include groups working on town and city green areas, waterways, beaches and larger park areas. For example, Landcare Australia now has Coastcare and "Junior Landcare" groups. These are unrelated to Caring for Country projects in which

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

are involved.

History

The concept of "landcare" brings people together who share a common problem and usually live in the same

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

or "catchment", an area that collects and directs water to a common point. By working together in a catchment,

land degradation Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious ...

problems can be tackled successfully. Many of the first groups were set up to eradicate

rabbits in Australia European rabbits (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') were first introduced to Australia in the 18th century with the First Fleet, and later became widespread likely because of Thomas Austin. Such wild rabbit populations are a serious mammalian pest an ...

and to address other specific

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

land degradation issues. The Landcare concept has now extended beyond this, to include

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

farming, lifestyle and community development. The movement began in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

in 1986 when a group of farmers near St Arnaud in central Victoria formed the first Landcare group, a voluntary group to repair the natural environment. Since then, the Landcare concept has spread across

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and to about 15 other countries. There are approximately 4000 Landcare groups in Australia. Important people in the creation of Landcare were Rick Farley of the National Farmers Association, environment lobbyist Barbara Hardy AO and Phillip Toyne, both from the

Australian Conservation Foundation The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability. One high-profil ...

. Former premier of Victoria

Joan Kirner Joan Elizabeth Kirner (née Hood; 20 June 1938 – 1 June 2015) was an Australian politician who was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, serving from 1990 to 1992. A Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 1982 to 1994, she was a mem ...

and

Heather Mitchell Heather Lee Mitchell (born 1958) is an Australian actress, appearing in Australian productions of stage, television and film. She is a graduate of NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). She is best known for her leading role in the 1990s t ...

were also early proponents of the idea. Landcare as an organisation received a great boost when the

Australian Federal Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

of Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

declared a decade of landcare and established a continuing funding mechanism to enable the volunteers to continue and expand their work.

Activities

Regenerated habitat for superb parrot on the abandoned Boorowa railway line

The range of activities now included within Landcare programs has expanded to include research that measures effectiveness of previous activities, fencing out stock so that vegetation can regrow, creating

windbreak A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...

s for livestock protection, channelling and speeding waterways, and combating

soil salinity Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the ...

. Many of the tasks are carried out to correct mistakes in farming practices conducted decades ago and sometimes a project simply involve the sharing of ideas related to caring for the land. Other activities include weed removal, using biological controls and farm

beautification Beautification is the process of making visual improvements to a town, city, or urban area. This most often involves planting trees, shrubbery, and other greenery, but frequently also includes adding decorative or historic-style street lights and ...

Affiliates

Landcare groups in Australia are supported by Landcare Australia as a national body as well as by national and state-based agencies or organisations, including: *Landcare NSW; *Landcare NT; *The Landcare Association of South Australia, aka Landcare SA; *Queensland Water & Land Carers; *Landcare Victoria Inc. (LVI), formed in 2017 when the Farm Tree and Landcare Association (FTLA) merged with the Victorian Landcare Council (VLC) in 2017; *Landcare Tasmania; and *The Western Australia Landcare Network (WALN), formed in May 2013. Landcare Australia maintains the online National Landcare Directory (NLD), which includes a wide variety of community-based groups across Australia, including landcare networks and groups, farmers, landholders, traditional custodians, junior groups and coastcare groups.

Governance

The CEO of Landcare Australia is Shane Norrish. The organisation is governed by a board headed by chair (2021) Doug Humann , former leader of

Bush Heritage Australia Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, which is still its legal name. It's vision is: Heal ...

National Landcare Awards

Landcare Australia runs the biennial National Landcare Awards. The 2020 awards ceremony was postponed to August 2021 owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

, with an awards ceremony hosted by ABC TV presenter

Costa Georgiadis Costa Georgiadis (born 1 January 1964) is an Australian landscape architect and television presenter. He is a second generation Australian of Greek descent. Georgiadis is currently hosting ''Gardening Australia'' on ABC and previously appeared as ...

was held online, along with the Landcare Australia conference. Awards were given over nine categories, including youth,

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

, soil care and farming.

Caring for Country

There are a number of projects known as "Caring for Country" in operation. These focus on local

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

working to repair Indigenous lands and to preserve the environment using their cultural knowledge and

connection to country The concept of country, as an identity or descriptive quality, varies widely across the world, although some elements may be common among several groups of people. Rurality One interpretation is the state or character of being rural, regardles ...

, and are often carried out in conjunction with non-Indigenous people and organisations who are willing and able to assist. The organisation and funding of Caring for Country projects is often different to local Landcare groups. Federal government landcare (under the

National Landcare Program The Natural Heritage Trust (NHT), or National Heritage Trust Account was set up in 1997 by means of the ''Natural Heritage Trust of Australia Act 1997'', with the main objective of conserving the "natural capital infrastructure" of Australia. Mon ...

and Caring for Our Country budgets) has funded projects and

Indigenous ranger The Indigenous ranger projects were introduced by the Australian Government in 2007 as part of its Working on Country program. Indigenous rangers are Indigenous Australians who combine traditional knowledge with conservation training in order to p ...

positions.

References

External links

* {{official, https://landcareaustralia.org.au/, Landcare Australia Environmental organisations based in Australia Nature conservation in Australia 1986 establishments in Australia Land management in Australia Bob Hawke