The revegetation project, which will include the planting of an array of bush tucker and bush medicine plants, is to be carried out on Lot 71 on the Maroochy River known as the “old place”, where many South Sea Islander families lived or camped while cutting sugar cane on the Sunshine Coast from the late 1800s to the early 1970s.

Kerry Jones, the Vice-President of the Descendants of Australian South Sea Islanders (DASSI) has worked on Lot 71 for several years and will be helping to supervise and advise the location of the plants on the day. Kerry’s grandparents were the last of the South-Sea Islander people to live on the land, which is leased to the DASSI Association on a long-term lease by Sunshine Coast Council.

Kerry’s passion for Lot 71, which is located just a kilometre north of the Bli Bli bridge, earned him an award from the Sunshine Coast Environmental Council in 2009. In association with Sunshine Coast Regional Council, he and members of DASSI have set up a mangrove nursery and fish habitat restoration project on the site.

The latest revegetation project is a joint venture involving 16 Certificate II Conservation and Land Management students from Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA), who are undertaking training with John Pearson Consulting and Look Now Training and Employment. Coolum Community Native Nursery is supplying plants for the project such as Midyim berries, Lilly Pillies, Lemon Myrtles, Coast Cotton Woods and Wattles. Sunshine Coast Regional Council is also a key partner.