Hello subscriber,
Welcome to the July 2025 edition of This Week by the Creek, your monthly e-news updates from Brisbane City Council's Creek Catchment Officers.
In this edition
Upcoming Events
Grants at a Glance
Information, news & resources
From the Catchments
Social Media Ideas for Bushcare
Look-alikes
Inspired by Nature
Training
Creek Champion
Upcoming Events
Kedron Brook Vision and Master Plan project
Brisbane City Council is planning to create a 20-year vision and master plan to revitalise and rejuvenate the Kedron Brook catchment. Kedron Brook is a much-loved destination for many local residents, and we want to ensure it continues to be a great place to visit by boosting flood resilience and improving lifestyle outcomes.
At this early stage of the project Council is keen to understand your aspirations and perspectives about where and what we focus on over the next 20 years to deliver a transformational vision and master plan.
Have your say on a long-term vision for Kedron Brook and help revitalise the 110-square-kilometre catchment that runs through 14 suburbs from Ferny Grove to Nudgee.
Learn more and have your say, at the Kedron Brook Vision and Master Plan project page.
Brisbane Biodiversity Forum - The Importance of Biodiversity - Urban Forestry in Brisbane & Japan
Join the first international Brisbane Biodiversity Forum for an informative evening, with guest-speakers. Including specials guests from Brisbane’s sister city, Kobe Japan.
Restoring Natural Forest Vegetation - Mayor Hisamoto & Dr Ishii Hiroaki with panellist Mr. Okada Atsushi.
Building Resilient Koala Populations - Dr Sean Fitzgibbon.
Koala Conservation in Brisbane - Susan Dymock.
*For further details on presentations & speakers, please view in Eventbrite
Date & time: Thursday 24th July, 4pm - 6pm
Location: Mount Coot-tha Auditorium, 152 Mount Coot-tha Road, Mount Coo-tha
Bookings: Required via Eventbrite
Catering: Light refreshments provided
Simultaneous Japanese Live Translation.
Rakali Revealed: Brisbane’s Native Water Rat and Its Role in Our Ecosystems
When: Thursday 17th July, 6:30pm
Where: Holland Park Library, 81 Seville Rd, Holland Park QLD 4121
All welcome – RSVP via Eventbrite here.
Discover one of Brisbane’s most fascinating and misunderstood native mammals—the rakali, also known as Australia’s little otter. With its golden belly, white-tipped tail and love of water, this unique species plays a vital role in our local ecosystems.
Join Dr Tamielle Brunt from Wildlife Queensland for a free and engaging community presentation aimed at raising awareness and reshaping public opinion of the rakali. Learn about its ecological importance and how you can help protect this remarkable water-dweller. (Supported by the Brisbane Airport Community Giving Fund).
OCCA Events
Check out Oxley Creek Catchment Association’s list of upcoming activities.
Grants at a glance
Gambling Community Benefit Fund - The Gambling Community Benefit Fund (GCBF) is Queensland’s largest one-off community grants program and distributes approximately $60 million each year to not-for-profit community groups. The GCBF funding helps these groups to provide services, leisure activities and opportunities for Queensland communities.
2. Round 124—$100,000 super round—closes 18 July
3. Round 125—$35,000 standard grant round—closes 31 October.
Community Tree Grants - The Trees for Bees Community Tree Grants support the planting of bee-friendly trees in extended gardens, community-owned land, school grounds, sporting club precincts and urban corridors. Closes 17:00 18 July.
Lord Mayor's Community Fund - Brisbane City Council's Lord Mayor's Community Fund (previously known as the Lord Mayor's Suburban Initiative Fund) supports community projects that build stronger communities in Brisbane. Ongoing
Purves Environmental Fund Grants - The Purves Environmental Fund enables and empowers others to work together to achieve meaningful impact in the areas of environmental sustainability and biodiversity. Ongoing
Thriving, people and places grants - caring for the environment - Ongoing
Google Ad Grants - Ongoing
Funding for Charitable Organisations - Ongoing
Council's Funding Finder - Brisbane City Council provides access to GrantGuru’s national database of grant and funding opportunities for local businesses, community groups and not-for-profits. Click here to find out more.
Council's Community capacity building. Workshops & Events - Find events and training to support your not-for-profit organisation and celebrate our communities. Click here to find out more.
Subscribe to Council's Community Development Register - Are you part of a community organisation working to support, celebrate and connect communities in Brisbane? For more information register here.
Information, News & Resources
The Queensland Water and Landcarer organisation manages and pays for all of your insurance policies as an independent creek catchment group. With the insurance comes a suite of responsibilities and duty-of-care all catchment groups are expected to practice.
From the Catchment
Catchment Share Day Brings Community Together Despite the Rain
The third Catchment Share Day was a great success, even with the weather doing its best to dampen spirits. Held in Wynnum, the event brought together representatives from many catchment groups for a day of learning, sharing, and connection.
The day featured engaging discussions on a wide range of topics, with participants exchanging ideas and experiences that will no doubt inspire future efforts across the region. A highlight of the day was the opportunity to visit two local bushcare sites. Charmian welcomed us to her beautiful site at Constellation Way, while Luke proudly showcased his work at Hargreaves Park. As Andrew noted during lunch, no two bushcare sites are the same—making these visits a valuable part of the learning experience.
It was wonderful to meet new faces and reconnect with familiar ones. The strong turnout and enthusiastic participation reaffirm the value of these gatherings. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making the day such a success—we look forward to seeing you at the next one!
With three successful events now behind us, we’re already looking ahead to our next event. We would love to hear from you about what you’d like from the event. Please fill in your responses below and get in touch via email if you have any specific ideas.
Social Media Ideas for Bushcare
This month’s social media tips for you to try:
Share from another Bushcare group’s site
Create a poll: can you guess what weed this is?
Plant me instead (replace bushland weeds in gardens)
Photo highlights from your event
Volunteer of the month
Look-alikes
The aptly named bitter melon is on the march. It invades areas in quick time. Please click on the image below to gain your PDF copy of July’s look-alike to avoid confusing the bitter melon with the native bryony.
Inspired by Nature
For the month of July the Creekies are proud to feature the beautiful work of local illustrator, Bindy James.
After initially completing a degree in environmental science, Bindy retrained as a graphic/motion designer before becoming an illustrator. She is fascinated by the natural world, and since becoming a parent, she has grown especially interested in how children connect with and learn from their local environment. This curiosity flows directly into her work. Bindy creates bright, textured, illustrations with quirky details that invite the viewer to look closer, ask questions and wonder more.
Her debut picture book, Welcome to Whalebone Mansion, published by Charlesbridge, will be released October 2025.
She has also illustrated nature/science based non-fiction titles and activity books. She has worked with Charlesbridge, Lerner, Igloo Books, Oxford University Press and Djeco Toys.
She is proudly represented by Astound Illustration Agency.
Training
The Science of Soil Fertility in 3 Steps - Free 4-part Webinar Series.
Creek Champion
Carole Bristow - OCCA
This month’s Creek Champion is the irrepressible Carole Bristow who operates in the Oxley Creek Catchment. Please sit back and learn more about Carole’s bushcaring practise:
I love to work on sites where natural recovery can be encouraged keeping in mind the particular character of a site, expressed by the site itself. As every bushcare site is different, it is important to tune into the unique surrounding local environment and assist its resilience and promote the underlying character.
We are working with seeds that are lying in the soil – the seedbank. Starting with the first removal of weeds, we find the same weeds come up again! It is only natural with years of weed presence. Hidden among those weeds however, may well be natives – the treasure we are searching for. Every bushcarer will freely admit that ecological rehabilitation is a long-term project and we are in for the long haul!
If we can patiently keep removing the returning weeds before they seed, and allow those early natives their life and seeding, then the seedbank turns towards becoming a native seedbank. As the balance changes, both the weeds and the returning natives will have played their part in protecting the soil and providing habitat. Encouraging the groundcovers becomes part of the pleasure of the work: clearing around them to give them room to expand.
I appreciate the power, the resilience within Nature to recover. I work on a site on Oxley Creek which floods periodically and brings in a new flush of weeds. I need to remember the word “resilience” - to find it in myself to come back to remove them from sites we had previously freed of weeds. I think of myself as a custodian – coming back to care for the site – and coming back again! In our eagerness to repair our damaged landscapes, we need to remember the deep values of ecological integrity, of naturalness, and of wildness - that is the underlying character of the Australian landscape.
Thank you for helping us protect 870 waterway and bushland sites across 3000 hectares.
Brendan, Cerae, Michael and Wes
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