Bush tucker garden opens at Sandby Beach

IT WAS a day of “cultural immersion” for the official opening of the Sandy Beach Bushtucker garden on Saturday 12 July.

The event was organised as a family day and was held in celebration of the 50th year of NAIDOC.

It included a smoking ceremony, traditional dance, music, a bush tucker lunch and activities for kids, including making damper and painting rocks.

The garden has been supported by the Coffs Coast Regional Park Trust Board in collaboration with Garby Elders, the Sandy Beach Action Group (Sandbag) and Coffs Harbour City Council.

One of the organisers, Aunty Yvette Pacey, said that planting the garden was an immersive experience for school students.

The Biodiversity Doctor, Adam Parkins, was contracted to carry out the work with their help and that of the Darrunda Wajaarr Rangers.

Aunty Deb Dootsen, one of the Garby Elders, provided cultural guidelines about what to plant and how.

The native food plantings are laid out in the design of a Diamond Head Python, the totem for the area.

The garden is located within a 300-square metre segment on the beach reserve and is thought to be the first bush tucker garden on public land in Coffs Harbour.

Organisers hope it will be the first of many.

Chair of Sandbag Peter Quiddington, said that to the casual observer walking along the reserve pathway, the garden is barely noticeable, as the plants naturally blend into the existing vegetation.

He said the plan is that the edible native tree crops will be gradually integrated throughout the foreshore vegetation.

At the centre will be a description of the plants and their uses.

In addition, bush food plantings are being added to an area being revegetated along the foreshore on the Sandy Beach Reserve.

Aunty Yvette said the garden is an enormous success.

She said, “It’s become a local symbol of collaboration and reconciliation in the area.”

By Andrew VIVIAN