- August 2002 -

Newsletter for Offshore Residents of Pittwater, Australia  Volume 4, Issue 31; August 2002

Editorial:

The big dry continues and our corner of Paradise is looking pretty sick. Looking after our native bushland on our properties can be a worthwhile thing to do at times like this. Pick up a booklet at the library on maintaining our natural bushland. Ask your neighbours for help! The next edition of the Pittwater Directory will be available in the next few weeks, so please keep an eye out for it. A sneak preview shows it is filled with interesting and valuable information.

I am away for six weeks and will be publishing the next newsletter from the other side of the world. Keep your fingers crossed!

In this Issue:

• All is not fair at the fair
• Don't Close our Hospital!
• Mountain Bike Champions on Scotland Island
• This is Embarrassing!
• You are invited
• Island Thinking
• Avalon recreation centre opens
• Do you need to register your cat?
• Roads Roads Roads
• Archived Newsletters
• Great Internet Sites to Visit
• Your Subscription Information

All is not fair at the Fair!

As many of you may have heard on the Island grapevine, the Fair is not looking quite so healthy this year. In past years, we have used the SIRA public liability insurance, but have been informed that we need to take out our own this year at a cost of approximately $2000. Last year the Fair only raised $409!
To get the Fair up and running this year, I need some committed people to help raise the insurance money and to assist in the preparation and running of this fantastic community day. The Fair Committee for the past two years has been down to 2-3 people which just isn't enough.

Anyone able to assist, please contact Jenny on 9979 3777 or
jabawoc@bigpond.com.

Thanks - I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Don't Close our Hospital!

It’s crunch time for planning future hospital services on the Northern Beaches. The only way you can influence the outcome of the consultation process is by writing a letter commenting on the three options put up by Northern Sydney Health. Tell them that only one of their options, with a few changes, can deliver equity of access and modern hospital facilities in the future. The hospital must be in or near Manly and it must have emergency services and many other in-patient facilities. It has to be network linked to an extended and upgraded Mona Vale Hospital. Geography and future development demand this.

So please put pen to paper and invest 45 cents in your health. Make your view count. Write about enhancing the Two Hospitals - Metropolitan North option.
Address:  The NB Community Consultative Group, Level 4, 23 Mary Street, Surry Hills. 2010.
Do it now. They’ll slam the door shut on you on September 2.
Finally, if you get a telephone call from a group doing a survey of the options, tell
them the same thing. Keep this paper by your phone.
To download the full article in PDF format, click here. Don't have a PDF reader? Get one for free here, by clicking on the button to the left

Mountain Bike Champions on Scotland Island

Sebastian DeBeer recently won a downhill mountain bike competition in Coffs Harbour to become the New South Wales State Champ in the under 15's Division. Sebastian is also the Australian National Champ in the under 15's. Justin Havukainen has been selected by Cycling Australia to represent Australia in the World Championships in Austria. Justin is currently with the Australian team competing in World Cups in Canada, US, France and Italy.

Try your Drama Skills!

Rumour has it that the Scotland Island Players will be presenting a performance of Joe Orton's Loot towards the end of year:  watch this space, and your local wharf, for more information as it becomes available.  In the interim, if you've got a desire to act, direct, or get involved in one way or another in putting on dramatic performances on Scotland Island, please contact Robert Dale on 9997 2531 or via email at rdale@acm.org.  If you haven't done this kind of thing before and have an idea for a play you want to put on, we can give you advice on how to go about it, and various kinds of help along the way. 

THIS IS EMBARRASSING!

We are lucky to have a new supervisor, Sue, for our Scotland Island Bushcare group. She travels each month from Tempe, but for the two past months I have been the only person working with her. It is sadly ironic to hear her marvelling at the diversity and quality of our plants while we have such a poor turn-out to help keep the weeds at bay. Not to mention the extra bushland clearing
happening on private blocks! From a myriad of species - ideally suited to living here, requiring no work from you and providing habitat for other creatures, - to suburban turf in just a few easy steps. Backyard Blitz –triumph or tragedy?

Please bother to read what Sue’s heartfelt message to the Island and think about lending a hand before Council decides to redirect the money to a more interested community.

Scotland Island Bushcare Group
Sue Stevens, Facilitator Scotland Island Bushcare Group
Elizabeth Park is a beautiful and unique reserve and an excellent example of Pittwater Spotted Gum Forest, which is listed as an Endangered Ecological Community in NSW. The Park has a wonderful diversity of plants, and is home to many birds and a few animals. It a rare and beautiful piece of bush for the Sydney area, and something very difficult, if not impossible to recreate, once destroyed. As a bush regenerator, I work on sites all over
Sydney, most of which are quite degraded, and it takes a lot of work to try to restore them to their previous diversity, if this can even be achieved at all. I travel a long way to Scotland Island (I live in Tempe), but it is worth it to work in such beautiful and unspoilt bushland. We do not have any bush left where I live, and we try very hard to revegetate some areas alongside the Cook’s River, so there are still some plants representative of bushland
prior to European settlement there, and also some wildlife habitat. The next few months (spring season) are probably the most spectacular and enjoyable in the bush. The weather is not too hot, and many native plants come into flower. This month (August) there are Wattles flowering, Sydney Golden Wattle and Prickly Moses, as well as Wong-Wonga Vine, and
Hardenbergia (False Sarsparilla).

The Bushcare group works on the first Saturday of each month at Elizabeth Park, meeting by the Western Fire Tank at 1pm. It would be great to see some more residents take an active interest in preserving this wonderful asset.
You can come for one hour or three, and afternoon tea is provided. If you cannot make it, you can still help by making your own gardens ‘bush friendly’ by removing weeds, and also by not clearing existing bush on your property, especially if your place is adjacent to bushland.
If you have any enquiries about this Bushcare Group, or about planting local native species in your garden, please feel welcome to telephone Karin Nippard, the Bushcare Officer at Pittwater Council, on 9970 1363.

NEXT BUSHCARE DAY –

SATURDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER
1.30 – 4.30
north–west bush at top of Island by fire trail See you there !

You are invited..

We really need some offshore residents to come along to a Campaign Meeting to help etc. For further information ring Greg Roberts on 99799599. He is going along and would welcome anyone who sees the retention and upgrading of MV Hospital as a vital issue and worth working for. The full invitation can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here

Date: Thursday 29th August, 2002
Time: 6 pm — 7.30 pm
Venue: Mona Vale Memorial Hall
Northern Sydney Health recently released their 3 preferred options for future health services on the northern beaches. These options could mean the down-grading and/or closure of Mona Vale & Manly Hospitals, unless the community acts now!
ITS TIME TO GET INVOLVED AGAIN!
Come along and find out about the next rally, we’ve got one final chance to SAVE our hospitals.
For further information, please contact:
Ann Owens on 9451 8649 or
Karen Johns on 9918 8739
http://www.savemonavalehospital.com

“Island Thinking”

An oxymoron or are we a rich thinking community?

Island Thinking is a series of gatherings to enable us to share our artistic and intellectual endeavours. On a Saturday evening, at about 2-monthly intervals, someone shares the fruits of their study – academic, art, music and the like. The subject matter is entirely up to the presenter but is generally aimed at offering an insight into the particular realm of study.

We have had the first very successful gathering and the second gathering will take place in September.

Date: Saturday, September 7th at 7.30 pm
Venue: Bryn and Bronwen’s house in Florence Terrace
The house with the Welsh flag aloft

RSVP: Jenny Cover 99978724
John Lloyd 99795584

Esotericism
The Way of the Druids

“Lost in the forest”
This talk is an introduction to esoteric teachings and especially to an ancient spiritual path found in various parts of the world, known generally as the Fourth Way.

The Druidic Path - Y Llwybr
In Wales and Ireland this teaching comes from pre-Christian times.

Tariqua - The Way
The Sufi teaching surfaces in the twelfth and thirteenth century Persia

Two hundred and fifty years ago the scientist, Swedenborg, was a proponent of these ideas.

L’ Enseignement - The Work
The teaching of Gurdjieff in Russia and France in the first half of the last century was that of the Fourth Way. Gurdjieff was given a druidic burial
NEW AVALON RECREATION CENTRE OPENS

Avalon Recreation Centre Opens

Pittwater Council is proud to announce the official opening of the new Avalon Recreation Centre on Friday 6th September.

The exciting new Centre was designed to be a popular and effective focus for community and recreational activity. It will be open for business from Monday 9th September, offering a varied program of recreational and social activities.
Avalon Recreation Centre will offer many convenient facilities to Pittwater residents, including a Council Customer Service Centre, the Avalon Community Library, an Early Childhood Centre and facilities for hire.
Please call the Avalon Recreation Co-ordinator, Judi Wilson, on 9970 1273 for more information.

Do You Need to Register your Cat?

If your cat was born after 1st July 1999 it will need to be microchipped and registered by 30 September. If your cat was born prior to 1st July 1999 it is exempt from registration, but still needs identification. Owners can choose a collar and identification tag (ask your vet to recommend a cat-friendly collar) or arrange with your veterinarian to have your cat microchipped. (We will record the microchip details on the NSW Companion Animal Register, but in this case no registration fee will apply). Contact Pittwater Council.

ROADS ROADS ROADS

As you know, Scotland Island’s roads have had a bit of a makeover of late. I know we have been remiss in not keeping you informed and we hope this will remedy the situation.

At last we have been able to commence work on our roads and drains as recommended in the report “The Catherine Park Catchment Study” which was commissioned by the Island residents four years ago. Although this Report concentrates on the Catherine Park Catchment area, we are planning for this to restore all the roads and drains on the Island.

We are now well on our way to ensuring that our bays are not contaminated by Island runoff and our children can swim safely and that our roads are safer to drive and more pleasant to walk.

Finishing touches will be added in the near future by a contractor organised through Pittwater Council including additional water bars, jute mesh in the drains, marking of road edges with logs and the clearing of existing sediment basins.

If you have any queries regarding work being carried out on our roads/drains, please give us a call and if you have a spare moment !! we would love you to assist with native plantings, mulching and stonework. Please call Annette Ritchie on 9979 7122.

If you would like to read a little more on what’s been happening with the roads and drains please click here.