Friends of Maritana Bushland
Maritana bushland is in the suburb of Kallaroo. It consists of two adjacent parts: 2.7790 hectares in area near Bridgewater Park, and 2.7721 hectares in area near Maritana Road, both comprising Cottesloe Central & South vegetation complex with overlying Quindalup dune ridge. The plant community is mixed open heath to low shrubland dominated by Acacia saligna and Melaleuca systena. It is one of only a few remaining remnants of bushland in Kallaroo. It is managed by the City of Joondalup.
A special native plant in the bushland is Lechenaultia linarioides, or Yellow Lechenaultia, which has beautiful yellow and pink flowers. Another special plant is Lomandra maritima, a low growing bush with long narrow strappy leaves. Lomandra maritima is the plant that is home to the endangered Graceful Sun-moth. The graceful sun-moth is a small day-flying moth endemic to south-west Western Australia. It is currently found only on the Swan Coastal Plain between Quinns Rocks and Mandurah. It is visible as a moth only in February and March.
How We Started
The Friends of Maritana Bushland is a community based, voluntary organisation working for the protection and rehabilitation of the Maritana Bushland. The group, which was established in 2004, has an interesting genesis as it was social work students from the University of Western Australia (UWA) who provided skills and time to develop the group alongside the coordinator. The aims of the group are;
Our Activities
The Friends of Maritana Bushland liaises closely with City of Joondalup to assist in the management of the bushland area. The group meets at Maritana Bushland on the first Sunday in every month. Work in the bushland includes weed eradication, revegetation, watering, seed collection, removal of litter and dumped rubbish.
Other activities include information displays on the notice board, information days, special activity days such as Clean up Australia Day and Conservation Week. The group continues to work alongside social work students from UWA, whose work has included community art projects with the local primary school (see images below), family fun days, research, and grant applications.
Friends Art Project
This art project (original idea by Poppy van Oorde-Grainger) was carried out in 2007 . It was a collaboration between the City of Joondalup, social work students from tthe University of Western Australia, the Federal Government and the local primary school.
It involved taking the children into the Maritana bush land where they sketched their impressions of the bush. They then painted the pictures. The following week, when the paint was dry, the children cut out a section big enough for the faces and their school friends painted their faces. The resulting images provide striking reminders of how we are connected to the environment. We are the environment.
Contact
Nicole Mattingly, 23 Maritana Rd, Kallaroo. Mob 0400 015 153. E. friendsofmaritanabushland@gmail.com