Throsby Creek was named after Dr Charles Throsby, commandant of the penal settlement at Newcastle from 1905-1909. During the 19th Century a slaughterhouse, a brewery, and various other industries were established adjacent to the creek and its tributaries and eventually the creek became a "…degraded, evil smelling drain." Heavy rain would, of course, flush out the creek and early in the twentieth Century it was still a "…prominent social and recreational area with regattas a common sight." Sharks often attacked horses and dogs swimming in the creek prior to 1930.
During the depression (1929-1935) major modifications to the creek were carried out. The banks of the creek below Maitland Road were cemented and the creek was converted into a storm water drain.
In 1979 some Islington residents formed an action group which soon became the Islington Residents Association. By late 1980 it had about 250 members and had begun lobbying council to beautify Islington Park. Throsby Creek bordered one side of the park and so doing something about the creek became part of the overall plan to improve the local area.
In 1981 Mr George Mulholland began a campaign to have Islington Park converted into a botanic garden. He told The Post that "…the cleaning of Throsby Creek and the planting of the area with both native and exotic species would preserve the park…which would be used by local people and by tourists." Eventually this vision largely became a reality but not before many huge bureaucratic and financial obstacles had to be overcome.
Chris Dodds, a founding member of the Islington Residents Association (IRA), later wrote that a "…whole generation of aldermen had been elected on promises to clean up the Throsby. The council and the Hunter Water Board and Maritime Services Board all had some authority over the creek, along with a host of other authorities…" Representatives of these bodies would gather every few years and "…argue with each other about weirs, dredging and who should pay. Then everyone would go away, satisfied that it was someone else's problem."
Newcastle University Regatta on Throsby Creek c.
1960.
Local residents continued to press for a solution and eventually a basic plan of action was produced, the Total Catchment Management Study. It gained widespread support and provided the basis to clean up the creek and the surrounding parkland.
It was, however, a long process and it wasn't until April 1989 that a two-volume Throsby Creek Total Catchment Management study was released. It was "…the first such strategy in NSW and it provided a blueprint for an integrated approach to future management of the catchment." One of the priorities was a five-year public awareness campaign. Various people who had developed public relations and educational expertise during the campaign wished to participate in this process and formed Throsby Land Care in 1990 as a sub-committee of the local residents group. In 1991 it became an autonomous body.
In 1993 the Newcastle Herald published a major article based on an interview by Jim Keller with John Sutton. By this time Mr Sutton had been elected to the Newcastle City Council as a Greens candidate. Reflecting on his long involvement with the project, Mr Sutton said: "While residents of the area have fought for many years to obtain dredging of the creek and landscaping on the banks their efforts were always thwarted by 'gumboot diplomacy'. That is, political promises to clean up the creek that got lost in government red tape." It was, Mr Sutton added, in 1989 that real change came about. In that year the Tighes Hill residents group was able to persuade council to stop heavy trucks from travelling through residential streets. Marilyn Hey, the president of the residents group, was also interviewed. She said that this achievement "…woke up the community…who realised that they had a neighbourhood worth protecting." They decided their next challenge was to clean up the creek.
After much organising and publicity, the first clean up occurred on June 4 1989. It drew 400 volunteers from all walks of the community. All told, 56 tons of rubbish was pulled from the creek and its environs that day and after that "…attitudes changed and people began looking after the creek."
Workers in last weekend's clean-up ankle deep in
Throsby Creek mud.
The battle though, was not over yet. Four months later the residents group alleged that State Rail was polluting the waterway from its diesel storage tank facility. Representatives of the State Pollution Control Committee and State Rail were to meet to resolve the issue of State Rail discharging polluted water into the creek.
Fishing in the creek was banned in 1960 because of pollution. Tests carried out in 1989 confirmed that the "…levels of heavy metals were still high…" and because of this the ban was kept in force. Warning signs were erected at certain places along the creek. Ten years later, the water quality had improved considerably, so much so that the ban on fishing was revoked.
A feature of the public awareness campaign was the Throsby Creek Regatta, which was first held in 1990, and then became an annual event. The highlight was the "Hardly-on-Throsby" dry land boat race, but there was also a carnival with clowns, games, kite flying, gumboot throwing and environmental displays.
By November 1993 water quality had improved and it was announced that "…the regatta will be getting wet for the first time this Sunday…" as years of hard work begin to pay off for the people aiming to purify the creek. Throsby Landcare's Matthew Kelly says there have been significant improvements in the creek's water quality in the last 18 months, because of mangrove planting on the creek islands, dredging, and the installation of trash racks.
This work was funded by a combination of grants from Local, State and Federal Governments who continue to fund campaigns and work to reduce pollution in the creek. In 1992 Throsby Landcare succeeded in getting funding under the Landcare and Environment Action Program (LEAP). It provided training for young unemployed people in tree planting, bush regeneration and other conservation skills. One day per week was spent in the classroom while three days per week were spent putting theory in practice.
One of the projects involved setting up "a plant nursery to propagate native plants from seed to provide stock for the project". The project coordinator, Mr Ian McKensie said a community garden was another project, which would be undertaken soon. The nursery was opened in October 1993 and provided trees, which were planted along the banks of the creek.
Su Morley worked as a volunteer with Trees in Newcastle and then participated in a Job Skills program where she learnt about bush regeneration. When the LEAP project began she was employed as a part-time trainee supervisor, and later as the full-time supervisor. One of the methods used to rehabilitate the creek was to take young mangroves from Ash Island and plant them at various spots along the creek bank. Water quality improved but rubbish was still being washed down the creek every time there was a storm. Usually it ended up down at Carrington, among the mangroves. "We often did clean-ups there but the longer I worked with the project the more I realised that you can't just work at the estuary end and think you are fixing up the creek. You have to work with the whole catchment".
The Throsby catchment covers an area of about 3,000ha and is home to 68,000 people. However, while people continue to litter and pour oil or chemicals down the drain there will continue to be a problem.
In June 1999, it was reported that floating booms were to be installed along the creek to prevent thousands of plastic bottles and other pollutants from entering Newcastle Harbour. The booms will be part of a three-year project to clean up the creek that will also target bank erosion and increase public awareness of pollutants in storm water drains.
The Federal Environment Minister announced $243,900 in funding, which is expected to be matched by funding from the State Government, Newcastle City Council, and Newcastle Port Corporation. Mr Evans from the Hunter Catchment Management Trust said: "…the best solution to solving the problems with the creek will be getting everyone to do the right thing."
This of course is an ongoing issue. The Spring 2001 edition of Newcastle City Council news said that "…the $5.7 million dredging of Throsby Creek in the early 1990s could go to waste with sediment build-up back to half the previous levels. A recent survey shows a major contributor to the problem is residents who hose dirt and sand…into stormwater drains." Other problems include leaving dog droppings and grass clippings in places where they end up in the drain and, eventually, in the creek. Eighty-five percent of people surveyed were not aware their stormwater ends up going into the local creeks.
Maybe the Aqualove Waterways Project raised some people's awareness. This was a one-day exhibition on September 15 2001, staged by the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery's artist in residence, Andrew Jackson. Interviewed prior to the event he said: "It's all about love and soon it will be floating on Throsby Creek." The inflatable sculptures "…work on the theme of the danger of water, melding that with the danger of love…" he said. Two weeks later it was reported that "a colourful set of six inflatable feet were set adrift near the Cowper Street Bridge", and that "a six-metre inflatable heart will be placed on the shore along with life jackets shaped like love-hearts to save you from drowning when you fall in love".
Throsby Landcare was one of the first urban landcare groups in Australia, and is an example of what can be achieved when local communities work together towards a common goal. The creek and its foreshore with adjoining parkland is, once again, a beautiful area which people can enjoy and of which local residents can be proud. The campaign to keep it this way continues.
Afterword: The public spirit showed by many Novocastrians in helping to clean up Throsby Creek was not the first time this has happened. One Saturday in 1971 "fifty members of the Newcastle Flora and Fauna Protection Society collected four tons of rubbish along the two-mile stretch of Croudace Bay Rd from Eleebana Primary School to Belmont Hospital". Mr Wilf Dews helped organise the collection. He said "several motorists stopped to inquire what was being done. One was quite generous with praise for the display of civic pride. About 50 yards further on he threw out an empty can close to the edge of the roadway to permit easy collection"!
Pelicans on Throsby.
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