Events

 

Opening – Bundeena Loop – 4 November 2002

School children, invited guests, dignitaries, many locals and interested people gathered on the Bundeena ferry wharf on 4th November 2001 to take part in the official opening of the Bundeena Maianbar Heritage Walk.

Mrs Sandra Shannahan led the children in a medley of songs from the Wizard of Oz with a percussion piece.  The crowd enjoyed the involvement of the children and their voices, though the children may have been someone overwhelmed by the video camera and photographers from the local media (School Newsletter and the local newspaper, the Village Noise).

Heritage Walk Co-Ordinator,Shirley Colella then introduced
the guest speakers.

Miriam Verbeek from the Heritage Walk Committee, who has been the fountain of energy behind the project, welcomed and thanked everybody for attending and making the day such a special one.  Miriam took the opportunity to present a portion of the background to the project and to thank some of the many people who have contributed to making it a reality.

“A few years ago, Neil de Nett told me that the Federal Government wanted to give people money if they could put up a good proposal for a project to commemorate Federation” she explained.  Miriam talked this over with Steve Ward who had already researched and written a great deal of material for “The Village Voice”, a community newspaper.  Steve had been involved with Yarmouth Historical Society (Bundeena’s own Historical Society) for a number of years and revealed a plan he’d been working on to re-establish the pedestrian walks around Bundeena and Maianbar.  Basically the way people used to access this area before the arrival of the motorcar.

Miriam continued “We worked up the proposal, obtained the endorsement of Sutherland Shire Council, National Parks and Wildlife Service and several community groups in the villages, sent it to Dana Vale’s office and in a few months we were told the money had been allocated to us.  Thank you Dana!”

In her speech, Miriam outlined two main objectives in setting up the Heritage Walk:

“The first objective is to tell the story of why this place is special – why we want to live here or visit here.  We want to tell the story about our natural environment – the animals and plants, the geology, the waters.   And we want to tell the story of the people who come and use this place - the people who lived here before white man came – the Aboriginal people - and the people since settlement.  Most of all we want to tell the story of how the environment and people together have shaped this area.  We hope that if we tell the story and understand the nature of what makes this place special, we will be able to look after it better, so that it keeps its specialness.

”Our second objective is to showcase our villages, both to ourselves and to our visitors.  We want to be able to continue to be proud of our area and show off the area in a precise way.  Not to just wander around aimlessly but be able to walk the Walk.  We wanted to have an opportunity for us, who live in the villages, to be in control of how our visitors and even others in our communities, access out public spaces.  If we invest in this sort of control, we have a better opportunity of managing the impacts.”

Miriam continued, “There are many people I should thank for making this Heritage Walk a reality, and I wont remember them all now:  Dick Rogers from Council has been a key to our achievements so far; Nick Galvin, Deborah Barrett and Belinda Allen have set the framework for the way we present our material; Jane Northway, together with Diane Gosden, are our principal researchers, and their enthusiasm is catching; Helen Vogt and Steve Ward, plus many other older members of our community, have been wonderful in providing relevant information for where the Walk should go and what information should make up our story; Shirley Colella has been an efficient co-ordinator and today’s organisation is a tribute to her efforts and the efforts of her team, Anne Carrick and Brian Venn; Brian has also helped Ray Solness who we all have to thank for the fantastic execution of signage throughout the Bundeena Reserve

Last, but not least, thanks to Les Bursill, who I’m so pleased could come today.  Les has given freely and tirelessly of his time, teaching us about how Aboriginal communities might have lived and worked in this area.  We have yet to put together all the material he has given us.”  Miriam then invited Les to say a few words.

Prominent Aboriginal educator Les Bursill then spoke briefly, but succinctly saying “We really must preserve our Aboriginal Heritage”.  He went on to thank Government bodies for funding, The National Parks and Wildlife Service for their support and congratulated the Committee on all the work thus far.

Ms Dana Vale praised the project and admitted her sadness in having to say “Goodbye” to Bundena-Maianbar, which had recently been transferred to the electorate of Cook.

Councillor Bob Spencer, from Sutherland Shire Council, expressed his delight with the project and shared some of his fond memories of the area with the crowd.  Bob grew up in Bundeena and decided to stay on to bring his own family up here too.  He spoke of his special relationship with the area and like others, is still under the Bundeena spell.

Peter Hay, representing the National Parks and Wildlife Service, paid tribute to the committee and spoke enthusiastically about different groups getting together on projects such as this.  He talked about Bundeena and Maianbar being important, as it has been and is a valuable example of how nature and wildlife can co-exist with people and community.  He mentioned the overall long-term management plan for Bonnie Vale and the upgrading of the track from the Basin to Maianbar and said he felt it was an honour to be involved with the project.

Mr Bruce Baird and Steve Ward cut the ribbon, which was held by Ms Vale at one end and the children of the Bundeena Public School at the other. 

Everyone present was then invited to walk along the completed track through Bundeena Reserve, admiring the newly positioned information pedestals and signs, and then on to a rather splendid morning tea at The Bundeena RSL.

Helen Vogt and Yarmouth Historical Society provided an interesting display of memorabilia for guests to look at, including information on early land grants, maps and photos and a VERY GOOD MORNING WAS HAD BY ALL.

Written by Jane Northway (Bundeena-Maianbar Heritage Walk Committee)