In response to the article in the Southern Courier Clean Up Australia submitted this letter to the Courier which the Courier has not published.

The early participants started on Little Congwong and moved around to Big Congwong.
By 9.30 the bulk of the work was complete and late starters moved off to collect around Frenchmans.  At 10.30 members of  Scouting groups conducted an award ceremony and enjoyed a swim and picnic.

A big thankyou to Lionel  from National Parks who  set up the marquee, table and chairs and collected bags from collection points,  and to  Randwick Council who collected the rubbish piled in Cann Park.

(Photos top – bottom: Little Congwong 9.30 and all finished.  Onto Big Congwong – the dunes,  the Lagoon and back up the stairs; a cross-section from the groups (Scouts, Pathfinders, Precinct) with some of the collection; the Scouts finishing the day with an award ceremony; and finally Lionel packing up the marquee).

Top – Bottom(taken 4-5pm):  Little Congwong and Congwong Beaches;  Frenchman’s Bay; Frenchman’s from Laperouse Museum.  The Museum on this busiest of days was closed even though La Perouse landed here on 26th January 1788.

COMPLIANCE AND RANKING OF RANDWICK BEACHES OVER SUMMER 2008/09

Full Reports for Ocean Beaches and Bay Beaches

Yarra Bay: Faecal coliform compliance with swimming guidelines has ranged from 71% to 100% over the last five years. Enterococci compliance with swimming guidelines has been more variable, ranging from 57% to 100%over the last five years. Faecal coliform levels often exceeded the median guideline limit after  light rain in the previous 24 hours. Enterococci levels often exceeded the median guideline limit after light rain and frequently exceeded the median guideline limit after five millimetres of rain or more in the previous 24 hours.

Frenchmans Bay: Faecal coliform compliance with swimming guidelines has ranged from 71% to 100% over the last five years. Enterococci compliance with swimming guidelines has been more variable, ranging from 56% to 100% in the last five years. Bacterial densities occasionally exceeded median guideline limits in response to no rain, indicating a possible dry-weather contamination problem. Faecal coliform densities often exceeded the median guideline limit in response to five millimeters light rain and enterococci densities regularly exceeded the median guideline limit after light rain in the previous 24 hours.

Congwong Bay: With the exception of winter 2007, faecal coliform levels have complied 100% of the time with swimming guidelines over the last five years. Enterococci compliance with swimming guidelines has been more variable, ranging from 81% to 100% over the last five years. Bacterial densities increased slightly with increasing rainfall, with faecal coliform densities occasionally exceeding the median guideline limits after light rain in the previous 24 hours. Enterococci densities often exceeded the median guideline  limits in response to five millimetres of rain or more in the previous 24 hours.

Litte Bay: Monitoring at Little Bay began in December 2006. Since then faecal coliform compliance has ranged from 94% to 100% and enterococci compliance has ranged from 91% to 100%. Bacterial densities generally increased with increasing rainfall. Faecal coliform levels often exceeded the median guideline limit after ten millimetres of rain or more in the previous 24 hours, and enterococci levels regularly exceeded the median guideline limit in response to ten millimetres of rain or more in the previous 24 hours.

Malabar: Faecal coliform compliance has ranged from 74% to 100% over the last five years. Enterococci compliance has been more variable, ranging from 29% to 100% over the last five years. Bacterial densities increased with increasing rainfall and occasionally exceeded the median guideline limits after little or no rainfall, indicating a dry-weather contamination problem. Enterococci levels usually exceeded the median guideline limit in response to five millimetres of rain or more in the previous 24 hours.

The Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Clean Beaches Challenge Award Ceremony was conducted yesterday and Randwick Council were successful in winning a number of awards for Clovelly, Coogee, Maroubra, Malabar and Yarra Bay.

There were 11 Beaches nominated in the Sydney Region, 6 of those by Randwick Council: Maroubra, Clovelly, Frenchmans Bay, Coogee, Malabar, Yarra Bay

and 4 by other Councils:  Long Reef(Warringah), Wanda(Sutherland), Lady Robinsons(Rockdale), Bondi (Waverley),  as well as La Perouse Explorers for Little Congwong.

Local volunteer group, the La Perouse Explorers won the Keep Australia Beautiful Clean Beaches Challenge(Sydney Region) Environmental Protection Award for the work they have done at Little Congwong Beach and surrounding area.  The award recognised many years of water quality testing, clean-ups and weeding, and guided walks of the area for the CSIRO Double Helix Club.  Over the years La Perouse Explorers has been supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Little Bay Cubs and Scouts, Kooloora Community Centre, Randwick Council, the La Perouse Precinct Committee, Sydney Water Streamwatch and Fishcare.

La Perouse has recently been included on the Sydney Coastal Walk and as a result there is an increasing number of visitors to the Park. But the National Parks managers at Vaucluse and Parramatta don’t appear to understand the need, and their responsibility under the State Plan, to market the Park and to maintain it.

The Park has lost a field officer in the last month and only three remain.  These people are responsible for Track Maintenance, Litter Control, Compliance, Fire Management, Feral animal Management, Weed Management. They haven’t had the resources to undertake hazard and ecological burns which are critical to the maintenance of this Park and to the well-being of neighbours.

The Laperouse Museum and Visitor Centre is normally open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Parks also control the Military heritage at Cape Banks and Henry Head and the Historic Coast Cemetery at Cape Banks. The Military Heritage is in gross disrepair and there is no interpretation. Cape Banks is an excellent site for watching whales but the toilets located there are closed to the public and again there is no interpretation. Bare Island is a major asset but ‘barely’ used – 3x45minute tours on a Sunday afternoon and then sometimes cancelled at short notice. It could be interpreted with display boards and leases given for a cafe, dive shop and other activities.

Walking groups like the one here (from Lane Cove area) should be able to drop in at the Museum after their walk but it’s not open on Mondays and Tuesdays (even in the School Holidays) and later in the month it will close for painting. Parks are spending around $50,000 on a questionable update of the Museum (painting out the colour scheme sympathetic to the period of the building and the Collection), without a Business Plan and not having finalised the Conservation Plan of Management. They have until June 30, 2010, to spend the money allocated giving them enough time to plan and consult and to close the Museum during the low season (after Easter and before Bastille Day) rather than October-December which is a much busier time of year. The Museum could be open 7 days a week as a Visitor Centre and the hours per day could be reduced. Visitors who arrive in the morning would most likely be willing to go to a Cafe or a walk while they were waiting but there are no attempts to explore these options with local businesses and other organisations. (For more details on the Museum google “painting Laperouse Museum”)

The Park is riddled with weeds but there are no on-going weeding programs. In 2003, a local group of parents and their children wanted to volunteer their time and get funding for a project to clean up the entry to the Park, at the Happy Valley Bridge, but the Parks Managers wouldn’t agree to it. Today the area could be described as weed heaven. The display board (photograph above) at the entry to the Park was constructed 2000 and is one of the last examples of enhancements in the Park. Walking tracks are noted on the map. The track from Little Congwong Beach to Brown’s Rock has since been closed off making it very difficult for walkers, fishers and others and reducing passive surveillance (and access for Police) of Little Congwong which is subject to illegal activity. Signs advising visitors about the legal status of the beaches have been vandalised. (See photograph of recent example). The staff have regularly cleaned and replaced signs but with a 25% reduction in capacity this is another job that will be probably be left, along with measures to reduce the rubbish on the beach.

Visitors to the Park often complain to the field staff but these staff are doing the best they can in a difficult situation. Complaints should be directed at the managers and the best place to start is by writing

to the Minister for Environment, Mr Frank Sartor

and the local State Member for this area, the Police Minister, Mr Michael Daley

and to the local Federal Member, the Environment Minister, Mr Peter Garrett

The study was the first of its kind undertaken in NSW and involved more than 15,700 telephone surveys.

Read the full report (NationalParkVisitsNSW.pdf – 1.89MB).

Survey results showed the five most popular national parks were Blue Mountains, Royal, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Lane Cove and Kosciusko. Sydney, the most populous National Parks region fared below the Blue Mountains, Sydney South, Sydney North, Central Coast and Hunter,South Coast, Northern Rivers. Sydney Region includes the northern section of Botany Bay at La Perouse (including Congwong and Little Congwong beaches and the historic La Perouse headland), Wolli Creek, Sydney Harbour beaches and islands as well as western Sydney parks such as Leacock, Mulgoa, Scheyville, Bents Basin, Kemps Creek, Cattai, Rouse Hill, Windsor Downs. While over 20% of the population of NSW live in the Sydney Region catchment the Parks in this region attract less than 7% of the visits. By contrast Lane Cove and Kuring-gai, in the Northern Region are two of the most popular parks. These parks offer well supported volunteering opportunities are responsive to visitor and local community needs and conduct plenty of reasonably priced events to suit families.

Bushwalking was the most popular activity in all our parks – 54%, followed by water sports 17% (including swimming & surfing 10%; fishing 4%) and picnicking came in around 14%. Males 25-49 were the most represented users at 53% (population = 49%) while females 18-24 and 50+ and couples over 35 with children were least likely to visit.

43 children and 42 adults turned up  to clean up Congwong Bay and Cape Banks at La Perouse. Males outnumbered females by 49 to 36, with the best represented age group the 10-14s (22). There was a strong show from cubs and scouts of the Kensington, Kingsford-Smith, and Little Bay groups,Woollahra Pathfinders, Fishcare, Streamwatch, the La Perouse Precinct Committee, Randwick Residents and visitors. Successive cleanups over the past few years have resulted in fewer bulky items but there were still thousands of cigarette butts, plastics in a variety of configurations and abandoned clothes. The cleanup started at 8am and the early group of cubs scored some treasures amongst the rubbish – $30 and an unopened bottle of wine!, perhaps the result of a ‘rave party’ the previous night.

The large group were ably assisted by Steve from National Parks who provided a marquee, table and chairs and ferried bags from collection points. Randwick Council provided additional bags and collected the rubbish piled in Cann Park.

(Photos top left-bottom right: Kensington cubs getting ready; early starters at Little Congwong; Fishcare and Scouting leader at work; rubbish bigger than the cubs; historic backdrop; early fishing and cleaning; moving the rubbish off Little Congwong; onto Big Congwong; Pathfinders)

 The rankings show that water quality for Yarra Bay and particularly Frenchman’s is very poor at 22 and 37 respectively.

  Congwong Bay 1/1/09

The rankings for swimming sites for Summer 2007-8 in Botany Bay and the Lower Georges.

Join with the La Perouse Coastcare Alliance on March 1, 2009 in cleaning up Congwong Bay.  Come between 0800 and 1200 to the Snake Pit, Cann Park, La Perouse (opposite the bus terminus on Anzac Parade).

Register at http://events.cleanup.org.au/?Congwong+Bay  

On the day please wear a hat, sunscreen and protective clothing – long sleeve shirts, long pants, gardening gloves, sturdy shoes – and bring water.  All children must be accompanied by an adult.