The Friends of Tomaree National Park is a community group who believe we can improve the integrity and resilience of the national park through community action. We are part of the National Parks Association (Hunter Region), who initiated our group and supports us. The NPA is a community organisation that advocates for national parks and their management. You do not need to be an NPA member to participate.
The Friends of Tomaree National Park works in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the NSW government agency who oversights our work program and supports our work operation.
Read more about the Friends of Tomaree National Park.
Our groups and future dates
Our Friends of Tomaree National Park currently work in three areas. Many Friends attend one location, some a couple of locations. Friends attend one or multiple bush regen session each month, or come along casually, when convenient. All contributions are really appreciated, whatever suits you.
North Tomaree: Zenith Beach / Tomaree Headland / Box Beach, bush regeneration activities are usually for a couple of hours in the morning, each month on
- first Tuesday
- second Saturday
- third Thursday
Central Tomaree: Kingsley / Boat Harbour / One Mile areas, bush regeneration activities are usually for a couple of hours in the morning, generally each month on
- second or third Monday, occasionally Tuesday
- third Saturday
South Tomaree: Fishermans Bay area, bush regeneration activities are usually for a couple of hours in the morning, each month on
- first Sunday
- third Tuesday
North Tomaree
Sat 13 Jan
Thurs 18 Jan
Tues 6 Feb
Sat 10 Feb (cancelled)
Thurs 15 Feb
CleanUp Sat 2 March,
see special activities below
Tues 5 March
Sat 9 March
Thurs 21 March
Tues 2 April (* with LLS)
Sat 13 April
Thurs 18 April
Tues 7 May
Sat 11 May
Thurs 16 May
Tues 4 Jun
Sat 8 Jun
Thurs 14 Jun
Please contact Sue at
tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
Central Tomaree
Mon 8 Jan
Sat 20 Jan
Sat 17 Feb
Mon 19 Feb (third Monday)
Mon 11 March
Sat 16 March
Mon 15 April (third Monday)
Sat 20 April
Tues 14 May (* with LLS)
Sat 25 May
Tues 4 Jun
Sat 15 Jun
Please contact Sue at
tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
South Tomaree / Fishermans Bay
Tues 16 Jan
Sun 4 Feb
Tues 20 Feb
CleanUp Sun 3 March,
see special activities below
Tues 19 March
Sun 7 April
Tues 16 April
Tues 7 May
Sat 11 May
Thurs 16 May
Sun 2 Jun
Tues 18 Jun
Please contact Josephine at
tomaree-np-friends-fbay@npansw.org.au
* With LLS – Local Land Services volunteers will join us to give each of our FoTNP groups a helping hand. Everyone welcome. These two mornings, North Tomaree Tues 2 April and Central Tomaree Tues 14 April, are longer mornings.
Special activities
Cleanup Australia Day in Tomaree National Park, 2024
Saturday 2 March — Box Beach, 8-10am
Join our community pick up along this dynamic beach, its rocky headlands, access roadside and walkway, and connecting bush land and trails. Bags and gloves supplied. Stay for a simple morning tea or enjoy a swim afterwards. Meet at the Box Beach carpark.
Please register by emailing your name, phone and the names of others in your group to tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au.
More event information on the Cleanup Australia site for Cleanup Box Beach
Sunday 3 March — Fishermans Beach 8.30-11.30am
Please join us for a clean up of Fishermans Bay to include it’s beautiful beach, National Park, bush walking tracks and rock platforms.
More event information and registration through the Cleanup Australia site for Cleanup Fishermans Bay, please include your name, phone and names of those in your group.
Workbees with help from Local Land Services (LLS)
Local Land Services volunteers work on Tuesdays, giving a boost to landcare groups across the Hunter. They will join our each of our FoTNP groups to give a helping hand. Everyone is welcome to come along. These are longer mornings.
- North Tomaree – Tuesday morning 2 April 2024
- Central Tomaree – Tuesday morning 14 May 2024
- South Tomaree 2024 date tbc. (LLS helped out in 2023)
Planting the threatened native mint bush April or May 2024 date tbc
In May 2022, FoTNP selected a site for planting potted cuttings of the threatened (listed Vulnerable) native mint bush, Prostanthera densa. This FoTNP planting has been one of the most successful of the plantings. Now in 2024 we’ll select another site or two and plant new cuttings. All welcome to join us. More information to come. Please register interest with Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
2023 dates
Bush Regen SPECIAL – A helping hand at Morna Point, Boat Harbour!
Saturday 29 July 2023 8.30 – 11am
Around 20 enthusiastic volunteers attended our special workbee on Saturday morning 29 July around the Morna Point (Boat Harbour) lookout area and scenic walkway along the Tomaree Coastal Walk. With wow views, wildflowers and occasional whales, this was a great spot to work on the bitou and help the coastal vegetation along the rocky headland to thrive.
We spent a couple of hours removing new bitou seedlings and some larger invading bitou from this scenic spot. Thank you everyone.
Saturday 15 April 2023 The PLANTING! Rejuvenating Kingsley Headland, Boat Harbour
Check out our recent EcoUpdate article Rejuvenating Kingsley headland, highlighting the fantastic work of the Friends of Tomaree National Park and community supporters in our efforts over the last 12 months, helping repair environmental damage on the headland leading to Kingsley Beach carpark. You can also read about the plantings and their role in rejuvenating this ecosystem.
Clean up Australia Day activities 2023
Saturday am 3 March … Box Beach area. Please contact Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
Sunday am 4 March … Fishermans Bay area. Please contact Josephine at tomaree-np-friends-fbay@npansw.org.au
What to bring or wear on our work bees
Please wear old clothes and here’s some hints for a safer work bee experience.
- Gardening gloves
- Sunhat
- Old long-sleeved shirt, full-length trousers (preferably not tight stretch pants)
- Best to cover up for scratch and snake protection
- Good to tuck trousers into socks to help avoid ticks
- Old covered shoes
- Old rain jacket (if forecast is for occasional showers)
- Eye protection (old glasses, old readers or sun glasses – safety glasses available)
- Glasses help protect your eyes from stick injuries. Sometimes bending over and focussing on a cut branch to paint, you tend not to notice a cut stick pointing up, so please wear eye protection.
Tools we use
Most of these tools are supplied by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in supporting our Friends group.
- Cutters – secateurs, pruning saws, loppers
- Pouches – carry our tools
- Herbicide in applicator bottles.
- Sunscreen, hand sanitiser, personal insect spray (ticks & mozzies) and disinfectant wipes
- First-aid including tick freeze and snake bite kits.
Registering with NPWS My Impact
Our Friends program is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) NSW, who also provide most of our equipment. Our volunteers register on NPWS My Impact program. You may like to come to one or two work bees before registering.
There are several advantages for you to registering …
- Insurance cover when working on national parks
- Records your hours worked enabling benefits such as
- personal work shirts (issued periodically), hats and gradually other items
- training such as first aid or other if required for the work undertaken
- all parks vehicle pass (including Kosciusko NP) once you have accumulated 50 hours over 2 years
- Information on other conservation projects
- Your hours contribute to those of our Friends group enabling more support such as equipment, plants and so forth.
To register with My Impact program for the Friends of Tomaree National Park with NPWS,
please go to link >> MyImpact
- You will be asked about your … Contact information … then the Application form, includes …
- Which NPWS Branch is closest to you? Choose “Hunter Central Coast Branch
- Which volunteer position(s) are you applying for, go to “Friends of Tomaree National Park Volunteer Program
- If you have First Aid or Working with Children Certificates, you may like to include those also, so please have their number and expiry date handy.
Once you have submitted your information, please email Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au so that we know to then accept your application.
Herbicide training
After you have participated in a couple of work bees and registered on NPWS My Impact (above), please complete the online herbicide training: As we use herbicides to cut and paint bitou and other woody weeds, NPWS/DPIE requires us to participate in online herbicide awareness training. It takes a maximum 30 mins. You can access the training via this link: http://bttr.im/ziqs7. It includes a series of short videos and multiple choice questions. If you get a question wrong, you are offered the question again until it is correct, so not too difficult.
If you’re not sure of you’re My Impact login details, please contact the NPWS Volunteer Coordinator Nicola on: Nicola.Booth@environment.nsw.gov.au
More information about Tomaree that may interest you …
- Coastal Dune Plants along the Tomaree Coast
- About the Friends of Tomaree NP
- A helping hand at Kingsley
- Kicking the milestones for Tomaree
- Friends of Tomaree NP on Facebook — If you’re on facebook, you may wish to like our Facebook page! Even if you are not on facebook, you can see our page and read our posts (just ignore facebook’s request to join).
