Community Regen at the Community Garden
Coming together caring for country as a community
Capacity building - LP003-026-GL1
The issue
Forster Community Garden was established in 2007 under the auspices of the Forster Neighbourhood Centre, which was based next door to it beside Pennington Creek near its mouth to Wallis Lake. Developed in collaboration with local Worimi Elders, who selected “7 trees for 7 Elders” to be planted along the creek, it was an open inviting space that brought the community together. When the CWA Hall that used to house the Neighbourhood Centre was demolished in 2024, most of the Community Garden including main garden beds and water supply was also removed. Thankfully the Elders’ trees were left unharmed, but the loss of the garden left a gap for the local community.
The solution
Forster Neighbourhood Centre engaged a Community Architect, who worked with Elders, MidCoast Council and Community representatives including Landcare from as early as October 2024 to plan a new Forster Community Garden including a little building with facilities, and work is finally to start in the second half of 2026 towards making this a reality.
When MidCoast 2 Tops Landcare staff sat down for a campfire gathering with local Elders and Landcare NSW Aboriginal Partnerships Manager Den Barber in July 2025, we were keen to leave with a concrete plan for a Landcare partnership project with the local Worimi Community. Aunty Janice Paulson, who was involved from the inception with the original Community Garden, suggested that reviving this project would be a great place to start. We resolved to start by getting together under our own steam as soon as possible to start restoring Pennington Creek, starting at the old Community Garden site.
The impact
Starting in August 2025, we organised regular bush regeneration working bees with the Community Garden site as the home base, hosted by Aunty Janice and Aunty Pam, and working with Barray Alliance Worimi Rangers and community volunteers. The creek along the stretch where the Garden was is looking great, with an understorey infested by a prodigious variety of weeds giving way to natural regeneration, including locally occurring bush foods. Moving upstream, the group has tackled more rampant weeds, and in June 2026 has planted local provenance bush foods provided by MidCoast Council nursery in selected sites up the creek. We have settled into a roughly monthly rhythm, and we look forward to increasing community involvement as the little community building and garden takes shape in coming months.
Learnings
Keen people and organisations working together can achieve a lot without outside funding
A Community Garden is a fantastic focal point for community action
Key facts
- 10 events and 109 attendances so far
- Approx 350m length of Pennington Creek under management so far