Our Partnerships & Achievements

The Taroona Environment Network will soon celebrate 30 years (as of 2027) of working together to protect and restore the biodiversity of Taroona's foreshore. We are a network of highly-skilled volunteers, with professional backgrounds in climate change, geology, forestry, plant science, photography and decades of experience in local council and community groups. Several of our founding members from 1997 are still active in the group today, sharing their commitment, enthusiasm and local knowledge with new recruits. Over the last 30 years, we have built relationships with local individuals, groups, businesses and government, and these partnerships have been part of the foundation of our long list of achievements (see below) across our 25 work sites in Taroona.

We maintain audited records of volunteer hours spent on working bees and planning meetings, which amount to an investment of$1.5M of volunteer labour and $300k of grant income over the past 30 years.

Our work is guided by independent environmental analysis and planning. In 2009, we engaged NorthBarker Ecological Consultants to produce vegetation rehabilitation action plans for eight Taroona foreshore locations. These plans, with the approval of Kingborough Council, have served as the basis of our landcare working bees for the past 15 years. In 2025, we obtained a Community Climate Change Action Grant which enabled us to re-engage NorthBarker to evaluate progress and review vegetation rehabilitation in the light of predicted climate change impacts. These include changing rainfall and temperature patterns, increasing storm damage to mature trees, beach erosion, landslips, new invasive weed species and increased bushfire risk. Their recommendations will increase the climate resilience of our re-vegetation through species selection.

Major Partnerships

Kingborough Council

Kingborough Council is the landowner of most of our working bee sites and our landcare work is endorsed by their Bushcare Unit. We routinely engage with Council to assess and protect large mature trees which provide habitat for endangered swift parrots, and promote their replanting in case of beach erosion, landslip or wind damage. The 2025 National Tree Day event for the Kingborough Municipality was held in Taroona Park as a joint venture between TEN and Kingborough Council resulting in the restoration of under-storey to promote the survival of several old-growth eucalypts.

Local Community Groups & Councillors

In 2023, TEN partnered with the Taroona Community Association , Kingborough Council and Taroona Primary School to transform a degraded parcel of land (bequeathed to the public by Louisa Hinsby in 1930) into a children's playground (Louisa Hinsby Park) and an interpretive display garden of Taroona's native plants.

Over the past few years, TEN has collaborated with Hobart City Councillor, Bill Harvey, and the Taroona Volunteer Fire Brigade to champion biochar production as an environmental alternative to taking green waste to landfill. The biochar produced in these demonstrations is donated to the Taroona Neighbourhood Garden and local residents, sequestering carbon while enriching soils and promoting food security.

Local Schools

We have a formal partnership agreement with Taroona High School to facilitate collaboration in managing their foreshore and bushland areas (Rotary Park). This partnership has tangible outcomes in improved biodiversity, but also increases the environmental awareness, confidence and wellbeing of students. Our value is demonstrated by frequent requests for TEN volunteers to participate in environmental education with Taroona High School, Taroona Primary School and several Hobart private schools.

Examples or our engagement include:

  • Annual tree plantings with students to celebrate National Tree Day;

  • Conducting tailored plant propagation, weeding and planting activities at the request of teachers;

  • Informing students and parents about environmental issues and careers at Taroona High School science expos;

  • Providing opportunities for students to take part in working bees as part of their community service initiatives;

  • Developing a public Discovery Trail in 2007 along the Taroona foreshore incorporating environmental, social and historical information through a series of podcasts using Taroona High School students as interviewers of local experts.

  • Developing a Nature Trail through Rotary Park in 2013, with interpretive plant totems illustrated by Taroona Primary School students.

  • In collaboration with Taroona High School and the Aboriginal community, the design and installation of a Muwinina Interpretation Panel on a headland at the school to celebrate historical Aboriginal living areas at the site.

Major Achievements

Concrete achievements include leadership to:

  • Save a patch of mature eucalypt forest (swift parrot habitat) in Taroona Park from being cleared for a proposed expansion by the University of Tasmania. This led to the University donating a 8952m2 parcel of land to Kingborough Council in 2025, for community purposes and with a conservation covenant.

  • Protect an area of Department of Education land known as Rotary Park from subdivision in 2016. The planning application was withdrawn and the biodiversity of this woodland protected, while providing recreational and educational opportunities for the community and local schools.

  • Produced high-quality brochures to inform the community about local native plants and wildlife, including "Habitat Gardening" (creating a wildlife haven in your garden), "Rich Pickings" - to celebrate the Aboriginal utilisation of native plants for food, and “Track Down Taroona”, a walking trails map incorporating imagery of native plants and birds. These resources have formed the basis of displays at school and community expos.

  • We have promoted environmental awareness in our community by conducting numerous educational nature walks focused on birds, mushrooms, seaweeds, insects and Taroona geology.

  • In 2016, TEN initiated a high-profile environmental Art Trail community event, attended by an estimated 2000 people and displaying 46 art works, with the event opened by ABC Gardening Australia’s, Costa Georgiadis.

  • Developed digital communication channels through a high-quality website and active social media presence on two platforms.

  • During COVID, TEN produced a popular newsletter series called "Nurtured by Nature" to build community mental health resilience.

  • TEN regularly engages with the local community by publishing expert articles on conservation and environmental topics in the Taroona Community Association (TCA) newsletter “Taroona News”, addressing issues such as sea-level rise, increased bushfire risks and promoting low flammability native garden species.

  • TEN’s monthly working bees are attended by up to 25 people each month, and in addition to the practical biodiversity outcomes, they also crucially serve to create strong social connections in times of increasing global unrest and community anxiety. The working bees are enhanced by good collaborative relationships with land managers (Kingborough Council and the Department of Education, Tasmania), as well as neighbouring stakeholders e.g. Taroona Volunteer Fire Brigade, Taroona Soccer Club and local residents.