Home - Sutherland Shire Environment Centre

Our amazing Sutherland Shire Shorebirds

Will they make it?

First National Park

The Royal National Park is not only a beautiful natural area, it has spectacular scenery, is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, and extraordinary geological features.

The ecological values and unique history of the Royal merit UNESCO World Heritage Listing.

Coal mining underneath Woronora Reservoir - our drinking water

10,700 people signed our hard copy petition asking the NSW government to stop this mining.

Sunny Shire

Sunny Shire provide information about solar energy, batteries, efficiency, electric vehicles and more.

The Sutherland to Cronulla Active Transport link

Help us stop the SCATL backpeddle!

The Sutherland Shire deserves a decent, safe bike pathway too!

SO Shire & Plastic Free Sutherland Shire

Working to protect and enhance the natural environment across the Shire, including our beautiful waterways and beaches. Raising public awareness, encouraging environmentally sustainable businesses, conducting beach cleanups and pollution audits.

Our Campaigns

Events

Sutherland Shire Environment Centre AGM 2022: coal mining, the impacts

We’re delighted to announce that Dr Ian Wright will be our guest speaker at this year’s Sutherland Shire Environment Centre AGM. Ian is a lecturer at Western Sydney University, and a recognised expert in the field of freshwater ecology, water quality, water policy and the science and management of water pollution. He has a long-standing research interest in the impact of coal mining activities on streams and rivers.

Dr Wright was also one of the team who was allowed to visit Woronora Reservoir in 2019, and he saw first hand the damage from the mining operation there.

After Ian’s talk there’ll be a screening of the 25min documentary Mining in the Blue Mountains, followed by a Q&A.

Boat Harbour Shorebird Study Group August 16

If you’re keen to do something positive for the environment, please join this local group for hands on activities aiming to make a difference. We visit Boat Harbour on the south side of the Kurnell Peninsula every month, counting and recording the shorebirds roosting on the reef during high tide. All the data is shared with BirdLife Australia, The Australasian Wader Study Group, and eBird, making the results available to the entire birding and avian research community worldwide.

Birds and the Bees Tour: Curra Moors, Royal National Park

Friday 16 September, 7:15am.
Explore the birds of our coastal heath amid one of the finest flowering events on Earth. The beauty and diversity of early spring flowers on Curra Moors is intoxicating. This walk, led by bird expert and educator Ricki Coughlan, will begin through a dry sclerophyll ridge-top woodland with heathy understorey before entering the vast expanse of complex heath on Curra Moors in the Royal National Park. Our target birds are Southern Emu-wren, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Variegated Fairy-wren, Beautiful Firetail and Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. On the way we’ll meet many other favourites and make new friends too!

About Sutherland Shire Environment Centre

We are an independent, not-for-profit, community organisation actively involved in a wide range of projects aimed at maintaining the natural beauty and character of our Shire, and surrounding waterways and parks. For a small organisation we do a lot, but our Centre is run by volunteers. Sutherland Shire would not have an environment centre, and none of our campaigns or advocacy would be possible without the commitment and care of members of the community.

One current focus includes advocating for koala and wildlife corridors around the Shire. Another campaign seeks to protect our water supply from the coal mining taking place directly underneath Woronora Reservoir: 10,700 people signed our recent petition calling for the mining to be stopped.
Our members from the SO Shire group aim to halt pollution from plastic and microplastics washing up around our beaches and waterways.

Our Sunny Shire and Plastic Free Sutherland Shire groups can provide general advice about solar energy, batteries, and sustainable practices. We support environmental education programs, and put in a range of submissions about issues of environmental concern.

If you are interested in finding out more, or helping, please get in touch!

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land, the Dharawal people, who have cared and continue to care for country. We recognise that Aboriginal Sovereignty has never been ceded. It is our goal to build restorative relations between peoples, and we pay our respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.