Participants of a previous 5×5 walk at Bellambi. Photo: Healthy Cities Australia.
Lake Illawarra’s rich cultural and ecological heritage will be explored through a Berkeley edition of the popular 5×5 community walk series, with experts guiding participants along Hooka Creek each Tuesday morning for the next five weeks.
Starting 22 July at 10 am, the “walk and talk” events will feature guest speakers who will walk with participants from Holborn Park in Berkeley and share their knowledge of Lake Illawarra and Hooka Creek.
Alexander Brown from Healthy Cities Australia said the program had been run for many years from various locations, with the goal of walking 5 km once a week for five weeks.
“This one at Berkeley partly came about because I was walking down around the Hooka Creek area and there’s a lovely sculpture and a decorative bridge over Hooka Creek that is known as the place of healing,” Alexander said.
“I noticed there was some signage there that indicated Healthy Cities had been involved in that many decades ago.
“I’ve been trying to reach out and find out more about that bridge and the artwork, and I’ve learned a few things, but I’m still learning.
“It’s such a beautiful place, and has such a rich history and rich ecology, so we planned a series of three talks for the first three of the five weeks.”
He said that with strong enrollments already, he was now considering adding another speaker for week four.
Week one on Tuesday (22 July), will feature Uncle Richard Davis giving a Welcome to Country and talk about the lake’s significance for the area’s Indigenous people.
“Hooka Creek is named after an elder in the 19th century who lived around that area, who was known as King Charlie Hooka,” he said.
On 29 July, Wollongong City Council’s Lake Illawarra coastal environment officer Trudy Costa will discuss the ecology of the lake and some of the challenges it’s facing in managing its dynamic ecosystem.
“With the permanent opening of the lake, there’s now the problem of lake erosion,” he said.
“I was at a presentation about that, so I met her and discovered her expertise not just about that issue, but the whole ecology of the lake.
“There’s also been a lot of community bush care and council bush care done around Hooka Creek and other parts of the lake in Berkeley.”
He said in light of that, they reached out to the council’s natural areas officer, Matt Watts, who will share some of the work being done to regenerate bushland around Hooka Creek in week three on 5 August.
“I think it’s going to be a great series and exploration of the place, along with 5×5 being about social connection, keeping physically active and enjoying the outdoors,” he said.
“With it being a place of healing, I thought it was very relevant because what we do is promote health through community activities and prevention through walking and good food.”
He said 5×5 was a free, non-competitive community walking event suitable for people of all fitness levels and abilities. Walking outdoors in nature has many health benefits, leading to improvements in mood, sleep, blood pressure, and stress levels.
The not-for-profit organisation, which champions disease prevention and healthier urban environments in the Illawarra and beyond, has also been running a 3×3 series featuring a 3 km walk and activities, including using gym equipment, a tai chi taster session, and cooking demonstrations with nutrition information.
Free registration for 5×5 community walks is available for events on 22 July, 29 July, 5 August, 12 August and 19 August from 10 am to 12 pm. Light refreshments will be provided at the conclusion of the walk.
