Bill Cawardine helped form the South Coast Conservation Society. Photo: Supplied.
There are few places more beautiful in Illawarra than The Farm.
But Shellharbour Council once voted nine to one to allow Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) to flatten the hills from Bass Point to Minnamurra and then fill the valleys with material and waste from the blue metal quarry creating a large flat area of prime industrial land.
Fortunately the mayor at the time decided to exclude Killalea Lagoon – but only so it could be used as a regional garbage dump.
The brave alderman who dissented at these abominable decisions was Peter Hodgson.
When Bill Cawardine later heard about this disastrous plan he went into action. With an impressive small group of very capable people he formed the South Coast Conservation Society.
At great personal and financial cost Bill succeeded in getting nearly 265 ha of precious coastal land declared a State Park.
Bill even gave up his lucrative work as a consultant engineer to work as the lowly paid first ranger at Killalea in order to get things started on the right footing. His aim was to ensure that the then isolated landscape would not be vandalised or commercialised.
Chris Cartledge of the Illawarra Bird Observers Club (IBOC) told more about this story and of Bill’s involvement in that organisation’s newsletter in 2021.
What had happened, Chris explains, was that Bill was alerted to these plans by then Alderman Peter Hodgson. At a meeting on 5 December 1969 in Bill’s Oak Flats home, with the others present, the South Coast Conservation Society was formed.
Chris wrote that Bill was nominated as inaugural president by Dr Jim Hagan from Wollongong University.
We have Bill Cawardine’s passion to thank for saving The Farm. Photo: Kellie O’Brien.
Even though Jim (by then professor of history) was both a friend and teacher of mine and had told me much about his successful fight – along with the remarkable Judy Gjedsted – to stop Clutha building a coal jetty near Stanwell Park, he never told me of his earlier conservation activities at The Farm.
Remarkably, however, the South Coast Conservation Society went on to win the battle against ICI and Shellharbour Council.
But Bill Cawardine’s commitment to preserving the surfing and natural wonderland that is the The Farm (aka Killalea) did not stop there.
Chris Cartledge wrote: “By 1973 the new Bass Point recreation area was being overrun by 4WDs, trail bikes and bitou bush. With financial contributions from the quarry, council decided to employ a full-time ranger at Bass Point.
“Bill Carwardine applied and got the job, giving up his successful consultant engineering business to care for his beloved Bass Point. He started by setting up the inaugural Management Plan however, at this time there wasn’t even a map of Bass Point. To fix this, he got a mate from Minnamurra with the necessary skills to do a detailed step and compass map.
“Once approved Bill went about implementing the plan, roping in volunteers whenever he could. After almost a year Bill went back to recover his consulting business, leaving Bass Point management to a new ranger.
“Bill went on to set up the Tongarra Wildlife Refuge on his property at the end of Tongarra Lane, Tongarra.
“Years later, he built himself a new home on a farm off Croome Road, Albion Park owned by friends. In time, he got the owner’s permission to setup the Djilinga Wildlife Refuge. Djilinga is the Wodi-Wodi word for ‘little bird’.”
I only met Bill Cawardine once but was immediately impressed by his vast local knowledge and concern for even the littlest of birds that inhabit Illawarra.
Years later Bill and second wife Olia bought 5 ha near Federal in the Byron Shire. Here they created the Gerygone Wildlife Refuge.
Bill and Olia’s final move, Chris Cartledge explained, was to Wrights Beach, a quiet residential area and suburb within Jervis Bay, where “with the Shoalhaven Council’s approval, they named the land next to their property the Gurumbi Creek Nature Reserve and subsequently formed the Gurumbi Creek Bushcare Group. Gurumbi meaning Glossy Black-Cockatoo.”
In 2003, Bill was awarded an Order of Australia for a lifetime of environmental activism.
It is difficult for one person alone to save a natural environment but Bill and the work of the Illawarra Bird Observers Club clearly deserve greater recognition.
Chris also assisted Bill with editing and production of his wittily titled book Illawarra Grozzle – Five Decades of Green Activism.
I for one will be forever grateful that people like Bill Carwadine and others made it possible to continue to surf at the finest beach I have yet encountered.
