Environmentalist Mike takes out BAT award

Long-term Jilliby resident and lifelong environmental campaigner Mike Campbell has won Community Environment Network’s 2024 BAT (Be A Team) Award for 2024.

Community Environment Network (CEN) Deputy Chair John Asquith, presented the annual BAT Awards for the 25th consecutive year on Thursday, December 5.

“Our major award is the BAT Award, given to a person who has put in a valiant effort on behalf of the environment and sustainability, and I was very pleased to present this year’s award to Mike Campbell, a founding member of the CEN,” Asquith said.

“Mike’s first campaign was in 1977/78 as assistant secretary, then secretary of Central Coast Trades and Labour Council with Morry Breen and delegates and the saving of Riley’s Island with a Green Ban.

“It was one of the rare successful Green Bans outside of Sydney or Melbourne.

“Mike worked with the great Central Coast environmentalist Allen Strom on a campaign to save the Wyong valleys with a pivotal land study.

“He has been a long-term campaigner to protect Porters Creek Wetland, the largest wetland on the Tuggerah lakes.

“His environmental activism spans decades.

“In 1979 he was involved in the campaign to oppose the sewerage outfall at Norah Head called the ‘CRAP Committee’.

“Between 1980 and 1990 Mike led the campaign to oppose a power station at Mardi (CRIPS) and was involved in another campaign to stop the building of a chemical plant by Bayer at Wyong.

“In the late 1980s and early 90s he ran a successful campaign to save Pioneer Dairy, now Central Coast Wetlands, from development of the site for coal mining and power stations.

“He continued to be a member of the Pioneer Dairy Trust Board for a decade.”

Asquith said Campbell was a member of the Tuggerah Biodiversity Committee on a campaign to protect and restore the lakes and helped to produce a report on the Wetlands of Tuggerah Lakes.

“Mike’s commitment to CEN continues,” Asquith said.

“He was our treasurer for over 10 years, helped set up our old and new nurseries and continues to be active on the Central Coast Community Better Planning Group and with Future Sooner’s campaigns to close Vales Point and Eraring power stations.”

A special recognition award was given in memory of the late Boris Branwhite for his lifetime work on native orchids.

“Boris’s contribution to orchid research is recognised by the National Herbarium,” Asquith said.

“Thanks to his research the number of native orchid species recorded in the former Wyong Shire increased from 12 in 1996 to over 160 today.

“Boris discovered many new species of orchids and persisted in having them formally listed as endangered or threatened.

“A number of orchids carry his name – a high honour.”

Asquith said CEN would start a project fund for donations to produce a book on the orchids researched by Branwhite and photographed by his partner Debra Raymont.

The Best 12th Woman award goes to “somebody who has worked quietly in the background to support others in the front line and helps keep the team afloat”.

This year’s recipient was Eve Leeming of Spencer.

She has been a Land for Wildlife member since 2007, a National Parks discovery tour guide and a volunteer with the old Spencer School running Children’s Environmental Education activities for many years.

She is a current volunteer with CEN Green Teams, a Bushcare and a Waterwatch volunteer at Spencer.

Terrigal artist Isabela Sajdok was named 2024 Rookie of the Year as a newcomer to the conservation movement who has contributed to the improvement of the region’s environment/sustainability.

She is an enthusiastic diver, underwater photographer and ocean swimmer.

About two years ago, she and other Terrigal Ocean Swimmers formed the group Friends of Kurrawyba which joined CEN as a group member.

The group has run information nights on sharks and whales, beach clean-ups at The Haven and continues its campaign to permanently remove shark nets from NSW beaches along with working towards a marine protected area.

Kariong Eco Garden was named Most Outstanding Community Based Organisation for its tireless work on behalf of the environment and sustainability.

It began when Lisa Wriley wrote to the CEN asking for support to establish community gardens as places to learn about composting, worm farming and permaculture.

A meeting was held at Kariong Neighbourhood Centre in 2001.

Various clean-up days and other workshops were held over the following few years.

Kariong Community Earthcare became a project of the Community Environment Network.

An Earthcare garden or Eco garden was their first project.

They met fortnightly at Phillip House, Mount Penang.

In 2004, the group looked at the Dandaloo St site as an alternative location for the garden.

In 2005 Council approval was received to establish a community garden on-site where it has remained ever since.

Kariong Eco Garden became an incorporated entity in March 2009.