Working Bees

Have you seen piles of weeds in the park awaiting collection and wondered how they got there ?

Although Whitehorse Council undertakes routine professional park maintenance, council staff and contractor resources are limited.  Much weeding and replanting is undertaken by volunteers like yourself – about once a month on Sunday mornings in season and on most Thursday mornings.

Volunteers at both types of working bees generally do much the same work although there is more emphasis on weeding in the Thursday group given it’s a year-round activity.  Volunteer Supervisor(s) manage the events and liaise with Council for approval of the work sites, record any incidents and register attendance from our volunteers.

Risk Management

Under Council’s rules, which essentially reflect insurance risks or conditions, volunteers do not spray herbicide and are not permitted to use power tools such as chainsaws.

Appropriate care obviously still needs to be taken when using hand-tools.  Other risks include trip and fall hazards, bitey creatures, passers-by, other volunteers, unstable tree limbs and dead trees etc.  For a list with risk mitigations, please click here for a handy guide.

Site Supervisors perform site safety inspections when selecting sites for working bees and immediately prior to work commencing at the event.  Our procedure is based on a Council-provided process extended with local adaptations.  Please click here to review our checklist.

Insurances

Council provides Voluntary Workers Personal Accident Insurance to volunteers who specifically register with Council (ie not the attendance register).  These volunteers must undertake compulsory training in matters like anti-bullying and, optionally, first-aid training.  These include all our Committee members and regular volunteers who so choose.

However, they exclude casual participants who “walk up” to working bees.  These volunteers are covered by Council’s public liability insurance that covers any park user and another specific personal accident policy – we don’t have details as yet.

Sunday Morning Community Working Bees

• Friends of the Creeklands and the broader community are invited to participate in Sunday morning Working Bees.  These are held monthly from March to October. We usually do weeding and/or planting work with occasional mulching and rubbish removal.
• In 2026, our working bees will be held on the third Sunday of each month.
• We work 09:00-12:00 with morning tea provided at about 10:30.  Everyone is welcome to work with us all or part of the morning – or simply join us for morning tea!  Committee volunteers serve morning tea to volunteers gratis.
• Our “Community Working Bees” are family-friendly and children are most welcome – provided they are supervised by a parent or guardian at all times.

• Alternatively, you might like to work with the Thursday Team (please refer below).

Thursday Team

• The Thursday Team usually consists of 6-14 folks who would welcome new blood!  Please contact us via blackburncreeklands@gmail.com to let us know you are interested in coming and so we can let you know where we will be working.
• Though we usually work between 08:30 and 11:30 on Thursday mornings year-around, shorter commitments are most welcome of course.  We usually have a BYO morning tea at about 10:00.
• The work site for the day is usually e-mailed to the group on the prior Wednesday evening after the latest weather update from the BoM.  Plans are also present on this web-site under the Park News column on our home page.
• We mostly do weeding and/or planting work with occasional mulching and rubbish removal to a planned annual program – working closely with Council’s professionals and contractors. During the planting season, we often do preparatory work for the following Sunday Morning Community Working Bees.
• We don’t work during electrical storms, during high winds or in dangerous weather conditions.  Click here to for the details.   A little rain won’t bother us!

Tools/clothing and other needs

Tools

• Tools are provided but you are welcome to bring your own to make ours go further or to suit your working preferences.
• Useful tools are weeding hoes, weed pullers, weed bins/buckets and garden gloves.  Wheelbarrows are handy when we are mulching.

Recommended Clothing

• We recommend sensible clothes – long sleeved shirts, long trousers, gloves, hats and work boots (closed toe shoes at minimum please).
• You might also like to consider kneelers or knee pads.
• Use sunscreen and insect repellent as required.

Water

• You should bring your own drinking water (the creek water is not potable!).