Wanted: green thumbs keen to give Mt Keira Summit Park a much-needed make-over.
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The Mt Keira Lookout Action Group has officially put out the call for volunteers, willing to get their hands dirty, for a working bee on April 7.
Dozens of people gathered at a community meeting at the lookout on Saturday, where several speakers discussed the shabby state of the once-popular tourist attraction.
Despite regular maintenance work by Rotary volunteers and Wollongong Botanic Gardens staff, who manage the site, the lookout is overgrown and in desperate need of some TLC.
Botanic Gardens curator Paul Tracey said the summit park had been challenged in the past 18months by vandalism, particularly repeated removal of the site’s binoculars, and difficulties managing daily upkeep.
The Wollongong Council has since employed three horticultural trainees, who have been regularly working at the summit park, but Mr Tracey said community help was critical.
He was hopeful the support garnered via Facebook will turn into actual helping hands next month.
‘‘Along with Rotary, my team will be here [on April 7] and we just want to do a whole heap of work,’’ he said.
‘‘Things like removing deadwood, clearing the ring tracks, painting, just a whole heap of tasks, even for those who don’t think they’re particularly handy.’’
Illawarra Scouts representative John Lammers said the mountain’s scout camp had also suffered from neglect and the closure of the road to the site.
He told Saturday’s rally that the camp had lost several wedding bookings, due to lack of access, and thousands of tourist dollars.
‘‘We should be making use of every facility and unfortunately, with the way things have gone with the road, it’s just put a lot of us where we don’t want to be,’’ he said.
‘‘There is no access, other than what we currently have and unfortunately, people living south of Wollongong find it difficult to find; they see the barricades up and it’s sufficient for them to say ‘I’m not going down there’.
‘‘It is essential that we get the road open so we can offer facilities like the scout camps and the lookout; it’s a whole gamut of things that the public are really missing out and it should be resurrected.’’
Action group member Leigh Stewart also called for the urgent repair of the road, along with the re-construction of the former cafe and reconnection of water.
