Hi everyone,

Exciting news. Roleybushcare was a finalist in the 2014 National Landcare Awards that was held in Melbourne. We won the "Qantas Landcare Innovative Community Group" award.  Jo Roshkov,  one of our volunteers, represented us and sent an early message to let us know that we had won. Jo gave a thank you speech for Roleybushcare in front of almost 800 people. Roleybushcare feels so honoured to have been chosen amongst so many well deserving groups.  Well done volunteers. Click here to view Landcare Australia's media release.

 Below is from the Landcare website:

Tonight, eleven outstanding winners were announced in the 2014 National Landcare Awards in Melbourne.

The Awards ceremony took place during a gala dinner and also featured the presentation of the prestigious National Landcare People's Choice Award – voted for by you from amongst the impressive 69 finalists in the National Landcare Awards, and the Bob Hawke Landcare Award.

Almost 800 people packed Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building for the biennial celebration, which was hosted by Landcare ambassador, Catriona Rowntree, and included speeches from former Prime Minister, the Hon. Bob Hawke AC, Senator Bridget McKenzie, and the Hon. Ryan Smith, Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

The winners are a fantastic mix from across the country . They are individuals and groups who are excelling in their delivery of a range of different projects, from sustainable farm practices to Coastcare, and from Junior Landcare to Indigenous Land Management.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners – and thank you for all your hard work, expertise and passion, which is representative of the Landcare community as a whole.

And the winners are:

The 2014 Bob Hawke Landcare Award – Colin Seis, NSW
Colin Seis invented and developed 'multi species pasture cropping' (pasture cropping), helping produce food for the growing human population while restoring grasslands and soil, and thereby the sustainability of farms. Pasture cropping is now internationally recognised by leading crop scientists.

The 2014 National Landcare People's Choice Award – Mallee Sustainable Farming, SA
Mallee Sustainable Farming delivers research and extension services for low rainfall dryland farmers in the mallee cropping regions of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria and operates over 7 million hectares.

Australian Government Individual Landcarer – Russell Fry, QLD
Russell often has to deal with the misconception that Landcare is essentially about planting trees. His strong belief is that Landcare is about the sustainable use of natural resources to build sustainable farms, supporting communities and the environment.

Australian Government Innovation in Sustainable Farm Practices – Lakefield Station, NT
By producing food in a best practice fashion, Lakefield Station is ensuring it will remain a resilient primary producer, able to deal with climatic and market variations and remains a productive enterprise; the family cattle station also has approximately 1200ha under conservation.

Australian Government Landcare Facilitator or Coordinator – Louise Hufton, NSW
Louise Hufton has spent more than 20 years driving change in the Harden Murrumburrah region of NSW. Using her role as coordinator for the Harden Murrumburrah Landcare Group, Louise has inspired members, facilitated change and achieved ambitious on-ground projects such as the Community Stream Monitoring Project.

Australian Government Partnerships with Landcare – Goolwa to Wellington Local Action Planning Association, SA
Contracted to deliver for the Murray Futures program, the Goolwa to Wellington Local Planning Association has engaged volunteers from more than 54 community groups (in excess of 3000 volunteers per annum), planting almost a million seedlings on a total of some 100 sites since 2010.

Indigenous Land Management – Yurung Dhaura Aboriginal Land Management Team, ACT
The focus for the Yurung Dhaura was to train and skill Indigenous people in environmental regeneration and traditional land management, which proved a great success in helping the trainees and local Aboriginal community with environmental and social outcomes.

Junior Landcare Team – Lansdowne Crescent Primary School, TAS
Lansdowne Crescent Primary School's Land to Sea team created a bilingual interpretive trail of Hobart's Knocklofty Reserve – allowing visitors to access information by using their iPhones to scan the Quick Response (QR) codes, which directly link to the Land to Sea Website developed by the team.

Qantas Landcare Innovative Community Group – Roleybushcare, WA
Roleybushcare formed to conserve the bush from phytophthora dieback – recognised by governments as a major threat to the biodiversity of the country. They designed and manufactured hydraulic tree injectors, injected over 18,000 trees to protect them and ensured every local bushland reserve had a registered custodian with council.

Westpac Agribusiness Innovative Young Landcare Leader – Kate Sputore, WA
Kate Sputore knows the power of volunteer engagement. She is adept at encouraging new generations to join the Coastcare and Landcare movement, whilst also building on and attracting recognition for the invaluable work of our volunteers. Kate coordinated the first Coastcare for Singles event in WA, among other major events.

Coastcare – Tangaroa Blue Foundation, WA
The Australian Marine Debris Initiative was created by Tangaroa Blue Foundation in 2004. Since then, there have been over 26,000 public volunteer opportunities and over 2.4 million items of marine debris have been removed from the Australian coastline, including 907,000 items from sites in the State.