Bringing Country back to wetlands

This year Sydney Airport continued its partnership with Wildflower, Gardens for Good Inc. (Wildflower), commissioning additional bush regeneration works at the Sydney Airport Wetlands.

Wildflower is an indigenous-led not-for-profit social enterprise specialising in premium sustainable horticulture, landscape and ecology services to businesses and government clients, including ecological restoration projects.

The organisation provides safe, meaningful employment to First Nations people, many of whom face significant and complex barriers to employment.

Sydney Airport has numerous wetlands within its footprint forming part of the greater Botany Wetlands. The wetlands consist of 11 interconnected ponds spanning over 4km between Gardeners Road in Mascot and the northern shore of Botany Bay.

In 2023, Wildflower completed 853 hours of bush regeneration work at Sydney Airport. The works included removing noxious Weeds of National Significance (WoNS), planting more than 780 native species in the endemic area, and collecting native seeds for propagation within the wetlands’ riparian zone.

The information-sharing between the organisations has boosted community engagement by providing staff with a connection to the environment and further broadening the employment prospects of at-risk young people.

In May 2023, the project won a $50k community grant from IFM Investors, one of Sydney Airport’s owner groups, which demonstrated top-down support of the project. The grant went directly to Wildflower to further fund bush regeneration works at the wetlands.

In August 2023, the project also won the Heritage, Culture and Community Spirit Award in the 2023 Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Sustainable Cities Awards.

In May 2024, Sydney Airport received an Airports Council International Green Airports Recognition 2024 – Biodiversity and Nature-Based Solutions award for this project to bring back Country to the wetlands.

Sydney Airport General Manager of Environment and Sustainability, Jake Atkins said enlisting the help of the Wildflower crew has been a privilege.

“Increasing the bush regeneration of the wetlands while supporting our partner, Wildflower, in its mission to provide meaningful and culturally safe employment to young people in the First Nations community has been a win-win,” said Mr Atkins.

“It’s an honour to have this project and the incredible work our partner, Wildflower, is doing be recognised for bringing nature back to Sydney Airport’s wetlands,” he said.

Co-founder and Director of Wildflower, Roman Deguchi said he’s grateful to Sydney Airport as they have been an important part of Wildflower’s growth.

“By partnering with Wildflower, the airport is contributing to the empowerment of our community,” Mr Deguchi said.

“Wildflower’s ethos is to bring Country back to urban spaces by working with the land, not against it.

“Our vision is to live in a world where Aboriginal knowledge and culture is valued. We’re thrilled that this important work has been recognised, but most importantly, this award is really uplifting for our crew members.”

The bush regeneration works are vitally important to environmental health in the area. The wetlands are home to native birds, and so by removing weeds and restoring native ecological communities, threatened species are supported.

Find out more about how Sydney Airport is working to protect the environment and check out the great work of the team at Wildflower.