Caring for the Cottesloe Dunes in 2025

As we ring in the New Year, it’s the perfect moment to reflect on another year of achievement for 2025—and what a year it was.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve continued to refine and adapt our operating systems, and the results speak for themselves. The 5,000 seedlings planted in 2025 look as strong and healthy as any we’ve planted in our 30 years of continuous activity. In fact, when you look along the Cottesloe coastline today, you can see a dune ecosystem that has been greatly transformed almost end to end.

What We Achieved

This year alone, our volunteers contributed over 1,600 hours of work, valued at more than $80,000, using the Volunteering WA calculator. That effort covered planting 5,000 seedlings, along with the hard yards of mulching, watering, seed collecting, and weeding.
While the numbers are impressive, the true reward is seeing Cottesloe’s natural areas thriving—especially as we mark our 30th year of care and commitment.

Seasonal Activities on the Dunes

We kicked off Summer 2025 by watering the 5,000 plants established in winter 2024. Helping seedlings survive their first summer is critical, so this work is always a top priority. Summer is also seed-collecting season, ensuring we grow plants well adapted to our challenging coastal environment. These plants are grown for us by our fantastic specialist nurseries, APACE and Nuts About Natives.
When the rains arrived in May, we moved straight into planting another 5,000 seedlings. June saw another successful Community Planting Day for National Tree Day. With support from the Seedling Bank, more than 1,000 seedlings were planted on the North Cottesloe dunes, just south of North Street.
After planting wrapped up, it was back to weeding—and thanks to good winter rains, there was certainly no shortage of weeds this year! Watering resumed at the end of November in collaboration with Town of Cottesloe staff, using our excellent new system. We now water weekly, ensuring each plant receives a deep drink at least once a month.

Our Amazing Volunteers

Our loyal local volunteers were joined this year by an enthusiastic mix of new faces, including several corporate groups who brought energy and support to the dunes. We were delighted to welcome teams from Liberty Specialty Markets, Stantec, TAFE, WAFTA, Terra Rosa, AIG, and Viridien.
We also received wonderful help from local schools. Cottesloe Primary School helped once again through the Adopt a Beach program with support from Perth NRM, while students from Christ Church Grammar School rolled up their sleeves as mulch layers and weed pullers on multiple occasions.
Spring brought another special nature play session at our Nature Discovery Space. Organised by Cath Fitz OT and supported by Perth NRM, the morning welcomed around 50 children and their families. Together, they built cubbies, painted, and crafted using natural materials in a joyful celebration of creativity and nature.
A major highlight came on November 21, when we celebrated our 30th Anniversary with a lovely function at Curtin Heritage Living—a truly memorable milestone.

With Thanks

A huge thank you goes to the Town of Cottesloe Depot staff for their continued partnership, as well as Perth NRM and our generous sponsors. Above all, we thank our committee, our donors, our members and our core group of regular volunteers—this work simply wouldn’t happen without you.
We hope you enjoy our 2025 story, beautifully captured through Robyn’s photos. Just click on an image to launch the slideshow and see what we’ve achieved together.