Sometimes a group is formed

with a plan.

And sometimes, just days after it begins, Mother Nature comes roaring in and says, “Righty then, let’s see what you’ve got.”

That was the rather dramatic beginning of Coochiemudlo Island Coastcare.

In late January 2013, a severe storm surge from Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald tore through Norfolk and Outrigger Beaches, sweeping away sand from almost a kilometre of Coochie’s eastern shoreline.

Dunes disappeared. Trees were uprooted or left hanging by their roots. Beach access tracks collapsed, and the Ramsar-listed Melaleuca Wetlands behind the beach were suddenly exposed to the threat of saltwater inundation.

And Coastcare? It had been

formed only days earlier

Talk about hitting the ground running.

A community rolls up its sleeves

What followed was a huge recovery effort involving Coastcare, island residents, SEQ Catchments, WetlandCare Australia, Redland City Council and funding from the Federal Government.

For six weeks, heavy machinery worked along Norfolk Beach, scraping sand back from the low-tide mark, rebuilding dunes and righting uprooted trees.

Then the volunteers moved in

More than 6,500 native coastal grasses, shrubs and trees were planted by hand to help hold the newly restored dunes together. That’s a lot of holes, a lot of plants and, I imagine, quite a few aching backs by the end of it.

But this wasn’t simply about making the beach look pretty again. The work helped protect the fragile wetlands behind it and gave Norfolk Beach a fighting chance to recover.

The work didn’t stop

when the machinery left

That enormous effort became part of a much longer story.

Over the years, Coastcare volunteers have continued caring for Coochie’s beaches, bushland, wetlands and wildlife habitats.

They’ve planted, weeded, monitored, cleaned up and kept turning up, even when the work was hot, muddy or largely unseen.

The 2013 restoration also began an ongoing conversation about how best to protect our shoreline.

There are rarely simple answers when you’re dealing with a living, changing coastline. The beach has ideas of its own.

From no home to a home of their own

Now, more than 13 years after Coastcare was thrown headfirst into its first major challenge, the group is preparing to celebrate another remarkable milestone: the official opening of its new Environmental Hub.

The Hub, at 43a Elizabeth Street, will give Coastcare a permanent home base for its environmental work, education, equipment and community activities.

The official opening will be held at 10.30am on Thursday 1 October 2026, with the Hon Andrew Powell MP, Minister for the Environment and Tourism and Minister for Science and Technology, attending to officially open the new premises.

From a newly formed group standing beside a badly damaged beach to an established organisation with a home of its own, it’s quite a journey.

And perhaps the most important part of the story is this: Norfolk Beach wasn’t restored by machinery and funding alone.

It was restored by people who

cared enough to show up