Mermaid Pools Fix Up Project
Return of the Mermaids
In 2002, local resident Malcolm Fisher registered “The Return of the Mermaids” as a Clean Up Australia Day event, which saw 71 volunteers remove more than four tonnes of rubbish from the area. Since that first Clean Up, the event evolved into monthly community bushcare meetings, now known as the Mermaid Pools Restoration Project.
Manly Dam (Manly Warringah War Memorial State Park), traditional lands of the Garigal Clan of the Guringai Aboriginal People, Sydney’s Northern Beaches, was built in 1892 and was the local drinking water source for 40 years. At that time, the surrounding catchment was a pristine landscape home to over 300 species of native plants, more than 80 bird species, 27 species of reptiles and frogs.
We can see the First Nation’s history of the land, including Aboriginal rock art and engravings, shell middens, and axe grinding grooves. Manly Dam is also one the last remaining homes to the climbing galaxias (Galaxias brevipinnis), a rare species of fish with a line reaching back to Gondwanaland and known to breathe through its skin and climb waterfalls!
Sadly, over the years, the surrounding catchment has slowly been encroached by development. The Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee was established by Malcolm to protect this special area of natural land. The Committee’s campaigns include The Mermaid Pools Restoration Project, as it was hit by the ravages of urban sprawl and became a weed-infested illegal dumping ground, complete with sewage overflows.
The huge amount of rubbish removed from the first Clean Up Australia Day event in March 2002.
Ian Kiernan, Founder of Clean Up Australia, volunteering at Mermaid Pool.
The Mermaid Pools Restoration Project
Mal and his team of volunteers return every month to remediate the area by collecting decades of rubbish, removing weeds, and planting more than 2000 native saplings. Water quality has been restored through concerted lobbying for fixing storm-water run-off, and as a result, the pool is now back to its original condition. 
Nature's Symphony
Pip Kiernan (centre) with volunteers and Malcolm Fisher (right) continue the work at Mermaid Pools on the 20th anniversary of the project.
Celebrating 20 years of impact
The project celebrated 20 years of community action in March 2022, with the Chair of Clean Up Australia, Pip Kiernan, joining forces with volunteers including staff from Manly Liquorland, to form a human chain carting buckets of bricks, rubbish and rubble from the water’s edge up into the street to be thrown into a skip bin generously provided by Cleanaway.
2025 Clean Up & Bushcare
On the 24th of May 2025, Clean Up Australia team worked alongside Malcolm and a bright groups of dedicated volunteers as they continued their mission by hauling bricks, debris, weeds and litter out of the Mermaid Pools bushland.
Volunteers are joined by Clean Up Australia staff in May 2025 to clean up the last remaining bricks and debris from the water.
How you can get involved!
The Mermaid Pools Restoration Project welcome new, occasional and regular volunteers to take part in bushcare every fourth Saturday from 9am to 1pm (with a break at 11am).
Everyone is invited to join in – whether this is your first experience in bush regeneration, or you’re a green thumb, there’s something for you!
When: the fourth Saturday of every month
Time: 9 am - 1 pm
Where: Meet outside the UNSW gates on the Western corner of King St, Manly Vale, NSW 2093.
What to bring: Water, sunscreen, appropriate clothing, footwear, and a hat. Tools and clean up materials are provided.
More info: email Malcolm Fisher at cowfish5@bigpond.com to receive more details or to register to volunteer.
Visit the Mermaid Pools Restoration Project Facebook Group and the Save Manly Dam Bushland Facebook Page.
For a history of the area and Project visit the
Green Manly Blog.
Photo of volunteers at the May 2025 Bushcare and Clean Up.
You can join regular and new volunteers at Mermaid Pool on the Fourth Saturday of the month.
Awards and Recognition
Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee and the Mermaid Pools Restoration Project is a showpiece of regeneration that has won awards and been featured for three consecutive years in the annual international Earth Day campaign.
The Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee and Mermaid Pools Restoration Project have been recognised by the following awards:
- 2025 Greater Sydney Landcare and Bushcare Awards – Winner of the ‘Community Group Award’.
- 2015 Winners of the Inaugural Keep NSW Beautiful Blue Star Sustainability Award in the Habitat and Wildlife Guardianship Category.
- 20212 Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA) Regional Awards –
Winner of the ‘Community Group Environment Award’.
[Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXwO-oLW__U] - 2011 NSW Landcare Awards – Winner of the ‘People's Choice Award’
May 2025, Mermaid Pools Restoration Project volunteers celebrate the announcement of their 2025 Greater Sydney Landcare Award win!
Project Impact
- Manly Biodiversity Project is a Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee project in partnership with Northern Beaches Council and the Federal Government to commission ecologists to survey, monitor and record the amazing flora and fauna unique to this area. Learn more about how you can help the project.
- Messages on drains encourage residents to prevent rubbish and leaves from entering the stormwater system. The messages stencilled on the drains include ‘Protect your Mermaid Pool’, ‘Your local waterway starts here’, and ‘No rubbish, no leaves, just rain’.
- Weed Removal - Rehabilitation efforts involve weed removal and bush regeneration as well as a comprehensive community education program, both intrinsic to improving water quality and overall environmental improvement.
- Pool growth - the size of Mermaid Pool has been greatly increased since the removal of large quantities of noxious waterweed.
- Mermaid Pool on Gardening Australia – Malcolm Fisher shows Costa Georgiadis the extent of the restoration and persisting problems (first aired in 2014).
Mermaid Pool, Manly Vale, Volunteer hauls bricks and debris from the creek at the May 2025 bushcare day.
Project Partnerships
Clean Up Australia
Impressed with local enthusiasm for the project, Clean Up Australia included the project in its national Fix Up Program, providing materials, networking and promotional support. The Mermaid Pool Fix Up Project joined over 50 community Fix Up projects supported by Clean Up Australia and attended by founder, Ian Kiernan. We are proud to continue Ian and Malcolm’s legacy as it evolves and strengthens.
Local organisations
Over the years, local organisations have played an important part in the project through donated services. Eso Surveyors provided survey plans, Northern Beaches Envirolink donated funds for signage, North Balgowlah Earth Moving trucked in sandstone as a planting medium, Ground Force Management supplied landscaping machinery, Just Chip Tree contractors removed Coral Trees, Fishing Tackle shop Fish Outa Water provided waders, Northside Water provided fresh drinking water, Sydney Wildlife provided wildlife advice and rescue.
Silverwater Correctional Complex bused detainees to the site every weekend for several years to remove invasive weed from the creek line, and many university students have carried out research projects, and school students have helped achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Conservation Volunteers Australia invite volunteers to work along Manly Creek, Oz Green has given their assistance, and companies such as Roche have sent staff members to volunteer on team impact days.
Government Support
Northern Beaches Council and Mayor Michael Reagan have supported the community in overseeing the council’s ‘Friends of the Bush’ program as well as commissioning a Plan of Management for the site that covers an area from Manly Dam wall to 50 meters below the Mermaid Pool.
The Natural Heritage Trust has granted repeated funding to the Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee for work on the rehabilitation project.
The Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee, who manage the Mermaid Pools Restoration Project, has received two Natural Heritage Trust grants, amounting to approximately $50,000, funding professional bush regeneration staff and public education initiatives to prevent illegal dumping in bushland areas, to promote the importance of planting native trees and shrubs, and increase awareness of garden plants becoming bushland weeds.
