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.
