15th March 2022

Wendy Andrew, an enthusiastic and long standing Convenor of Tranmere Clarence Plains Land & Coastcare Inc, has died in Western Australia on February 6 2022.

Words from Pene Thorton of TACPLACI

Wendy, aided by her late husband, Bruce Andrew, made a huge contribution to preserving the natural values of the Tranmere, Rokeby and Clarendon Vales areas on Hobart’s Eastern Shore. Her work was acknowledged when she received recognition for her dedication when given a Landcare Award.

Wendy was adapt at spotting Council or Parks and Wildlife land that could benefit from the clearance of weed infestation then revegetating with appropriate native flora, often enlisting the assistance of students from neighbouring primary schools in the planting.  She was indefatigable in applying for appropriate grants, scrupulous in their application and acquittal.

She applied the same criteria to Clarence Council land, most notably along side the Clarence Plains Rivulet.

When the government of the day introduced work for the dole schemes in early 2000s, Wendy saw an opportunity for a Work for the Dole group to carry out environmental work along the Clarence Plains Rivulet.  She applied on behalf of the group and was granted funding to hire a supervisor to oversee the workers assigned to the group. Their task was to clean up and re-vegetate the rivulet surrounds from Goodwins Road for a length of over a kilometer to the boundary of Bayview High School.

When the group first looked at the area it was like a rubbish tip with car bodies and rubbish strewn everywhere. Not forgetting the 6 foot high blackberries. The first step was to fence and boulder-off the area so no more rubbish could be dumped. Then a cleanup of the car bodies and rubbish was organised. Once that was done, work began on clearing environmental weeds such as blackberry, boxthorn and boneseed and planting natives to replace them.

The next step was to build a pedestrian path running from Goodwins Road to the boundary of Bayview High School. Wendy’s husband Bruce, a retired civil engineer, designed the path and supervised the work for the dole team in its construction. The work for the dole team worked in the area for about 6 years. The result today is a beautiful park land surrounding the rivulet.

Over the years, the group, primarily through Wendy, worked with the developers to obtain sub-divisions that featured retained natural areas, particularly on ridge lines, Water Sensitive Urban Design features, appropriate Public Open Spaces, walking trails and natural links connecting shorelines to ridge lines. Wendy worked with developers and council planners on numerous development proposals over the years, tweaking the plan here, urging a change to the layout there. As a result those subdivisions are an environment more habitable for both flora, fauna and humans.

Wendy moved to Western Australia in February 2017. Her continuing legacy is a committed Landcare group who consistently attend the weekly Thursday working bees. We work on areas of natural value identified by Wendy and Bruce Andrew years ago, enhancing the Tranmere Foreshore walking track and working with the communities of Rokeby and Clarence Plains.

Thank you, Wendy and Bruce.

Pene Thornton

Secretary

www.tacplaci.org.au