World Environment Day Festival Returns to Murwillumbah with Expert Speakers, Live Music and Community Action, Murwillumbah Showgrounds, Sunday 13th of July

Free festival on 13 July celebrates biodiversity and climate solutions in the Northern Rivers. The World Environment Day Festival will return to Murwillumbah on Sunday 13 July, bringing together the community for a day of environmental education, live music, and collective action from 10am to 3:30pm. Hosted by Caldera Environment Centre and Tweed Landcare, this…

The Wollumbin Caldera – It’s Geological Formation and Flora

The Wollumbin / Mount Warning shield volcano and its erosion caldera is a unique volcanic landform which has functioned as a refugium, over the 20 million years since it’s formation, for a core area of Gondwana rainforest flora. The Caldera is located in a major climatic transition zone, between temperate and tropical floral and faunal…

We Are All Ingesting Plastic

The CEC note the growing awareness of the public to the issue of plastic molecule emissions from plastics, especially from materials undergoing changes in temperature or in direct sunlight. We are all becoming more aware of our unwanted ingestion of these plastic molecules and the retention of these molecules in our bodies. Bioaccumulation of microplastics…

TSC: 1000 trees community tree planting for National Tree Day, Byangum, Sunday 27 July, and, Grants of up to $4,000 for Tweed farmers for sustainable land management.

TSC Tweed Link: 1000 trees community tree planting for National Tree Day! Col Wiley Park, Byangum,Sunday 27 July, from 9 am to 12 noon to help improve water quality, protect wildlife and reduce river erosion. Also, grants of up to $4,000 for Tweed farmers for sustainable land management for projects that improve soil health, water…

NPWS: Border Ranges 360 degree experiences

“Discover some of the rare and remarkable animals, plants and habitats that make Border Ranges National Park special, with our [NPWS] interactive 360-degree images. The Border Ranges is a special place where primitive plants and animals have evolved and landscapes have barely changed in millions of years. As a refuge for many threatened species, some…

Meeting with Premier and cabinet – July 30 Tweed Heads

TSC residents can attend a special local meeting with Premier and Cabinet on July 30 Twin Town Club 12 noon -1:15 to talk about Tweed issues.. (People have to register.) It could be a chance to ask for koala protection across the whole state not just on the coast, permission for Council to have an environmental levy, or more…

NSW Parks: Sounds of nature: Border Ranges Gondwana Rainforest

“Listen to our (NPWS) Gondwana Rainforests soundscape on the NSW National Parks, to be transported to this incredible part of Australia. Border Ranges National Park forms part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, which stretches past Newcastle to south-east Queensland. The Gondwana Rainforests are globally recognised as home to the most extensive areas…

Have Your Say on the Draft Hastings Point Headland Management Plan

Council is seeking feedback on a draft management plan for Hastings Point headland. The Tweed Shire Council ‘Have Your Say’ portal is open for comments until Friday 27 June. The plan aims to improve the quality of this public open space while protecting the headland’s natural environment and cultural heritage values, both now and in…

Caravan Park at Pottsville refused by NSW.gov, as per Community and TS Council Recommendation.

Tweed Link #1400 4 June 2025: “The Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) recently announced their decision to refuse the application (DA 25/0011) at Pottsville. The Development Application for 1183 Cudgera Creek Road, Cudgera Creek included the building of a caravan park containing 267 long term sites and 12 short term sites, clubhouse, outbuildings and associated…

FoodAware Murwillumbah , this July’s Daring Dialogue at the Kambucha Cafe

“FoodAware Murwillumbah is a community project that has been set up to share with the community the knowledge needed to make informed food choices in the light of recent findings on the links between climate change, deforestation and animal farming, the leading driver of climate change, arguably of greenhouse gases as well, and to spell…

Dear TS Councillor, et al.

We reproduce below a recent CEC correspondence to the Tweed Shire Councillors regarding an upcoming agenda item to do with in our opinion not only issues of disposal, but also with our ingestion of micro and nano plastic molecules emitting from plastic in the environment. Dear Councillor <name>. Wednesday’s public access Council Meeting has an…

[nefanews] Forestry Corps Losses

NEFA: “Following the NSW Forest Alliance putting out a media release that was run by the Guardian, cross-benchers have now piled on with a story in the Sydney Morning Herald (see below). SMH: “MPs call for state government to end its ‘fiscally irrational’ logging. “A powerful group of state government crossbenchers has again called on…

Tweed Regional Art Gallery: Spiders of Paradise

10 May – 3 August 2025, Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise presents the artist’s ongoing photographic series featuring the tiny Australian Maratus spider. It includes new works from this series as well as Cardoso’s acclaimed video work On the Origins of Art I–II (2016). Bringing together science, art and nature, this exhibition celebrates the…

Forestry continue to haemorrhage money

From the North East Forest Alliance, NEFA News: “Forestry Corps have declared a half year normalised earnings loss of $14.9 on their hardwood logging, in part blaming  protests, protection of Koala hubs in the GKNP, the new Greater Glider protocols and having to assess the unique and special wildlife values in plantations. The claimed significance of…

[nefanews]: Axe falls on loggers’ plan to avoid battle over gliders

[Caldera note: A recent court case determined that private people or entities could not take legal action against logging operations carried out in breach of regulations, and that only government entities had that right. The current court case has over-ruled that finding, opening the courts to individuals and groups to pursue legal action against logging…

Welcome to the new CEC location 

Now after two years without a premises the Caldera Environment Centre is back in Murwillumbah. Drop in a check out all our new merchandise, including a great range of books, plants and environmentally sound products. The shop is managed by our volunteers and open week days and Saturday morning. Caldera Activities: World Environment Day is back…

CEC Movie Club – ‘ALBATROSS, A Love Story’

A highlight of the movie is the slow motion footage of the albatross mating ritual, turning a chaotic cacophonous flurry into an elegant and choreographed mating dance. Also, the National Parks guide pushes away the grass growing through the nests, revealing the skeletal remains of the chick in the nest, the small pile of plastic…

The Literal End of the Shearwater Ocean Birds because Plastic

This the end of the Shearwater ocean bird species, et al, in our lifetimes, because plastic. ABC News have reported on the Shearwater birds nesting on Lord Howe Island feeding their chicks in their nests with plastic which they mistake for food, so much so that 20% of the chick’s bodyweight is plastic, and one…

TSC DCP Review, An Opportunity to Protect Non-Native Trees As Do Other Councils

The revised Development Control Plan, when it soon goes on exhibition for Public comment,  will be an opportunity to lobby for stronger protection of both native and non-native trees.  Greens Councillor Nola Firth comments: “Tweed Shire Council compared to other NSW Councils has scant protection for non-native urban trees.  “Non-natives here in the Tweed are only protected if they have a diameter of more than 80cm at breast height, but…

ReUse: $4 Refill Tablet for household cleaning spray containers, at the CEC.

Plastic production reduction – don’t buy a new plastic spray bottle of cleaner each time, instead use an empty plastic spray bottle or get a glass spray bottle from us, then add the refill tablet, and then add water. The refill tablets are available at the Caldera Environment Centre. Not dwelling on the subject here,…

“If this, …

“If this ocean bird of this species, … then every ocean bird of this species.” “If this ocean bird species, … then every ocean bird species.” ect. A one minute duration information unit about the Collapse of the Ocean Ecology because plastic in the environment. “If this, … ” is an awardee of The Caldera…

NEFA: Koala claims are yet more false information by loggers

“The loggers are once again spreading false information in their attempts to stop the Great Koala National Park (GKNP), this time by claiming that the assessment of Koalas was based upon Koala scat searches when they know it was based upon comprehensive drone surveys that identified actual Koalas. For the GKNP repeated night time drone…

Which Land Sites for Development? The Tweed Shire Council Draft Options Paper for the Growth Management and Housing Strategy: Councillors Request Clarity

The TSC ‘Final Options Paper‘, nominating 69 sites to be proposed for development or further development, was on the agenda of the December ’24 Tweed Shire Council Public Meeting. It was noted by Councillors however that the ‘Final Options’ presented by Council staff has combined several previously separately identified sites, clouding clear identification of environmental and…