Volunteer
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Have a few hours, or looking for a regular role?
Contact us, to find out more, and to elect whether you’d like to receive our regular e-News ‘Friends Volunteer Update’.
There are a number of ways that an individual can get involved. Not everyone can make a financial contribution, but everyone can contribute in some way.
Get connected! Learn skills, gain experiences, share knowledge.
Whether you are looking to do your bit for the environment, want work experience in the industry or want to volunteer with a group of friendly, welcoming people we have a role for you. No experience is necessary for most roles.
Hear about some of the valuable work our volunteers do HERE.
Read on for information about our current volunteer opportunities, including:
- nursery assistance
- planting days & habitat restoration help
- citizen science flora, fungi & fauna surveys
- weekend activities
- youth events & youth reference group
- corporate & team building days
- … and more.
Friends of HeHo and Zoos Vic. A valued partnership. Image S.Tardif
Sharing knowledge of Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. Image: B.Tardif
COVID-19, cold or flu requirements. To join in on the fun you’ll need to be prepared to follow current health advice, as well as guidelines on hygiene and social distancing. To help keep our volunteers and staff well, we encourage all participants at our events to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. We ask, please stay home if you are at all unwell, or showing symptoms of COVID, colds and flu eg sore throat, runny nose, cough, fever etc.
These requirements are relevant to everyone – volunteers, staff and visitors alike. For details about our policies, head HERE.
Our event coordinators look forward to your understanding, co-operation and support as we welcome you into our programs.
Committee of Management
At our upcoming 2023 AGM (date TBC), Stephen Garth will be stepping down from his 4+ years as Secretary of our volunteer Committee of Management, taking a well-deserved break.
Expressions of Interest for this important Executive role are being accepted now (volunteer position).
Would you, or someone you know enjoy working alongside our passionate volunteers and staff? Stephen is happy to answer your queries – no pressure to commit – and will be available to assist the new Secretary whilst they settle into the role. You can email Stephen at: secretary@helmetedhoneyeater.org.au
- contribute approx. 8 hours p/wk with most hours on days/times that suit you
- attend (via Zoom) monthly, evening Committee of Management meetings, and take minutes
- manage our group’s membership
- contribute to admin requirements of our not-for-profit group, in partnership with other Executive members.
Committee’s aren’t for everyone, but successful groups don’t function without the dedication of a committee. We are no exception. We employ four part-time staff, operate an indigenous nursery, assist local landholders who are wanting to conserve/enhance bushland on their properties and manage many active project-based habitat restoration and community engagement projects. All this, and more, is aimed at improving the natural values of this region and connecting people to conservation.
Our volunteer committee is important, and well regarded.
For further information: contact Virginia Wallace, President of the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater. Email: president@helmetedhoneyeater.org.au
Click HERE for information about the current Committee.
Seeds and Weeds Days
- monthly, generally on a Sunday.
Activities may include seed collecting, targeted weeding, habitat planting or works around the nursery or at differing locations around the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area. Meet at the Yellingbo Ranger’s House, 1217 Macclesfield Road, Yellingbo (Melway Map 305 Ref. G11) at 9.15am. BYO lunch. Most equipment is supplied. Please dress for the weather. Sturdy boots are required, gumboots in wet weather. All activities are undertaken under the supervision and direction of our Seeds & Weeds Day Coordinator.
Our new, purpose built seed storage facility is coming soon – the building is in place and the ramp is installed. Next… the internal fit out will happen.
All plants grown and sold by the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater community nursery are of local provenance. All propagation material is collected under permit to protect and preserve the integrity of our natural environment. All activities are undertaken under the supervision and direction of our Nursery Manager & Seeds and Weeds Day Coordinator.
Please contact us to learn how you can get started. We are accepting new volunteers NOW.
Could this be you, lending a hand in the Reserve? Image: S.Tardif
Nursery
- Every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
- 1st Saturday of the month (Apr-Dec)
Learn new skills in plant propagation and plant identification or share your knowledge. Come and enjoy the colour, movement and sound of the bush whilst enjoying the company of fellow Friends as you pot up plants and get involved in various aspects of nursery management. Check out our opening times here. All activities are undertaken under the supervision and direction of our Nursery Manager.
Volunteers often attend weekly or fortnightly, however this isn’t required. BYO a picnic lunch to have with others in the bushland surrounds afterwards. Morning tea and training is provided.
Contact us to be placed on our WAIT LIST.
Nursery volunteers with Michelle.
Citizen science fauna & flora surveys | clean-up mornings
- 2-3 weekdays per month, with the occasional weekend, following the seasons
- regular and casual involvement welcome
- on-line – your skills, combined with our areas of need, all in the comfort of your home.
Looking for something that expends some energy, makes great use of your plant/fauna/fungi knowledge or allows you to learn? Maybe you just want to get stuck into something useful?
We organise our surveys to capture data across the 6 seasons in the Middle Yarra Timelines Calendar of the Wurundjeri, the First Nations people of the land we work on.
It’s common to think you don’t know enough to contribute to fauna and flora surveys, but we don’t believe that’s true. Citizen science is a way for everyday people like you and me to get closer to nature. It involves recording the plants, animals and fungi you encounter in an area, using your own smart phone and carefully selected apps. We upload our observations into our iNaturalist project ‘Yellingbo and surrounds’, Birdata (Birdlife Australia) and Frog Census (Melbourne Water) or FrogID (Australian Museum). This information is then used by scientists to understand where species live, when they’re active, and any changes happening in the local environment. Anyone can be a citizen scientist! It is possible to do this both online and on the ground.
You will feel a satisfyingly ‘good’ tired, knowing your time has not been wasted and is valued.
When you’re in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area with us, you may get wet and/or cold or hot at times, but you will expect this being out in the bush. It’s part of the joy, along with the smiles, laughter and exercise we’ll share! If your contribution is on-line, we’ll be inviting you to visit and meet the team 🙂
Please contact us to learn how you can get started, or, you can REGISTER NOW for the next events HERE.
High summer flora survey in the Reserve. Image A.Gregorovich
Typical Bird survey results (5km search)
Youth events
Youth Reference Group
- variable days – weekdays & weekends, following the seasons
- once-off or longer-term commitment.
Our youth events are part social, part science, part environmental volunteering.
Youth events welcome any person aged 18-31+ who resonates with the event descriptions. Events focus on providing meaningful volunteer opportunities for people who may be new to the environmental sector to build social connections and transferrable skills.
Our program of activities leaves space for evolution. Frog surveys, plant ID, weed management techniques, orchid protection, story telling and more! The data our youth events collect contributes to the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater’s iNaturalist project ‘Yellingbo and surrounds’, which in turn contributes to the Australian Living Atlas.
Find out more about our Youth Reference Group HERE. If you are aged 18-31+, you too can contribute to the current and future plans of the YRG. You’d be warmly welcomed.
Please contact us to learn how you can get started, or, you can REGISTER NOW for the next events HERE.
Members of the Youth Reference Group
Amy, the FoHH Youth Reference Group convenor, learning how to remove Spanish Heath
Corporate planting days or nursery days
- Planting days usually Wednesday, Thursday or Friday during May-October (depending on seasonal weather)
- Nursery days throughout the year (Tuesdays, Thursdays &/or Fridays)
Are you looking for a volunteer activity that focuses on the outdoors and held during the working week? Our community group needs and welcomes assistance. Help us to plant or grow future habitat for the Helmeted Honeyeater and the other species that co-exist with it within Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area. Your corporate group can make a substantial difference in just one day whilst having a great day out. All equipment is supplied. All activities are undertaken under the supervision and direction of our Environmental Coordinator or Nursery Manager.
Contact us to let us know what you require, and ask how you may be involved. Your suggestions are welcomed.
Corporate planting day with AusNet staff. Over 2000 plants now in the ground. Thank you!
Community Education
- various times and venues throughout the year
- weekdays or weekends
Use your presentation skills to assist school students and/or adult groups learn about the Helmeted Honeyeater, its habitat and the threats to them. Share your love of the environment with others. Reasonable PC and IT skills required for using a prepared Powerpoint presentation. Working with Children’s Check (volunteer) required. Events may include classroom & community group talks and/or informal community markets & fetes. Training is provided by our Environmental Coordinator.
Contact us to be put in contact with Eliza, our Environmental Coordinator, for further information.
Nest building with school children.
School planting days
- usually Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays during May-October (depending on seasonal weather)
Join our school group visits to Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. A core part of our education program with schools is to plant future habitat for the Helmeted Honeyeater and the other species that co-exist with it. The day may also include a guided habitat walk, a tour or hands-on experience in our nursery or environmental games. All activities are undertaken under the supervision and direction of our Environmental Coordinator. Working with Children’s Check (volunteer) required.
Contact us to be put in contact with Eliza, our Environmental Coordinator, for further information.
500 habitat plants planted – brilliant! Image: S.Tardif
Use your own special skills
- variable
A couple of our members provide fantastic photographic images for our social media, presentations, merchandise and newsletter. Another member is a botanical artist and contributes her drawings for reproduction in our merchandise range. One member has particular skills in writing. Another is really good at producing our newsletter. These examples represent only a few of the tasks that ‘someone’ needs to do to keep our programs running optimally. Everyone has something unique to contribute to the group. Let us know how you can contribute.
Contact us for further conversation about how you might start contributing today.
Our program partners
In addition to the work of our volunteers and wider community, the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater work with a recovery team.
A recovery team is established to guide and coordinate the management and recovery of endangered species. In 1989, the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater was one of the founding members of the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Team, and has been continuously active on it, and its working-groups, ever since. The recovery of the Helmeted Honeyeater would not be effective without strong partnerships. Please take a look at the activities members of the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Team operate. There may be ways you can also give them a helping hand.
Membership of the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Team is made up of representatives from:
- Birdlife Australia
- Cardinia Shire Council
- the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA)
- Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater
- Monash University
- Melbourne Water
- Parks Victoria (PV)
- Southeast Botanical Consulting
- Yarra Ranges Council
- Zoos Victoria
- with co-opted expertise contributed by other individuals/organisations/community groups, as required.
