Following the 1991 closure of the region’s oldest mine, Southern Habitat was invited to join the rehabilitation team as part of Illawarra Coal’s obligation to remediate the site.
Whilst the steep nature of the site presented a number of issues, over the next decade we worked with the client and other stakeholders to remediate the site whilst addressing number of additional challenges, including:

• Damage by feral deer
• Damage caused by trail bike riders
• General trespassing
• Working amongst heritage-listed buildings
• Major landslide and sink hole

Southern Habitat revegetated an area of 30,000m2 with most works conducted on the steep mountain side. From 2004, we installed jute mesh as an erosion control measure, followed by installation of over 10,000 native grasses, shrubs and trees.
We continued to monitor the site for the next 10 years, and were responsible for both scheduled and reactive maintenance, including:

• Storm damage remediation works to lower embankment
• Constructing and installing wire tree guards around plantings
• Installation and monitoring of an electrified deer exclusion fence
• Repairing a large sink hole using clay and grouting
• Installation of a 10,478L water tank
• Overseeing a deer eradiation (shooting) program