Be Part of Wurridjal Festival 2025!
Applications are now open to host an event for the 2025 Wurridjal Festival.
The festival marks the start of a season when thousands of mullet – known locally as ‘wurridjal’ – enter the river during their pre-spawning migration along the east coast.
The festival runs each year over March and April, with 2025 festival dates to be announced soon. To register your expression of interest, complete the EOI form below. EOI applications close 31 January.
Submit your event idea HERE.
Sneak Peek at Our Backyard River
We’ve been working on something really exciting and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Throughout the year, we’ve been exploring new ways of telling the river’s story. A story that unites communities, government organisations and land managers across the catchment. We’re taking inspiration from river storytelling projects like Swimmable Birrarung, Parramatta River Catchment Group’s Our Living River but is a uniquely Cooks River thing. The story will speak to the scale of the river and will have a connection to Country at its heart.
Stay tuned for a formal announcement next year.
Catchment Education Programs
We recently met with the Kamay Botany Bay Environmental Education Centre (KBEEC) and Bayside Council, to develop a catchment education program in Bayside. Local students will get the opportunity to go on excursions to learn about how the river impacts the bay. Incursions and excursions will likely be available to book through KBEEC in Term 3 next year. Bayside Council will provide a bus at no charge, to make excursions to the river easier and cheaper for schools in the Bayside area. All schools within the Cooks River catchment can access a series of educational resources through their local Environmental Education Centre.
More information on Cooks River Catchment Education resources can be found here.
Sydney Water Price Review
The CRA team made a submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) on a proposed Sydney Water pricing increase. IPART is reviewing the maximum prices that Sydney Water can charge customers to provide water, wastewater, stormwater, and other services. The prices set in this review will apply from 1 July 2025 for 5 years.
The increase would generate approximately $600 Million for stormwater and waterways, including renewing channels, pipes and assets; and the continuation of their Waterway Health Improvement Program. Read the full submission here.
Canterbury Road Underpass Opening!
A critical piece of the Cooks River shared path is getting a long-overdue upgrade. The Canterbury Road Underpass was poorly lit, had low head clearance at just 1.9 metres, and was only 1.2 metres wide. This missing link forced people to navigate with difficulty in single file, or leave the path and cross Canterbury Road.
The underpass has now been transformed to provide pedestrians and bike riders with a safe 100 metre long, 3.5 metre wide shared path. The shared path upgrade includes a 20 metre long bridge and new lighting installed. A stormwater drainage diversion will prevent a deluge from flooding the path as it did previously. The project has been delivered in partnership with City of Canterbury Bankstown and Transport for NSW’s Get NSW Active program. The underpass will be officially open from Friday 20 December.
Progress on the Coastal Management Program
We recently held a workshop with six councils, agencies and land managers, to discuss the key threats to the health of the Coastal Management Program (CMP) area and identify the priorities. Our Senior Catchment Officer, Claire Wheeler, presented the Establishment Plan for a Cooks River Report Card Program.
The CRA is developing the Cooks River Catchment CMP with local councils and agencies such as NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), NSW Fisheries and Crown Lands. The final CMP will include a list of prioritised management actions designed to improve the health of the coastal zone (within the tidal area).
Keep an eye out for the next stage of the CMP- an online interactive tool where you can share your local insights and explore proposed management options.
Other River News
Biodiversity Strategies Across the Catchment
Both Inner West and Canterbury Bankstown Councils have endorsed new biodiversity strategies. The plans have overlapping priorities and timelines. They have great potential to provide ecological protection and enhancement across their respective areas within the catchment.
Read the Inner West strategy here. Read the Canterbury Bankstown strategy here.
Good Vibes at Goolay’yari Sounds
The CRA team stopped by Goolay’yari Sounds last weekend for a boogie and a gelato. The one-day festival celebrated the river with music from The Stiff Gins and Dog Trumpet, among many others.
At the festival, the Inner West Council Mayor, Darcy Byrne, made a public commitment to supporting more music and cultural events at the Marrickville Golf Club. Next stop, Wurridjal Festival 2025!
Proposed Bay-to-Bay Run
Strathfield Council has supported the development of a Bay-to-Bay Run. Modelled after successful examples such as the Lake Burley Griffin Circuit and the Bay Run in Iron Cove, the Bay-to-Bay Run is a 34.6km recreational and commuting route connecting Homebush Bay in the north to Botany Bay in the south, with further extension to Parramatta possible.
More info coming next year.
Cooks Cove Development
Bayside Council is set to enter into a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) with the Cooks Cove development project. Cooks Cove is a proposed logistics hub on the site of the current Kogorah Golf Course.
Planning Agreements may be used to achieve public purpose outcomes that ordinarily would not be available through the planning and development system.
More information on the Cooks Cove development can be found here.
