Thanks to the hard work and effort of the Burragorang Heritage Society along with National Parks, Sydney Water, the Department of Planning and caretaker Tom Werner, the historic St. Senans Catholic Church, Yerranderie has a new roof, timber ceiling lining , new flooring, tank water and re-painting inside and out. But it is usually empty and occasionally gets used only ONE DAY A YEAR for an Easter church service! And that has not been every year.

We would love to see more regular church services and cultural events like art shows and music to bring this church church back to life as the centre of our community.

The NSW Minister for National Parks is the title holder for this property but we need to liaise with the Catholic Church to ensure that any use of the church is appropriate. Maybe the southern end could be maintained in traditional early 1900’s style for religious services and that the other end be for general community use. It could be also used as an Emergency Services Headquarter in times of crisis. We feel that the Church was built to be a community centre and it would be great to see it back in that role. We hope to raise funds so we can install a solar power system, kitchen, toilets and office.

Yerranderie is part of Wollondilly Shire and the surrounding areas are historically and geographically strongly connected to the Wollondilly region. This includes both the colonial settlers and First Nations people. But we are cut off by the Burragorang Catchment area. There is locked gate access via Sheehy’s Creek Road, Baileys Bridge and the W4 Trail. In the past, NSW Water allowed monthly escorted access to residents and stake holders. Once Sheehy’s Creek road is repaired we would like get together with all the parties involved to formalise a new access plan. We hope to be at least partially re-united with the rest of Wollondilly! We completely understand that this is very important and sensitive catchment area but we believe that a carefully thought out restricted access system could be developed. We would particularly like to see access for cultural purposes…. things like small school & cultural tours and First Nation Back to Country purposes. This access also need to be co-ordinated with Police, Emergency services and Wollondilly Council.

It is a never ending problem which needs an ongoing solution. The big problem is that Landcare Groups tend to rise and then fall as the stalwarts become burnt out. Once we get our Visitors’ Centre going we plan to hand out Weed Identification cards. Each card will identify one particular weed which is easy to observe at that particular time of the year and include a game for the children to become “Weed Busters”. We will provide a weed disposal bucket and trowel and encourage visitors to then spend a few hours of their time here helping. We will reward the children with a treat.

With the nearest shops at Oberon it makes sense for our community to be growing our own food. Great for healthy eating and good for the planet! Residents here already grow vegetables on an ad hoc basis but we would like to expand this so that our visitors can also get involved. We anticipate that the gardens will be a two way street…. anyone will be welcome to seasonal fruit and vegetables but we will expect a few hours contribution of labour or a donation in return. We plan to set up an organics composting facility.

We are working on creating a place where all sorts of re-useable items which end up in Yerranderie can be “banked” for the Community to re-use. Building materials, tools, electrical and plumbing consumables etc. We will also use this space to store recyclable rubbish and litter so volunteers can take it out to local processing facilities. as they are leaving the area.