One of Sydney’s most quietly remarkable green spaces is about to get a little wilder. Cooper Park in Bellevue Hill is one of the local planting sites where residents can roll up their sleeves and help expand the park’s locally native bushland.
National Tree Day falls on Sunday 26 July. The free planting session runs from 9:30am to 11:30am near the corner of Northland Road and Holland Road. Registration is required, with all primary planting tools and equipment provided.
Registration is required, with all primary planting tools and equipment provided. Volunteers are welcome to bring their own trowels if they prefer.
A bushland unlike any other
Covering 38 acres from Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill to Manning Road, Double Bay, Cooper Park is the largest area of bushland in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and the only park in the area with its own natural creek system.
Aboriginal engravings and rock shelters dating back between 200 and more than 2,000 years sit within the park, and a volcanic dyke formed during the Jurassic age runs beneath Cooper Creek. It is heritage listed and entirely irreplaceable.
The wildlife that calls it home is equally worth the effort. Kookaburras, lorikeets and cockatoos live alongside possums and bandicoots, and the creek corridor supports rainforest understorey plants that depend on continuous native canopy to survive. Planting on the park’s edges directly extends that habitat.
Planting for the future
Volunteers plant locally native species chosen to suit Cooper Park’s specific ecology, working along the boundary where managed bushland meets open space.
No experience is needed, no tools are required, and the event is genuinely suitable for all ages.
After planting wraps up, there is a native wildlife program for kids and snacks for everyone. It is a morning that manages to be both productive and relaxed, which is exactly what a Sunday in July should be.
Book your spot
Spots are free but registration is required. Book your place and find full event details here.
The event is at Cooper Park near the corner of Northland Road and Holland Road, Bellevue Hill.
Published 13-July-2026
