Volunteering
Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia has a range of interesting volunteering opportunities - indoors and outdoors. We enjoy the support of over 150 volunteers who have worked a whopping 270,000 hours since inception. In turn HWCA supports community and government programs such as Work for the Dole and Green Corps.
If you are interested in volunteering we'd love to hear from you!
Contact: Volunteer Coordinator ph 4951 6466
More information
The Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia is owned and operated by a not-for-profit community based organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting the conservation of wetlands. The centre was originally established by the Hunter Wetlands Trust Inc., a community conservation group and to this day a large number of volunteers assist in the day to day operations, both indoors and outdoors.
Volunteers have been an integral part of the Hunter Wetlands Centre since 1983 when under the direction of Prof. Max Maddock, The Hunter Wetlands Centre Trust, (a local conservation group), conducted a campaign to gain community support for the wetlands. They aimed to conserve and rehabilitate wetlands, promoting the scientific study, appreciation and understanding of the value of wetlands; providing input into planning and assessment impacting wetlands, and establishing facilities which provided an educative recreational experience to visitors.
Voluntary Positions
Volunteers are one of the Hunter Wetlands Centre’s greatest and valuable resources. They perform a number of essential tasks around the 45 hectare site and we provide the volunteers with a safe and enjoyable volunteering experience.
Our Volunteer Co-ordinator interviews all potential volunteers. Volunteers complete an information form outlining their personal details, interests and skills. They are then taken through a site Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) form and if there is a suitable voluntary position available, the new volunteer is given a workplace orientation.
If there are no suitable voluntary positions available the potential new volunteer can be placed on a ‘waiting’ list.
All new volunteers attend a one day Site Orientation workshop which includes; talks by the Site Manager, Visitor Centre Manager and Marketing Manager, basic First Aid Training, and OH&S information. One of our site guides also takes the group for a guided site tour.
Other training our volunteers receive, can range from; Inductions on equipment they will utilise to perform their job tasks, Bird Identification Workshops, Accredited First Aid Training, Guide Training, native plant and weeds workshops.
Research Positions
The Hunter Wetlands Centre provides opportunities for research into fresh water wetland ecosystems. In return we use much of that research to help guide and assess management actions and modify those actions if necessary to reflect current understandings of the wetlands ecosystem and biological priorities. The University of Newcastle, Sydney University, Tighes Hill TAFE, Belmont TAFE are some of the educational institutions which have provided students for Research Projects on-site.
Below are lists of studies that have been done (or are in progress) on the Project sites or are linked to Project activities. Apart from the current research studies, information about any of these can be obtained from the literature in our library or by contacting the Hunter Wetlands Centre.
Research studies
Green and Golden Bellfrogs
Water Hydrology studies
Bird behavioural studies
Mosquito fish & other introduced species studies
Media and communication studies
Tourism and marketing projects
Wetlands Educational Studies
Vegetation studies
Environmental Management Studies.
Volunteer Orientation including OH&S training is mandatory for all HWCA volunteers.
|