Disaster Relief Australia and locals clean up Parndana Community Caravan Park

The Project Resilience Community Event was organised by the non-profit organisation that has been helping clean up after the bushfire disaster of 2019-2020.

Formerly known as Team Rubicon, Disaster Relief Australia volunteers were forced to leave due to the COVID pandemic but now have returned for two weeks of work.

Spokesperson Sarah Fitzharris said one team of 10 volunteers had been on the Island for a week doing chainsaw work and removing debris from private properties.

Sunday was a chance for locals to help the DRA volunteers clear undergrowth, access points and debris, ensuring this community asset is usable to encourage visitors to return.

"Despite the cold, we actually managed to get through a majority of the work," Sarah said on Monday after the event. "With 10 people from DRA and close to 20 members of the local community all turning up to help - before the rain washed us out!

"As a result the Parndana Community Caravan Park is now in a good position to add more caravan sites and cabins plus improve on some of the current facilities to welcome back tourists as COVID restrictions ease and people start to travel and return to KI for their holidays. A great impact story for the local community and the wider island community."

Sunday's community activity coincided with the half-way hand-over when 10 fresh volunteers would arrive for another week of work on private properties.

The Parndana Community Caravan Park is located behind the town hall, extending back to Pioneer Street. The community-owned park currently has three cabins, ablution blocks and several camping spots for caravans or tents.

Spokesperson Cheryl May said the park would soon to get up to four new cabins to act as much-needed workers' accommodation. There is a housing shortage for workers involved in various rebuilding projects around the district.

Cheryl said the funding to expand the campground for workers came from the Local Economic Recovery Funding program.

The idea of the clean-up was to tidy up the undergrowth and to make a few more "nooks" and spots for campers before the new cabins arrived. A native vegetation expert was consulted on what should stay.

She said this would mean the park could still house tourists when the park proved popular in the holidays, as well as workers in the rest of the year.