Paddys Creek

Edie Franks has always been an environmental activist. Whether campaigning against inappropriate development at Byron Bay where she has lived most of her life or traveling to the Northern Territory to demonstrate against uranium mining. In 1989 Edie moved to Burrawan Place in Bangalow.

Upon learning that the subtropical rainforest that once covered hundreds of hectares of land in the northern rivers had been reduced to small, fragmented pockets battling to survive, Edie decided to leave a living legacy in the form of a rainforest along the adjacent Paddy’s Creek.

Numerous visits to local native nurseries, some help from Byron Shire Council and employing her family to propagate seeds from the existing plants Edie’s dream began to take shape. Edie worked for 10 years planting and weeding for approximately 1km along both sides of Paddy’s Creek creating a wonderful native plant corridor. The original trees have now seeded and this area has become a haven for a wide variety of wildlife.

Edie, unfortunately, has passed away but her ‘living legacy’ is maintained by our regular Saturday working bee and by the nearby neighbours