North Shore Living spoke with Willoughby’s new Environmental Citizen of the Year, Meredith Foley, about her lifelong love of the local environment.
“We tend to think the economy is the basis for life, but it’s not. Our environmental systems are the true basis of our life,” Dr Meredith Foley begins.
“We need healthy environmental systems around us to breathe and get clean water and to keep us healthy.”
It’s this astute observation that provides the motivation for Dr Foley’s seemingly tireless volunteer efforts.
For nearly 10 years the Chatswood West local has volunteered with the Willoughby Environmental Protection Association (WEPA) to protect the region’s rich bushland and native wildlife.
As secretary of WEPA for seven of those years, she’s been at the forefront of many campaigns, producing submissions and publications about the importance of the local environment and the threats posed by overdevelopment and infrastructure projects, including the Western Harbour Tunnel.
This work has seen her named as this year’s Environmental Citizen of the Year by Willoughby City Council, a recognition she says she was ‘honoured’ to receive.
This love of all creatures great and small can be traced back to Dr Foley’s mother, Cynthia, who introduced her and her sister, Kathryn, to the wildlife of the bush around their childhood home in Cromer on the Northern Beaches.
“When we were growing up, we had a house full of animals. There was no WIRES then, so she would take in animals and knew a little bit about caring for them,” Dr Foley recalls.
“The lesson that taught me as a child is once you know the names of the animals and a bit about what they do and how they work in the environment, it’s something that stays with you. And that ownership encourages you to want to protect them.”
This drive to protect Australia’s unique environment sparked a career focused on preserving local history and nature, including 10 years working with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
Now, in retirement, Dr Foley’s love of the natural world has inspired a keen interest in amateur nature photography.
Along with her sister, she created the Wildlife Willoughby Facebook page to share her photographs, encourage locals to report native animal sightings and provoke discussion about the region’s flora and fauna.
“It encourages people to learn about the local bush and fear it less,” Dr Foley explains.
“To bring people face-to-face with a small bird or a lizard or a butterfly, and they can see the beauty of it. I think people really respond to that.”
In her work with WEPA, she has also collaborated with the Council’s Bushland Team to take student groups on tours of local bushland, organised citizen science days, and hosted information stalls at events such as National Tree Day and the annual Fauna Fair.
“I think parents should be going out with their children into the local bushland,” the environmentalist says.
“It’s a lovely way to balance the everyday work and family life, to have an interest in nature.
“We’ve got such unique wildlife in Australia, and even in these very urbanised areas we’ve still got some extraordinary wildlife. I’m very proud of our wildlife and I also want to see it preserved,” she concludes.