Goolay'yari Cooks River Radio

Who gets a say on what happens on the river? 

The government? The council? The landowners? The land's custodians? You and me?

In this episode, we're revisiting a story that we covered a couple of months ago, the redevelopment proposal to turn the Kogarah Golf Course into a logistics hub and possible data centre.

Since that episode a broad protest movement has emerged, coalescing around the group called SCRAP (Stop The Cooks River AI Project). Meanwhile, councillors on Bayside Council are railing against their lack of input in this "State Significant Development" and calling for major changes to the proposal.

This proposal has become a major flashpoint of community unrest. Questions are being asked about what input, if any, the community will have into what the development will look like. Many are asking for better consultation, some are advocating that the whole site be turned over to the public, or to nature, or to Aboriginal custodianship. 

We're still awaiting a response to submissions from the developers, and we're a way off a decision by the Independent Planning Commission. Bayside Council is trying to discuss a land swap, to get the public park actually facing the river, but so far they're coming up short. Community groups have had meetings lined up, dates, times and venues agreed, and then they're cancelled. 

In this episode, we're heading along to one of the SCRAP protests to chat with organisers and hear the speeches. We've also got interviews with local Bayside councillors who have strong opinions about what should happen here, despite being locked out of the planning process.

We've also got a reading of a beautiful and hilarious love-letter to the river, 'Cooks River I Want To Swim In You', by Izzi Boustead.

And we have all of your River News for October 2026.

Featuring: Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, Jordan Ryan-Hennessey, Dr Padraic (Paddy) Gibson, Caitlin Boyce, Gabby, Clr Olivia Barlow, Clr Izabella Antoniou, Yomna Touni, Clr Peter Strong, Clr Soraya Kassim and Izzi Boustead. 

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid 

Thanks also to Jason L'Ecuyer, Glen from the River Canoe Club, and Zoe Ferguson. 

You can read the statements we received here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mnqGH2lhKJwRczzPUBSzhLISrrj5F0wi?usp=sharing

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nature really is unquashable.

Nature always finds a way to come back, to poke through the cracks, to stick around on the margins and await the day that better conditions arrive. No matter how we try to control, shape or suppress it, nature is there, waiting to make itself known to us.

First up in this episode we're talking about the Gumbramorra Swamp, the vast wetland that used to cover most of Marrickville and still lurks underground, waiting to rise up and flood the suburb during big rains. We're joined by Sue Castrique, who's just published Gumbramorra: Water, Place and People, and Uncle Terry Lennis, a local Dharug and Dharawal elder, who consulted for Inner West Council on the recently unveiled restored wetland at Mackey Park.

And in the second half we're going along to the Goolay'yari Cooks River Bioblitz, part of a global event called the Home River Bioblitz, where participants act as citizen scientists for the day, logging their sightings of bugs, lizards, birds and whatever else on the iNaturalist app. At this community event bringing together science, art, food and fun, we speak to organisers and participants and go chasing the Pink-Fingered Marsh Crab.

Together these stories demonstrate that these natural processes and ecosystems are still there, surviving and sometimes thriving even after two-plus centuries of colonisation, concreting and environmental crisis.

And of course we have all your River News for September 2026.

Guests: Sue Castrique, Uncle Terry Lennis, Milly Caley, Zuhairah Dindar, Erin Machin-Hall (TrashFish)

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid 

Thanks to all of our guests, to everyone we spoke to at the Bioblitz including Katie, Roie, Kelly, Theo, Daisy and Sally, and also to Zoe Ferguson.

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month we’re spending time in the part of our river catchment with the worst reputation of all. The most unloved part of a river system that was unloved for so long. The most unnatural, the most toxic. The worst of the worst.

I’m talking about Shea’s Creek, but you might know it better as the Alexandr(i)a Canal.

In this episode you’ll hear from historian Ron Ringer about the history of this waterway, and how it came to be the way it is. We’re also delving into a recent controversy; we’re following up on the significant oil spill here recently and asking questions of the authorities about their response and their efforts to hold the perpetrators to account.

While this incident shows how this waterway continues to be neglected and abused, the waterway itself is resilient and despite being a so-called man-made landscape, it supports an ecosystem and contributes to the local area. 

It’s this resilience and the way the natural qualities of water interact with and sometimes overrun the man-made features of the landscape that have also inspired artists, like Ashley Frost, to engage with these places, and to teach us something about them.

Later in the episode, you’ll also hear how the swamp’s persistence inspires local rapper BAYANG (tha Bushranger), and we’ll chat about his new song Sydney Swamp (Pemulwuy Paddles Along Gulay’yari).

And finally we share points of interest and controversy from the Cooks River Valley Association’s Annual Report and AGM, including a chat with new millennial committee member Maja Sorensen. 

And of course we have all your River News for August 2026.

Guests: Ron Ringer, Ashley Frost, BAYANG (tha Bushranger) and Maja Sorensen.

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid 

Thanks to all of our guests, and also to Jason L’Ecuyer and Zoe Ferguson.

All of the statements we received are here in full: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fLSKI68FIHZahWvnv6M36HU6G6eyf2Zg?usp=drive_link

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month we’re jumping in deep and covering the new proposal to redevelop the Kogarah Golf Course into a logistics hub and possible data centre. This proposal and the community reaction to it feels like an important moment in the history of our river. It’s a moment when priorities and the way we do things are being contested.

In this episode you’ll meet a number of people who can help explain the proposal, what it means, and what the reaction to it has been. We’ll follow some rabbitholes and even receive an anonymous tip off. You’ll also hear from most of the big bureaucratic players here including Bayside Council, Sydney Water, the developer Stockland, the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, the planning minister Paul Scully, and local politicians.

You’ll hear about the history of the site, what it looks like now, what the proposed development will do to it and what it will deliver, what it means to have a data centre nearby, what the community is saying about the proposal, and what input the community have actually been able to have.

This is a moment when we decide who will decide what happens on our river. After thoroughly investigating this issue in the last few weeks, it’s clear that development here will be going ahead in some form. But the question becomes, how will it be done? Who will benefit from it? What values will guide it?

And of course, in addition to our investigation, we have all your River News for July 2026.

Guests: Dr Bronwyn Cumbo, Dr Michael Vardon, Dr Jenny Kent, Jason L’Ecuyer, and Conroy Blood

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons 

Music by: riverkid  

Thanks to all of our guests, and also to the various media staffers and comms officials who provided us with statements, to members of the River Canoe Club who facilitated the interview with Jenny, to Zoe Ferguson, Clare Britten, and to Sally, a local resident.

All of the statements we received are here in full: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hpJ-XuX4Nqm-jLBDFVhZhI58PHJYKD-O?usp=sharing

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode it’s all about the Marrickville Golf Course. But we’re not talking to any golfers! Instead, the focus is on the place the golf course is in, the landscape itself, the local environment, its history and its ecology, especially its flora.

Come along on a walk around the course with Gabby Richards, local amateur historian of Marrickville and keeper of all the suburb’s stories, as she takes us through the history of this land from before colonisation, through early settlement and into the 20th century. You’ll hear about when it was a productively managed natural landscape, a swampy deer-hunting park, a dairy, a cricket pitch and sheep farm (at the same time), a pleasurable picnicking paradise and, finally, a golf course. You’ll meet characters like the irascible lawyer, landowner and deer (and convict) hunter Robert Wardell, and the one-man golfer’s nightmare councillor Bede Mahoney.

This land has incredible value as a big chunk of the green space by the river, and the existence of the golf course occupying it has always been contentious. Through the last 200 years it has undergone such significant changes, and while today it is utterly transformed from 1788, it is resilient, and its underlying nature has, with a little help, been reasserting itself in recent decades.

Later in the episode there’s a report from the June meeting of the CRVA, featuring Doug Benson and Chris Rapp presenting their recently-published PDF pamphlet on the trees of the Marrickville Golf Course, along with regular association business.

And of course we have all your River News for June 2026.

Guest: Gabby Richards

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid   

With thanks to Gabby, to Peter Munro for introducing us, to Doug Benson, Chris Rapp and the rest of the CRVA.

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The river is something that brings people together. It’s a space for people to gather, it’s a focal point for community. It provides a beautiful setting for people to meet, to share, to talk, to enjoy each other’s company. 

This episode of Goolay’yari Cooks River Radio is all about how our river and the other rivers in Eora/Sydney inspire people to join together, to care for and to fight for these beautiful natural spaces.

This month I went down to Customs House in Circular Quay to attend the biggest get-together of river lovers Eora/Sydney has ever seen, the Sydney Rivers Community Forum. I spoke with participants, organisers and presenters to get a picture of the biggest threats and most promising solutions for our river and all of Sydney’s urban waterways.

And as always we also have all your monthly River News for May 2026.

Guests: Sam Johnson, Amelia Mertha, Brian Keogh, Gareth Wreford, Jason L’Ecuyer, Chris Jordens, Danielle Ryan, Steph Lentz, Mark Fuller, Viv Sung

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid   

With thanks to Sam and Amelia from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, to all the presenters, all the participants I spoke to including Tim, Andrew, Matt, Eleanor, Sunil, Lianjing, Holly, Kiran, Sarah, Meredith, Peter, Peter and the many others whose names I didn’t get!

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Birds. Who doesn’t love birds?

They’re the colour and movement that draw people to the river. They’re the ambassadors for wildlife and nature experiences for people in the city. They’re so important, both for ecosystems and for our relationships to these places. When you go to the river, or listen to this show, birds are what you hear.

In today’s episode we head out onto the river for a morning of birdwatching with the Mudcrabs’ bird-obsessed offshoot, the Mudlarks. Since 2019 they’ve been meeting once a month without fail, come rain, hail or, like this morning, beautiful shine, and the data they’ve collected on their surveys has had a huge impact in tracking the returning health of the river.

We also have a report on the recent Cooks River Valley Association meeting, featuring a talk from local historian Paul Irish about the Aboriginal history of the river.

And we have all your monthly River News for April 2026.

Guests: Chris Rapp and Jamie Honan

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid   

With thanks to Jennifer Kent, Doug Benson, Simin Ordokhani, David Noble, Michael Bui, Richard Horsburgh, Louise Roberts and everyone else I spoke to from the Mudlarks, and also to Paul Irish, Ann Leahy, Peter Munro, Pilar Basa and Zoe Ferguson.

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever walked past a problem so many times you just had to jump in and sort it out? No matter the barriers? One man, working alone in the mangroves, did just that—and we're still feeling the impact today.

In this episode of Goolay'yari Cooks River Radio we have an interview with Alison Gibbs, founding  member of the Mudcrabs and author of Celebrating 20 Years: The Mudcrabs Cooks River Eco Volunteers 2005–2025. She takes us through their early history and why the group is still so vital.

We also have the first edition of our segment Who Were They?, this month investigating the Beaman behind Beaman Park, Earlwood.

And a report capturing all the fun and community at the Muddy River Festival, including interviews with organisers, artists, performers, councillors and river defenders.

And of course we have all your monthly River News for March 2026.

Guest: Alison Gibbs

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons  

Music by: riverkid   

With thanks to Andy Tsanadis and the Canterbury-Bankstown Council librarians, Emily Cascarino, Olivia Barlow, Andrew Thomas, Pilar Basa, Jasmine Sarin, Zoe Ferguson and everyone else we spoke to at Muddy River Festival and at Beaman Park.

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On our debut episode of Goolay'yari Cooks River Radio we have an interview with Darug/Gadigal/Bidjigal/Yuin elder Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, on the Aboriginal history of the river, her personal connection to it, and the names we call it today.

We also have a special report on the mysterious man seen swimming in the river last November. Who is he and is he alive?

And a report on the recent meeting of the Cooks River Valley Association, featuring research presentations and association developments.

And we have all your monthly River News for February 2026.

Guest: Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor

Host/producer: Niall Edwards-FitzSimons

Music by: riverkid

Additional audio: Tik Tok users angelamlud and adamfromaustralia

With thanks to Clare Britten, Honora Monagle, Peter Munro, Zoe Ferguson and Tom Cashman.

This episode was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and the Bidjigal and we pay respect to elders past and present.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.