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John Cuttriss, right, with South Gippsland Conservation Society president Ed Thexton at the official opening of the Screw Creek Trail in 2024.
By Rhonda Sutton
JOHN Cuttriss has been a stalwart of the South Gippsland Conservation Society (SGCS) for almost as long as the society has existed – and that’s half a century this year. He’s served as vice-president and projects officer but the titles don’t encapsulate half of what he has done and still does.
In 1995 the Inverloch Residents and Ratepayers Association (IRRA) and the SGCS received a Coast Action grant to repair a derelict bridge over Screw Creek estuary and construct walking paths, viewing platforms, seats and information shelters along Screw Creek and up to Townsends Bluff.
Fifteen unemployed young people did much of the work under the federal Landcare and Environment Action Program, gaining valuable work skills under the supervision of local landscape gardener Trevor Ricardo.
The LEAP crew ... clearly OH&S standards have changed since then!
John co-ordinated the project while working full time as an electrician. He visited the site every day organising materials and liaising with the agencies involved.
At the same time the IRRA and Conservation Society were weeding and revegetating around the Inverloch foreshore and along the coast from Flat Rocks to the Oaks. All these projects were aimed at improving the town’s environment and making it more attractive to tourists.
John and other Society members spent following years waging a successful campaign that ensured development around Screw Creek protected bushland and wildlife.
The depth of local experience, knowledge of planning law and deep focus John brings to complex problems is formidable. After years of submissions and hearings, the land was formally declared the Screw Creek Nature Conservation Reserve in 2012.
In consultation with Parks Victoria, volunteers have continued to control weeds, plant trees further up Screw Creek and extend the boardwalks. The final stage, overseen by John and opened in 2024, is an interpretive loop track with signage, bollards and QR codes.
Over the years John, his wife Sophie and other members of the Society have worked with local agencies to ensure that environmental protection is key in decision-making.
In 2001 John was awarded a Centenary Medal for ‘Work for the Inverloch foreshore and Youth Support’. John and Sophie were made life members of the South Gippsland Conservation Society last month.
One of those people who can do a lot of things, John’s the go-to man for tasks as various as appearing as public advocate for the society at a planning hearing or fixing a projector.
John never boasts about what he has achieved. He’s too busy thinking about the next project. John has organised National Tree Day plantings for local students; public programs such as the Great Victorian Fish Count and a nesting-box pilot with camera monitoring.
Dec 9, 2024 – It was destined to be cleared for housing, but thanks to a massive community effort it’s now a wildlife refuge and Bass Coast’s newest walking trail. Linda Cuttriss reports.
In his lifetime he’s planted literally tens of thousands of trees and organised countless well-attended working bees at Screw Creek, Ayr Creek and Thompsons reserves. He brings all the equipment, works all morning, then makes everyone a coffee from the espresso machine he’s set up in the back of his truck.
He gives until he can’t give any more, then he recharges his battery and does it all again.
This is the third in a series of stories to mark the first 50 years of the South Gippsland Conservation Society. The society celebrates with a dinner and trivia night at the Cape Paterson Surf Lifesaving Club on November 13. Tickets at Humanitix.