The land opposite Bob Newby's house looks like any other slice of suburban bush.
But if you venture off the concrete footpath towards the creek, you'll find some rustic tracks and dozens of trees in varying stages of growth.
"When I retired, I thought I needed to have something to keep myself occupied," Mr Newby said.
"I had been watching for a long time the decrease in habitats, the falling levels of biodiversity.
"And I thought, 'Well, this is something I can do that have will have a positive effect, I can plant some trees.'"
But it was more than just planting some trees and now he's a proud OGRE — that's Old Guy Restoring Ecosystems.
Mr Newby's career as an entomologist gave him a unique insight when it came to choosing species that would bring more birds, bugs and butterflies to his neighbourhood in north Rockhampton, central Queensland.
A decade later, the area has become a training ground for conservation students and an example of how communities can restore suburban bushland.
Slow, steady and specialist
When Mr Newby retired, the land was so densely covered with lantana that it was impossible to make it from the footpath down to a small creek.
After clearing that, he started planting – but these weren't just any old trees.
They had to be native and local to central Queensland.
"I had a bit of a bias towards things that were unusual or rare or threatened," Mr Newby said.
"I also wanted things that were going to be hosts for the butterflies."
Mr Newby explained that families of butterflies will often only feed on one type of tree, so attracting new species required thoughtful planting.
The trees he has planted can be hosts for more than 30 species of butterflies, and Mr Newby has so far spotted 15 of those ranging from large swallowtails to small blues.
While some butterfly species are not uncommon in the area, Mr Newby said he's seeing them in "reasonable numbers" and he believes that's down to the more favourable habitat.
Over the years, he's collected dozens of seeds through fellow plant specialists, Landcare groups, and even through raffle prizes.
What started as just a few seedlings has grown into more than 150 types of trees, attracting dozens of new bird and butterfly species.
It has been a slow and steady process, though, with Mr Newby never planting more than he could maintain.
"I didn't plant thousands of trees to begin with and then just walk away, which so often happens with revegetation projects," he said.
"It's the follow-up that really is the key."
Call for community restoration
Planting, weeding and maintaining the area is an almost-daily undertaking.
But Mr Newby is driven by hope his grandchildren will get to grow up playing for hours in the bush like he did as a child.
"Within a generation, maybe two generations, we have lost so much native bushland," he said.
"It's important, I think, to preserve what we've got left, and also to try and restore some of the areas."
Mr Newby hopes his project can be a model for "what we can achieve" and inspire communities to take care of suburban bushland.
"I think school groups, other youth groups, Indigenous groups, could easily adopt a piece of a creek and maintain it and restore it," Mr Newby said.
"It does require a little bit of organisation.
"The limitation that you can run into is that quite often those sorts of projects depend on an individual to get it going and keep them going – if you lose that enthusiast, the project's in danger of falling over."
Conservation students replicate work
One such enthusiast is Kay Pearson, who is building on Mr Newby's work by restoring an adjacent section of bushland with conservation students.
Ms Pearson teaches horticulture and ecosystem conservation for CQUniversity, and groups of her students head to the north Rockhampton site each month.
The aim is to remove weeds and revegetate the area with natives, but Ms Pearson said the students also looked at soil erosion control to protect against loss of the creek bed during future flooding.
"We've been working on it now for just over a year and a half and you can really see the results of the students' work … it's a wonderful feeling," she said.
The students have been able to benefit from Mr Newby's work, harvesting seeds from his more mature plants.
What you can do in your backyard
Don't have a piece of bushland to adopt, or not up to the task of restoring one?
Mr Newby said there was still plenty you can do in your backyard.
"If you live in a small suburban backyard, you can plant little native plants … or little bushes that are going to attract butterflies," he said.
"On a slightly bigger scale, you can start planting things that attract small birds."
Ms Pearson's advice is to start reading up about native plants – because while it would be "absolutely fantastic" to see more people restoring suburban bushland, planting exotic species is another problem.
She recommends the Australian Native Plants Society for a place to start learning.
