Community gardens
Come together to learn new skills and experience the satisfaction of growing fruits and vegetables in the tropics, without the 'food miles'. It's recommended to make contact with a community garden before your first visit. Find one near you:
- Bungalow Community Garden: 7 Kidston Street, Bungalow
- Manoora Community Garden: Lot 8 (cul-de-sac), Rollinia Close, Manoora
- Holloways Beach Community Garden: Raintrees Park, Oleander Street, Holloways Beach
- Stratford Community Garden, Kamerunga Rd, Stratford
- Marlin Coast Community Garden: 205 Reed Rd, Trinity Park
- James Cook University Cairns, McGregor Road, Smithfield
- Edmonton Community Garden: Walker Road, Edmonton
- Gordonvale Community Garden, Simmonds St, Gordonvale
There are many more communities growing food together, including schools and kindies, as well as smaller, open neighbourhood 'Pocket Gardens' supported by Council. Find out more through the Green Space Our Place program.
Community groups
Connect with local sustainability groups for new practical skills, workshops, volunteering opportunities and events:
Advocacy
- Cairns and Far North Environment Centre
- Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef
- Cairns Australian Youth Climate Coalition
- Cairns Bicycle Users Group
Waste reduction
- Plastic Free Cairns
- Committee for Waste Reduction
- Boomerang Bags - Cairns
- Boomerang Bags - Babinda
- OzHarvest Cairns
Marine debris clean ups
Sustainable living and permaculture
Urban green spaces
- Green Space Our Place: a Council-run volunteer program for revegetation, gardening and guiding in local parks, gardens, waterways and walking tracks.
- Tree Plotter Inventory: a database of trees on Council land that the community can help map and monitor.
Wildlife & tree planting
- FNQ Wildlife Rescue
- Birdlife North Queensland
- Treeforce: Cairns - Freshwater area
- Mulgrave Landcare and Catchment: south of Cairns
- Holloways Beach Coast Care: Holloways Beach
- Russell Landcare and Catchment Group: Babinda
Citizen science
- Eye on the Reef: reef health monitoring app from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
- Mangrove Watch: an in-person mangrove and saltmarsh monitoring program.
- BioQuest - map biodiversity across the region in challenges set by conservation partners. Search for 'Cairns' and local quests.
- Frog Id: count and map frogs by recording their calls in an app.
- Feather Map of Australia: map bird species by collecting and sending in feathers found in local wetlands.
- Conservation Groups & Citizen Science Directory
If you would like your group featured, contact: sustainability@cairns.qld.gov.au