By MEGAN OGLE
EDDIE Vaughan has become the much-loved face to Noosa Council’s Connect to your Creek Week – and the unofficial River Ranger has a story or two to tell.
Mr Vaughan has lived on the Noosa Northshore for the past 21 years and in that time has travelled via boat from the Ferry to the Mouth of the River over 500 times to pick up rubbish floating in the river or on the many islands that dot our beautiful region.
“When I first moved here the amount of rubbish I saw was pretty disgusting,” Mr Vaughan said.
“It was terrible; nobody wanted to pick it up so I decided to do something about it.”
Mr Vaughan said he had picked up so many different items in his time that the list was too long to remember.
“I’ve picked up four-seater couches, tables, chairs, teddy bears and discarded crab pots,” he said.
“There’s a small island past Northshore which is the worst. Kids and fishermen go there and leave cartons of beers, fishing line and all sorts.
“There are some nasty people around because I often find dumped boat batteries in the river.”
Mr Vaughan said that among the list of items he finds on his regular clean ups, children’s plastic beach toys such as buckets and spades were the most common item to wash up on shore.
“I find at least two to three bags of plastic toys and I take them up to the local kindergarten every few months for the kids,” he said.
Items which cannot be donated are left at a drop point by Mr Vaughan and then collected by the council.
However Mr Vaughan said it’s not all bad, he said his best trip was when he found $100 washed up on Makepeace Island.
“At the time I had friends with me who had a daughter,” he said.
“As soon as I found the money we headed straight to Hastings Street for ice-cream and a feed.”
Mr Vaughan said the rubbish in the river and surrounds had decreased since he first began collecting litter 21 years ago but said there is still a lot of work to be done.
“I’ve been at this for a long time, the river is a dumping ground for Noosa,” he said.
“More needs to be done.”
Mr Vaughan came into the public eye after a one-minute video of his daily travels along the river was uploaded to Noosa Council’s Facebook page to promote Connect to your Creek Week 2016. The campaign invites locals and visitors to snap a ‘selfie’ or take a photo with friends of workmates enjoying one of Noosa’s picturesque waterways to win prizes.
Connect to your Creek Week runs from 9 to 17 April. If you would like to be involved head to www.noosa.qld.gov.au for more information.
