Trustee John Staniland

Trustee John Staniland

A retired secondary school teacher, John Staniland has been closely involved with Forest & Bird for 50 years and was the first chairman of its Waitākere Branch. He is a founder and honorary ranger of the Society’s 120-hectare Matuku Reserve, which is adjacent to...
Trustee John Sumich

Trustee John Sumich

A lifelong interest in fauna and flora, what used to be called “Nature Study”, when he was a child, stayed with John through his adult life. A science degree at Auckland was followed with a medical degree from Otago University. He set up his general medical practice...
Santa’s elves

Santa’s elves

Santa isn’t the only one who has helpers! We have many… last week we had our first volunteer sewing session to make beautiful, sustainable, cutlery bags from donated pieces of fabric, filled with recycled cutlery – a fork, spoon, knife and straw...
Matuku moana

Matuku moana

Many of our volunteers are not just “ours” – they volunteer at other projects as well – Mototapu, Oakley Creek, Orangihina, Ark in the Park – to name just a few! And some volunteer at Birdcare Aotearoa, which is the only place in Auckland...
What a pARTy!

What a pARTy!

Our 2023 anniversary party turned into a three-day pARTy, thanks to Derek March’s ‘takeover’ of our barn and education center as part of the Waitakere Open Studios. Professional artist and conservationist Derek March has been a volunteer with...
Education highlights

Education highlights

This year, we have welcomed almost 1,000 students to Matuku Link for our school education days. We have had the privilege of educating and connecting with not only these students, but also the teachers and whanau members. Our education days are always exciting, with...
Henderson North visit

Henderson North visit

The deputy principal of our local Henderson North school brought a group of his teaching team out to Matuku Link. They were impressed with what we could offer and we were impressed by their enthousiasm. Together we wrote a funding application for WeSteam funding...
School Holiday Success

School Holiday Success

When we started the Matuku Link school holiday program, we didn’t think it would be so successful so quickly: last week’s series was fully booked almost every day, with most of the children wanting to return the next day… because what’s not do...
Search and rescue Sundays

Search and rescue Sundays

It’s weeding season again! We’d love you to join us at 111 Bethells Road to care for the trees we all planted earlier. We call this “Search & Rescue”: search for the white tipped bamboo stick and rescue the plant by cutting away all the...
PR for pūweto

PR for pūweto

Ever seen a pūweto, a spotless crake? Possibly not… but you can, soon, albeit digitally. Matuku Link will be featuring in the next episode of Wild Heroes, the Auckland Zoo series on the work their staff do outside the zoo. Zoo staff have been helping Matuku Link...