Few days go by without Charlie Corser visiting Winton Wetlands, where he puts his lifelong passion for the environment into practice.
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The Benalla local spends several days a week volunteering his time to help care for the landscape he now calls home.
But Charlie’s journey to Benalla began thousands of kilometres away, in wartime England.
Born in Birmingham in 1940, Charlie has called Australia home since 1957, and Benalla home since 2016.
Charlie’s early childhood was shaped by World War II, with his mother working full-time while his father was away serving in the army.
He didn’t meet his father until he was six years old, describing their first meeting as strange but exciting.
Growing up during the war was difficult, with everyday necessities rationed and even keeping warm a challenge.
“A lot of the time there was no heating because coal was rationed, so you couldn’t just go and get more,” Charlie said.
“Everything you can think of was rationed, even soap. It was a different world altogether.”
Charlie left school at a young age and by the time he was 15, he had his sights set on Australia.
Unable to make the move until he turned 17, he spent two years working on a farm in Wales.
“It was all mixed farming and very primitive in those days. There was no electricity on the farm ... didn’t even have a radio or a telephone,” he said.
In 1957, Charlie was sponsored to migrate to Australia, beginning a six-week journey by ship to the other side of the world.
Despite leaving everything he knew behind for a country he had never been to, Charlie said he wasn’t afraid at all, instead embracing the opportunity as a “big adventure”.
“Best move I ever made, coming to Australia,” he said.
Charlie described the voyage as more like a holiday, with three meals a day and a chance to see parts of the world along the way.
The ship first docked in Fremantle, Western Australia, where Charlie’s first impression of Australia was the “striking blue ocean”.
The ship eventually stopped in Sydney, where Charlie was sent by train to work on a farm in northern NSW.
He still remembers the journey, travelling on a small, rattling train that seemed as though it could have been 100 years old ― at one point, the train was even forced to stop to allow a herd of sheep to clear the tracks.
Charlie eventually made his way to the Kimberley region of Western Australia, where he worked seasonally on various cattle stations.
It was there, at Lake Argyle, that he met his future wife, Cheryl, when he was about 23 years old.
The couple married in 1963 and went on to have two daughters, Jenny and Wendy.
Charlie and Cheryl spent many years living in Western Australia before moving to Ballarat where they built a home together.
However, after retiring, maintaining the property became too much and the couple moved to Benalla in 2016.
It was a decision they have never regretted.
“Why would you live anywhere else?” Charlie said.
These days, Charlie enjoys a coffee and a catch-up with friends at Hide’s Bakery, but much of his time is dedicated to volunteering at Winton Wetlands with the Regent Honeyeater project.
Since moving to Benalla, he has volunteered at the wetlands several times a week, putting his long-standing passion for the environment and conservation into practice.
“I’ve planted trees in every state, I reckon,” he said.
His work includes planting trees, installing tree guards, pruning lower branches and helping maintain the vegetation.
The Regent Honeyeater Project works alongside Winton Wetlands to restore the landscape through revegetation, bringing volunteers together for hands-on conservation work.
Local volunteers also grow the tube stock needed for the project each year at a nursery near Benalla.
The plants include native trees, shrubs and ground-cover species indigenous to the region, which are propagated at the nursery before being planted throughout the wetlands by volunteers.
For Charlie, the work offers the satisfaction of knowing his efforts will outlast him.
“Not many people can say that they planted a tree that will still be there in 100 years or more,” he said.
The trees he has planted are his “pride and joy”, and he enjoys the peace of the wetlands and its diverse wildlife, from kangaroos and dragonflies to wedge-tailed eagles.
Charlie also recognises the importance of the regent honeyeater volunteers and the collective effort behind the conservation work.
“Without them doing something, nothing would happen,” he said.
For Charlie, volunteering is more than simply planting trees.
It is a way to give back to the place he now calls home and help ensure the environment will be enjoyed by generations to come.