SPECIAL CHARITY EVENT - All proceeds go towards Friends of Parks QLD.

HOSTED BY REBECCA CONWAY.

As we bid farewell to 2023, let's take a moment to celebrate the entirety of the 2023 the triumphs, challenges, and the moments that tested our resilience.

Before we step into 2024, let our focus be on intentional living and the creation of a life that aligns with our deepest desires.

All proceeds go towards Friends of Parks QLD, who have created an endangered butterfly monitoring plan and are seeking funding to get a butterfly expert out to talk to the group about their habitat and how to identify them. The butterfly is called an Illidge's ant-blue butterfly, one of the top 29 butterflies likely to go extinct in Australia. It hasn't been seen on the Gold Coast in nearly two decades. 100% off your ticket would go towards an expert giving a talk in-field about the butterfly to the volunteers.

Where your donation will go:

Illidge’s ant-blue butterfly (Acrodipsas illidgei), also known as the mangrove ant-blue butterfly, is one of the few species of invertebrates listed as threatened in Queensland.
Forming a mutually beneficial relationship with mangrove-dwelling ants, the species was recognised as being of conservation significance as early as 1988. Despite the fact that it has been historically recorded close to some of the major urban centres of South East Queensland and the north coast of New South Wales, very few targeted surveys have been undertaken for the species.
There is a desperate need for an increased understanding of the species’ distribution, abundance, ecology, and threats. The Australian Citizen Science Association defines citizen science as ‘public participation and collaboration in scientific research with the aim to increase scientific knowledge’. Given the low level of funding for ecological research and conservation in Australia, citizen science has a critical role to play in collecting data to assist researchers and improve conservation outcomes for Australia’s threatened flora and fauna species.
Three Friends of Parks groups on the Gold Coast – the Friends of Tallebudgera Creek Conservation Park (south), Friends of Tallebudgera Creek Conservation Park (north, including Fleays Conservation Park), and Friends of Burleigh Head National Park – operate in protected areas in close proximity to historical records of Illidge’s ant-blue butterfly.
There is fantastic potential for these groups to conduct surveys and – if the species is located – ongoing monitoring of this threatened invertebrate.

Find out more here.