History

In 1990 The Hills Shire Bushland Restoration Committee was formed to help oversee the restoration of degraded bushland within The Hills Shire. Growing locally native plants became part of its charter in 1993. Before this time there were no facilities for volunteers to propagate plants and volunteers use to travel to the Greening Australia Nursery, Nurragingy, at Doonside.

The Committee successfully lobbied the Council for the provision of a nursery in Baulkham Hills. This was established in the Fred Caterson Reserve, Castle Hill. Later, this space was required to build the Basketball Centre and a lot of hard work was involved in dismantling and moving to the present location in Ted Horwood Reserve. Despite having to start almost from scratch again the volunteers rallied, rebuilt and regrew until the nursery's output once again equaled, and then exceeded, the output from the old facility at Fred Caterson Reserve.

This Committee is now The Hills Shire Bushland Conservation Committee. The nursery was named Bidjiwong in 2001 which is the Darug word for Eastern Water Dragon. There are a number of these living in the Darling Mills Creek in Excelsior Reserve, below the Community Nursery. As well as being a community nursery, Bidjiwong has also become a Council operational facility. The Bushcare team work from Bidjiwong and it is here that locally indigenous plants for Council projects are propagated.