Shoebox Books & Tax is Australia’s leading bookkeeping and tax franchise, with more than 70 franchisees supporting over 10,000 businesses nationwide. Through their network of local franchise businesses, Shoebox provides practical, personalised support across bookkeeping, tax, BAS, payroll and business financial management, helping business owners understand their numbers, stay on top of their obligations and make informed decisions about their business.
At the heart of Shoebox is a simple goal – to give Australian business owners the confidence to focus on growing their business, knowing their bookkeeping and tax obligations are in trusted hands.
This is reflected in their people-first philosophy, centred on genuine relationships, personalised support and being genuinely invested in the success of both their franchise owners and the clients they serve. Their local franchisees combine the personal, one-on-one support of a local business with the systems, resources and expertise of a national network.
That same focus on people and community extends beyond business, with Shoebox looking for meaningful ways to make a positive contribution to the communities and environment around them. Fifteen Trees are delighted to be Shoebox’s tree planting partners.
On Jinibarra Country a dedicated group of volunteers is doing the kind of work that is making an enormous difference to the native landscape. Between 30 and 50 volunteers turned up across numerous planting days to plant 500 native trees, of which 100 were generously donated by Shoebox Books and Tax.
Hinterland Bush Links works across properties throughout the hinterland, partnering with landholders who care about what’s happening on their land. Their most recent planting took place at Booroobin which features a natural spring that forms part of the headwaters of the Mary River. The revegetation around the spring and headwater areas will help stabilise soils, reduce erosion and protect water quality in the Mary River catchment downstream. The quality of the water filtering through the ground into the Mary River all depends upon what happens here.
We are incredibly grateful to supporters of Fifteen Trees for generously sponsoring the plants that made this community planting event possible. Your support is helping us restore vital koala habitat and strengthen biodiversity across the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
We’d also like to acknowledge the landholders who continue caring for these trees long after the planting day is over – their ongoing commitment is essential to the long-term success of these restoration projects.
Finally, a heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers who gave their time and energy to do something truly selfless for the environment. These events are about far more than planting trees – they build community, connection, and hope for the future.
Louise Court | Project Officer | Hinterland Bush Links
The species planted reflect the ecological complexity of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. At least 20% of every planting in known koala habitat areas consists of koala food and habitat trees – blue gums, grey gums, tallowwoods, brush box and swamp box. Pioneer and rainforest species including bleeding heart, acacias and sandpaper figs fill out the rest of the mix, building the layered structure that a functioning ecosystem needs to establish and sustain itself.
Koalas are the headline species here and the Sunshine Coast Hinterland is critical habitat for them. Koalas are what ecologists call an umbrella species, meaning that protecting their habitat also protects the dozens of other species that share it. Species such as Greater gliders, sugar gliders, brushtail and ringtail possums, echidnas, microbats, black cockatoos, king parrots, lorikeets, tawny frogmouths and kookaburras all live in this landscape. Every tree planted here is doing work for all of them.
Hinterland Bush Links has been restoring native ecosystems across the Sunshine Coast Hinterland for years. The results are visible in the wildlife returning, the vegetation thickening, and the community of volunteers that keeps showing up. And we thank Shoebox Books & Tax for the funding to make this all possible.
Writer: Colleen Filippa
With a background in Environmental Science, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, schools and environmental networks.
