A SNIPPET FROM THE WIMMERA CMA NEWSLETTER
A native plant unique to the Wimmera has been a major beneficiary of an environmental water release into the MacKenzie River. The
1000-megalitre flow provided stands of rare Wimmera bottlebrush near Wonwondah, south of Horsham, with their first river drink since 2005. The release from Distribution Heads near Laharum finished at the end of October.
Australian botanist Neil Marriott discovered the Wimmera bottlebrush, which has distinctive pink-mauve flowers, identifying it as a species
unique to the Wimmera in 2005. He estimated at the time that some plants growing along more than 12 kilometres of the MacKenzie River were between 80 to 100 years old.
The bottlebrush, Callistemon wimmerensis, is undergoing assessment for listing under
the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.