Natural Values – Friends of Grampians Gariwerd

Orchids are starting to show in Grampians Gariwerd

Wander along the tracks in the Grampians at this time of year and look down. Among the leaf litter, beside mossy rocks, and under the open canopy of stringybark and messmate, small green rosettes are pushing through the soil. They are easy to walk past — flat, neat little circles of leaves no bigger than a 50-cent piece. But they are the first sign of one of the park’s most extraordinary plant groups returning for another season: the greenhood orchids, genus Pterostylis.

According to VicFlora, “about 250 species, mostly endemic in Australia but also occurring in New Guinea, Ceram, New Caledonia and New Zealand; about 82 species and 3 named hybrids in Victoria.”

These are terrestrial, perennial herbs that survive the long dry summer as a single fleshy underground tuber. As the days shorten and the autumn rains arrive — which is exactly what is happening across the Grampians now … Read the rest

The Flumes

The Flumes near Barri Yalug

In the late 1800s, water was needed for the community in Stawell and Halls Gap and for the expanding gold mines at Pleasant Creek.

In 1869, the Stawell Shire Council engaged Government Surveyor C. Bagge to provide a report on the best way to get water. The scheme chosen was the Glenfyan scheme proposed by Borough Engineer John d’Alton in 1872. The plan was to blast a tunnel through Mt William range and supply this with water from a dam on Fyans Creek using Flumes (open aqueducts). The water would then pass through the tunnel to a pipeline (24km long) and onwards to a reservoir on Big Hill in Stawell.
Work commenced in February 1875. The Flumes ran for 10km` to the tunnel. The scheme took more than 6 years to complete finishing in July 1881.

Remnants of the Flumes can still be seen today, … Read the rest

Pimelea pagophila

Pimelea pagophila Grampians Rice Flower

Grampians Rice Flower is endemic to Victoria and is known only from the Mt William range. It is listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC act. It is a shrub and can grow to about a metre high. Leaves are 7-20 mm long and 2-5 mm wide, mid green in colour and glabrous (no hairs). The flowers are in bunches at the end of stems, and the bunches are surrounded by 4, 6 or 8 pale green or sometimes reddish bracts (they look a bit like leaves). The flowers are white and have a floral tube 14-15 mm long these tubes are glabrous on the outside and the inside of the tube has hairs, and they flower in October to November. It is very similar to Pimelea linifolia, the difference being P. linifolia has hairs on the inside and outside of the floral tube and flowers … Read the rest

Grampians Gariwerd Park Victoria Update February 2026

Northern Grampians
Whats OPEN
Hollow Mountain (Wudjub Guyun) walk
Gulgurn Manja and Ngamadjidj Rock Art shelters
Golton Gorge walk
Beehive Falls and Briggs Bluff walks
Zumsteins to Fish Falls walks and on to MacKenzie Falls and back again.

Mt Difficult (Gar) walk and Waterfalls of Gar
Heatherlie Quarry and Zumsteins Picnic Ground

* Note MacKenzie Falls is closed from 9th February 2026 for several months of renovations. Access via Zumsteins. Note limited parking only at Zumsteins during this renovation.
*Mount Zero Carpark/Mura Mura GPT Trailhead is closed for carparking. No day parking available, drop off/pick up only.
Alternatively, day visitors can park at Stapylton Campground to access Stapylton Loop walk, Stapylton Summit walk, Flat Rock area and Mt Zero walk (note this will add additional km’s to each walk).

Central Grampians, Wonderland Range, Mt William Range & Halls Gap
The Chatauqua Peak Loop and a small section of the GPT … Read the rest

“Tail of the Squirrel Glider” Project Platypus

Squirrel Glider Plantout a Soaring Success in Ledcourt
9 August 2025 – Project Platypus planting
Sunshine, community spirit, and 40 eager volunteers set the stage for an unforgettable day in Ledcourt, as Project Platypus hosted its very first plantout event for the Tail of the Squirrel Glider project. “With perfect weather and the group’s high energy – we really couldn’t have asked for a better day”, said Phoebe Nowell-Usticke, Project Coordinator at Project Platypus. “From start to finish, it was a true community effort, and everyone left feeling like they’d been part of something important.”
The planting site was located just 100 metres from a recent squirrel glider sighting, making the planting all the more relevant. Thanks to the incredible turnout, the team not only planted over 1,000 native trees and shrubs, they did it in record time.
Morning tea kicked things off, followed by a planting demonstration, and seedling … Read the rest

Redgum Walk 2025 Fire impacts

Parks Victoria Volunteers undertook the twice a year Great Gariwerd Bird Survey in May and I had the opportunity to drive along the Glenelg River Road and visit the Redgum Walk just off the Henham track.
This area had been badly damaged in the 2005-2006 bushfires and once again this area was badly burnt.

Some FOGG members may remember the many working bees back in the 1990s to remove the old wire and put in this walking track as the first All Abilities Walking Track in the Grampians Gariwerd.

This poor old redgum table has been burnt. This one had been installed in 2010 replacing the original 1998 table that had survived the 2006 fires only to be stolen in 2008.

… Read the rest

Sphaerolobium acanthos Grampians globe-pea

Sphaero meaning Ball and lobos Greek for pod and the specific name acanthos meaning prickly plant.

The Grampians globe-pea is a distinctive plant and when in flower is quite spectacular. It can grow to a metre tall and has rigid stems and branches with spiny branchlets. It flowers between November and January with striking yellow, orange to reddish-brown flowers. Its spherical shaped pods appear in January to February. It is listed as Critically Endangered under the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999. Endemic to the Grampians and previously thought to be known from only 70 plants. The main threats are animal grazing (one population has not been seen for 5 years after heavy grazing by goats), habitat loss and dieback caused by the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi (Cinnamon fungus).

FOGGs have been involved in searches for this plant since 2011, some early searches where we found no plants. In … Read the rest

Powerful Owls

Powerful Owls are Australia’s largest nocturnal bird of prey and also our largest hollow-nesting bird. They are a formidable predator, regularly taking prey up to their own body weight. Ringtail possums are a favourite but, depending on habitat, they also predate small and large glider species, brush tailed possums, sub-adult koalas, fruit bats, and a range of birds. Generally, these owls take arboreal prey but there are records of them occasionally taking small ground-dwelling mammals such as rabbits or small marsupials. Sadly, Powerful Owls are killed by secondary poisoning resulting from so-called “second generation” rodenticides, please don’t use these.

Many people camping in and around Halls Gap may have unknowingly heard a Powerful Owl calling, a deep “classic” hoot. But far fewer will ever have seen one. Listening at dusk for 10 minutes or so, the period when kookaburras are calling to just after they stop, is a good time … Read the rest

Dr John White May 2025

9th May 2025. A long-term study aids understanding of the likely impact of climate change on Gariwerd’s small mammals

Associate Professor John White presented to 32 attendees recently on “How will little critters cope with Climate Change?’ The Grampians fire, climate and biodiversity project.

Climate Changes means fires, drought and floods and this project aims to look at how ecosystems are going to respond.

Over the past 20 years the Grampians has experienced hypervariable climatic conditions, including four mega fires since 2005. Major fires are now more frequent, more intense, and more devastating. Floods are becoming more frequent and severe with major damage from the 2010/2011 flood.

Photo Credit Leigh Douglas

Deakin University has established 36 survey sites and conducted extensive small mammal surveys since 2008. These surveys have tracked numbers of feral (house mouse and black rat) and native species. Native rodents include the heath mouse and swamp rat, … Read the rest

Asterolasia phebalioides

Aster Greek meaning star and lasios hairy, because of the stellate hairs covering the leaves and stems of plants in this genus, phebalioides meaning it resembles the genus Phebalium. Both genera are in the family Rutaceae which contains plants like Boronia, Correas and citrus.

Downy Starbush is one of many of the Grampians rare and threatened plants, it is listed as Vulnerable under the Federal EPBC Act, it also occurs in the western Black Range and the Little Desert. It flowers in Spring, predominantly in October, with eye catching yellow flowers. For the uninitiated, at first glance you may mistake it for a Hibbertia, but it has distinctive foliage with downy covered stems and foliage. The grey green leaves are crowded, cuneate – obcordate (with a blunt or notched tip) and make it readily identifiable without flowers. If you have a look at the hairs under magnification, they look like … Read the rest