Category: Articles

Woohlpooer Excursion (20/10/2019)

Last October we had a fascinating day wandering in the Woohlpooer State Forest with Roger Edwards. Roger ran the Cavendish office for State Forests, and developed a deep affinity with, and knowledge of, Woohlpooer over many years. As well, he is a noted wildlife artist. We joined with Hamilton Field Nats for this, and it was lovely to see old friends/colleagues as well as meet others.

Woohlpooer is a Plains Grassy Woodland; only 3% are left throughout Victoria on public land.

Orchids were the stars of the day, and Roger knew where to find dense patches of these.

We drove to a few different sites within the forest, and had time to explore at leisure. Distance wandered may not have been great at each stop, especially when Dave Munro came in contact with fungi (!) but the excitement of discovery and learning ran high, aided amply by expertise among our … Read the rest

Another Woohlpooer Day

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the FOGG excursion to Woohlpooer but soon after (Nov 1) I went with the Grampians Australian Plant society to nearby Woorndoo to look at work to protect the rare grasslands on the roadsides and on private property. Fascinating.

We started with looking at  beautiful grassland flowers on two sites alongside the roadside,

We then moved back to the hall to hear speakers present on why these grasslands are so important. Neville Walsh from the Melbourne  Botanic Garden introduced “The forgotten flora of the volcanic plains” . We learnt how rare indeed they are, and some of the reasons for this.  These plains were quickly settled for grazing, and the paucity of classic Australian groups like Grevillea, banksia, Acacia, Epacris meant they were not seen as worth protecting. So now remnants are mainly limited to railway lines and road reserves. And recent management of these … Read the rest

FOGG’s Clean Up Australia 2020

Some of us helped clean up Australia on 1st March, organised and helped by Hannah. We concentrated on Wonderland car park, and then Reid Lookout. For a small group, a lot of rubbish was collected! Most, and most disappointing, was tissues used for toilet paper. Thank goodness for gloves and the pick-up tongs.

We had some positive discussions with tourists, some of whom even assisted by taking bags with them on their walks.

A barbeque donated by Parks and cooked by Rod (thanks Rodney) was a pleasant finale.

Thank you all, especially Hannah, who organised, motivated and took part in such a large amount of cleaning by various groups during the week. Very inspirational, Hannah – thank you!

Leigh Douglas.… Read the rest

Rescuing our Wildlife

A few of us living locally were privileged to get a last minute invitation from Derek Sandow to hear from a group of scientists on where they are currently with working with endangered species in two states . Derek is the Co-ordinator of the Grampians Ark Project.

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The first talk was an update on the Brushtailed Rock Wallaby by Ms Shannon Kleeman (Bsc Hons), University Adelaide, S.A. Shannon has just completed her honours on ‘Non-invasive monitoring and reintroduction biology of brush-tailed rock wallabies in the Grampians National Park’

In the Grampians From 2008 – 2012, 39 were released and only 7 survived. Mortality from predation by foxes actually increased due to people coming in to do monitoring and supplementary feeding. Camera monitoring was introduced in 2014 to minimise disturbance to rock-wallabies and as a more cost-effective option and from the camera data, it was estimated in 2019 that there … Read the rest

Book News

There’s quite a bit happening with new books. Progress is continuing with our reprint of Ian McCann’s wildflower book. David Welch is very soon getting a full colour-proof, so he can check each page, before the final printing. However even if it is OK to go, it will still take about 2-3 months before it gets printed and shipped to Darwin. So we hope by the end of the year it should be available here.

There are two more books fresh on the market. Available locally is “Best Walks of the Gariwerd/ Grampians National Park”, and available online is “Gariwerd, an environmental history of the Grampians” by Benjamin Wilkie. Would any of you who have ordered it like to review it for our next issue? We would love to have more of your voices in our newsletter.

“Best Walks of the Gariwerd/ Grampians National Park” is by Debra Heyes and … Read the rest

WAMA Botanic Garden

There are two exciting developments at the WAMA site between Halls Gap and Pomonal which I think will be of interest to FOGG members.

WAMA is planning to build an art gallery on the site, but are starting with developing the site. They have just completed a fence to keep feral animals out of much of the site, and currently have two exciting projects underway.  The first is to install a grassland area. For a couple of years now Jallukar Landcare has been assisting collecting seed of many local grassland plants, under the guidance of Jess Gardner. Now they have cleared the topsoil away to get rid of most of the weeds (similar to what is described in the Woorndoo article on p 6) and have just this week scattered the seed.

In addition they have received a $48,000 grant from DELWP as part of the department’s Growing Victoria’s Botanic … Read the rest

Golton Gorge

The Walking Track Support Group have now finished their work on the Golton Gorge track. It was to have had an official opening, but it was cancelled due to it being a total fire ban that day. Another opening was planned, but then the virus restrictions came in. But when the Park is reopened that walk will also be open. Several FOGG members have worked with the Walking Track Support Group.… Read the rest

Golton Gorge Track

The Walking Track Support Group have now finished their work on the Golton Gorge track. It was to have had an official opening, but it was cancelled due to it being a total fire ban that day. Another opening was planned, but then the virus restrictions came in. The walk is now open to the public but there is still no word on an official opening. Several FOGG members have worked with the Walking Track Support Group.… Read the rest

From the Editor

Welcome to our late summer bulletin. And apologies for the long break between newsletters. It has been such an incredible summer and although we have had no serious fires here, many of us have been affected. I myself got caught up in Kosciusko National Park, evacuated in plenty of time, but ended up spending much longer in Canberra than I had planned.

Our Park staff have been, and still are, flat out. They are in turns working in the fire affected areas, which means those left in the office are taking their roles as well as their own. So you will understand that there is nothing from either Rhonda or Hannah this time. We need to give them some time to relax, as there are still some difficult months ahead with the ongoing rock climbing issues and the Peaks Trail nearing completion. However we do have the general community update … Read the rest

2020 March Prez Sez

Welcome to Friends of the Grampians Gariwerd newsletter.

As I write this, we have had nearly 30mm of rain and it is still coming down. No longer can I see the hills beyond the paddocks. I hope you have all had some relief from this hot and dry summer.

As I look outside on the dry brown grass, I see the red necked wallabies browsing on our lavender bushes…it can’t taste that good or can it? Last year’s joey is still hanging around and still has a drink every so often from mum’s pouch.

In November 2019 Grampians Parks Victoria staff met with local volunteer groups and we went through the process of planning our year and how to get approval for our activities on Park Connect. Following this Rhonda and Hannah have met with FOGG committee members to discuss our monthly activities plus Hannah and Rodney have been out … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd