Articles – Page 3 – Friends of Grampians Gariwerd

Grampian – Gariwerd Memories from Bill Cunningham.

Grampian- Gariwerd Memories from Bill Cunningham.

I was born in Stawell, Western Victoria in October 1938.

Our farm St Leonards

My mother and father owned a 2,000 acre farm near Dadswell’s Bridge, about 20km from Stawell on the main highway between Melbourne and Adelaide. They bought it in 1936, and named their dream “St Leonards”. The farm was partly cleared, but some paddocks still had a lot of big trees: redgum, yellow box, stringy bark, and wattles. There were beautiful views to the Grampian ranges, about 12km at nearest, which was Brigg’s Bluff, at the foot of which was a delightful little waterfall, called Beehive Falls. Two early industries in the area had been timber cutting, using the huge old red gums for bridge supports and rail sleepers, and tobacco growing, evidenced by a couple of curing sheds I can recall in one of our paddocks, near Mt William Creek.… 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

Grampians Fire and Parks Victoria Updates

16th December 2024 onwards to May 2025

Chronology: 16th December 2024 A lightning band started multiple fires across Grampians including at Yarram Gap. Forest Fire Management planes started patrolling immediately. Despite large numbers of aircraft, water bombers and ground crew operations the fire spread along the Mt William range, Mt Rosea and Sundial area over the next two weeks. This fire extended south towards Walker Swamp and west into the Wannon River valley and east towards Pomonal and Moyston.

Halls Gap and surrounding towns were evacuated several times. Christmas was a very unsettling time for many.

This Yarram Gap fire burnt 76000 hectares of National Park and farmland and had a perimeter of 427km. Including farmland and homes around Pomonal and Moyston.

From 3/1/2025 Wildlife welfare crews conducted assessments with vets to care for injured wildlife and food drops were being conducted throughout the Grampians National Park. Plus impact assessment … Read the rest

Parks Victoria Updates May 2025

Here’s the latest update from our Grampians Ark Coordinator on the comprehensive recovery efforts following the Yarram Gap and Wallaby Rocks fires in Grampians National Park.

Background;

The fires have burned an area of 135,677 Ha, which represents over two-thirds of the park. All six high conservation areas have been affected, including critical habitats for our priority species, which are protected under State and Federal legislation, such as the critically endangered Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (BTRW), Long-nosed Potoroo, Southern Brown Bandicoot, Heath Mouse, and Smoky Mouse. Amid the devastation, we have found a newly discovered BTRW population at Asses Ears. This marks the first confirmed population of this critically endangered species outside its reintroduced colony in Moora.

Photo Credit Joe Terry

Key response efforts in progress and achievements.

Critically Endangered Brush-Tailed Rock Wallaby

Ground feeding operations commenced on 17 February, involving the sling loading of bulk supplies for 17 monitored ground

… Read the rest

Presidents Report May 2025

Greetings everyone. This is our 1^st newsletter this year, due to difficulty finding an Editor since Margo left. Thanks to Catherine Carlyle for stepping in for this issue. There has also been difficulty in getting rain these last couple of seasons; wetlands and waterholes have dried up, which on top of the fires in the Grampians has been very tough on wildlife and vegetation.

FOGG has held activities in February, March and April. In February Sarah Cole gave us an update on: Brush Tailed Rock Wallaby, and other, post-fire feeding programmes, pest control, shelter pods, the small mammal trapping project, and pest plants. In March we joined in the annual clean-up day, at The Pines (no nappies! but a lot of small items, and blown-about tree cages). April saw us removing Sallow Wattle regrowth near Halls Gap. For reports on these events, please see below.

There has been, and … Read the rest

Clean up Australia Day 2025 Meeting report

Sunday 2nd March Pines Plantation campground.

The day went well. The weather did us proud, nice morning. A dozen members participated and although the camp ground looked pretty clean at first glance we collected up a good eight bags of rubbish and some extraneous items over a bit more than one and half hours, which we thought was good hunting, so we didn’t do the quarry. Park Ranger Nick called by just after I arrived to set up and thankfully he offered to call past in the afternoon and collect the rubbish if we left it behind the toilets. Thanks Nick and thankyou to all our volunteers.

Another successful team effort.

… Read the rest

Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park – Aerial Pest Control Tuesday 6th May to 8th May

Aerial Pest Animal Control Program in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park

Parks Victoria is conducting a conservation program to respond to the ecological impacts of the recent Grampians bushfires.

An aerial shooting operation will be undertaken between Tuesday 6th May – Thursday 8th of May 2025 to target pest animals and to support the recovery of the park and its native species.

Operations will occur within fire ground areas currently closed to the public. No additional closures of visitor sites or campgrounds will occur.

To ensure visitor safety, fireground closure signs are located at key road access points to the control area. Visitors are encouraged to follow all instructions on permanent and temporary signage.

For further information visit Brambuk the National Park and Cultural Centre in Halls Gap or call Parks Victoria Information on 13 1963.… Read the rest

Sallow Wattle Morning

Sallow Wattle Control Morning

When: Saturday, 12th April, 9:45 AM
Where: Grampians State Park, Halls Gap-Ararat Road, near Halls Gap Transfer Station

8 members and a Halls Gap Landcare volunteer attended. We parked at the Halls Gap Transfer station and car pooled across the road and down the track to the previously surveyed sallow wattle sites. Sallow wattle was removed along the track and we were pretty happy we got it all from this section. There are large trees on the boundary with private property which Parks Vic are aware of and working with Council and the landowners to remove. Sarah Cole will keep us informed.

We didn’t see any Grevillea gariwerdensis seedlings, but Neil Marriott has offered to visit the site next week to help FOGG look for these endangered plants.

Thankyou to everyone involved. John King, John Minchin-King, Wendy Bedggood, Geoff Wadge, Catherine Carlyle, Strum Stratford, … Read the rest