Category: Articles

Welcome David Roberts, RIC

A big welcome to David Roberts, our new RIC. I’ve asked David to tell us a bit about himself………

bq. David Roberts comes to the Ranger in Charge position at the Grampians with a varied background in park and public open space management. David commenced with Parks Victoria as a Horticulturalist in the Dandenong Ranges Gardens after completing a Bachelor of Applied Science (Horticulture) at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley College. After 5 years as a team leader of the National Rhododendron Gardens, David took the opportunity to move into the area of conservation management with a move to the Box Ironbark parks around Bendigo, Heathcote and Inglewood. These landscapes provided important experiences in land management issues, including fire management, threatened species management, visitor experiences as well as working with a range of different communities and community groups. For the past 3 years, David has been Ranger in Charge of … Read the rest

Fungi Frolic

We’ll be meeting near the corner of Mt Victory and Rose Creek Roads. There is a picnic table a short way in on Rose Ck road, on the Lake Wartook side.

RSVP Ewen Johnson 5383 6294… Read the rest

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Poetry Corner

Last issue I asked for poems to supplement the historical collection. I’m delighted to report a response from one of our members.

‘These have I loved…’
Bold mountains oranged by a virgin sun
with calling currawongs still dark as night.
Swift water spilling down by rocky paths; run
as it will, it cannot race the light.
Fragrance of bushland after showers,
soft scarves of mist around peak’s rugged brow
rare winter orchids, bright native flowers
and Koori paintings, faint as wind that soughs
like voices out of range. Loud needle points of rain,
groaning of frogs as evening steals the light,
kangaroos carrying young down to the plain
and kookaburras raucous morning flight.
Meeting with strangers, whose conversation shows
They also care about this land of ours.

Jean Sietzema-Dickson… Read the rest

Platypus (from the Wimmera CMA)

h4. Boys outweigh girls

Researchers hope a group of bachelor platypuses living in the upper Wimmera catchment will eventually spread out, establish new territories and find female companions to consolidate a regional population. A study team, monitoring a fragile platypus population in the MacKenzie River, this week captured two ‘new’ male individuals. The find took the ‘counted’ population in the three-year study area to four males and one female.

Wimmera Catchment Management Authority monitoring officer Mark Toomey said the imbalance between males and females in the study area were unlikely to continue. “Males are territorial and tend to move around to find their own patch. The hope is that conditions have improved enough to support their spread across the district,” he said.

Wimmera CMA is contracting the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research to run the trapping survey. CESAR researchers captured three platypuses, including an individual they had identified … Read the rest

First Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby pouch young in the Grampians

The first wild-born pouch young for the population of captive bred Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies reintroduced into the Grampians National Park in 2008 was discovered in the April trapping work. The 10 day old newborn brings hope for a critically endangered species facing extinction in Victoria.

Department of Sustainability and Environment Biodiversity Officer Emily Beddgood said the research team was ecstatic to find the pouch young during routine trapping.
“It’s very exciting. The birth shows that the Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies are adapting to their new habitat and it is the first sign we have had that they are on the way to becoming a second self sustaining population of animals in Victoria,” she said. There is an existing population of about 20 animals in remote East Gippsland.

Ms Bedggood said animals were regularly monitored using radio collars, remote surveillance cameras and were trapped for health checks every six months. “We started … Read the rest

Wednesday May 12 – Installation of the new table at the Red Gum Walk

This had been scheduled to be a visit to the orchid propagation lab at DSE Horsham, but we postponed that to fit in with the availability of equipment to install our new table.

Long term members will remember that back in in 1997 we applied for a grant to erect a table at our already established walk for the less-abled. Member Bill Neve constructed a magnificent table which had seating along the sides and wheelchair access at the two ends. A real work of art, and appreciated by both able and disabled picnickers. To our delight the table emerged from the 2006 fires unscathed (as did the handpainted sign by member Sue McInnes). Imagine our disappointment to then discover that someone with a chainsaw had come in and stolen the table and the seats!

Stan, Bill, John and Ewen resolved that it should be replaced and the new table is … Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd