Category: President Report

Special General Meeting – 2nd March 2025 @ 1pm, Meeting Room, Centenary Hall, Halls Gap

Welcome: Vice President Geoff Stratford took the chair and expressed thanks to Catherine Carlyle, Wendy Bedggood and Alison Bainbridge for their work leading up to calling this meeting.

Alison Bainbridge was minute secretary for this meeting.

Attendance:  Geoff Stratford, Rod Thompson, Judith Thompson, John Minchin-King, Alan Bedggood, Wendy Bedggood, Neil Macumber and Alison Bainbridge

Apologies: Catherine Carlyle, Clive Carlyle, Elia Pirtle, James Maino, Andrew Cunningham, Sue Cunningham, Darren McClelland, John King, Jocelyn King, David Steane, Leigh Douglas, ben Gunn, Cindy Thompson

Motion: Apologies be accepted

Moved:  Alan Bedggood        Seconded: Judith Thompson             Carried

All apologies registered their proxy in favour of all motions as foreshadowed in the Notice of this Special General Meeting.

Reason why a special meeting was called: Chair invited Wendy Bedggood to provide a brief outline of the why and how we have reached the position where Friends of Grampians Gariwerd (FOGG) could take the action to … Read the rest

2023 AGM Presidents Report

Presidents Report

This term of president doesn’t quite make the full twelve months with the earlier timeslot for our AGM but we have had a full book of achievements and enjoyable activities nonetheless. We also have an interesting schedule of activities identified for the rest of 2023, a good start for the next term.

Our Christmas 2022 gathering was partially scuppered by road closures, which were not communicated, but those who met up farewelled 2022 appropriately. We therefore chose to welcome 2023 with a lovely gathering at Zumsteins in February. Together, over lunch, we set out a potential schedule of activities for 2023 followed by a very pleasant walk to Fish Falls. Along the way those of us who installed the half way seating a few years ago were able to show it off to other members. A tribute to the tenacity of Bill Gardner to see this project completed.… Read the rest

PREZ SEZ July 2023

PREZ SEZ July 2023
Welcome to this edition of the FOGG Newsletter and a well done to the editors for their work to publish items relevant to Grampians Gariwerd along with summaries of our activities. As you will read further into this
newsletter, we had some hiccups getting our contribution to Clean up Australia Day underway. However, all went well in the end and many thanks to the small team who cleaned up Reeds Lookout and surrounds.
We have pretty much established a calendar of activities for 2023 although as we have seen there can also be some flexibility as the year progresses. Your committee is always open to suggestions for topics to be covered or perhaps working bees if our age group allows. Just contact a committee member if you have an idea. In particular you may have a suggestion for a location/activity for a Christmas function. Normally the … Read the rest

Presidents Report: Friends of the Grampians Gariwerd (FOGG) 2024

Presidents Report: Friends of the Grampians Gariwerd (FOGG) 2024

Activities of our small group continues to be driven by our membership who provide the leadership and technical expertise which ensures an activity most months, supplemented with guest speakers on some occasions.

Without restating all of our activities we have held six walks led by members, conducted a clean up Australia Day activity and hosted four talks by guests. Personally, I see each activity as a highlight but we were especially grateful for our guest speakers;

Nouska Reiter: Orchids and threatened species

Charlie Richardson: PV update

Damien Skurrie: Cultural Burning

Greg Kerr: Red Gums

Our thanks go out to all for their contribution. I hope we can maintain the communication with PV, perhaps through an annual update similar to the one Charlie delivered. Along with those members of his staff who also attended, our understanding of the work and constraints PV … Read the rest

2022 November Prez Sez

PREZ SEZ
As summer approaches rapidly, and the rain keeps falling and creeks are flooding …. well, this is different to the usual summer intro. I’m loving this wetness, the sound of rain on the roof, normally dry creeks running bankers and flooding; but then I’m not faced with flooded buildings, just beautiful wetlands, ponds and puddles. Frogs, insects (pity about the mozzies), bird life – fledglings appearing everywhere, swans floating with their cygnets over the paddocks … happy Reed Warblers.
Gumboots. Bruce McInnes started the gumboot fashion with his Wetland Wander in September, when some gumboots were discovered, wetly, to be NOT waterproof after spending years stacked away in cupboards.
Now it’s time for me to step down from position of president, having completed my two-year term.
Looking back on this time, I’m left with some very warm memories of activities, work and shared values with a great group … Read the rest

2022 August Prez Sez

PREZ SEZ Aug 2022
Chilly Greetings to all, in this ‘Deep Mid-Winter’ edition. But already it’s (still Deep) Late-Winter, and spring is
on the horizon: Acacias starting to flower, orchid leaves pushing up through the cold ground, cuckoos calling, birds exhibiting nesting behaviour, i.e., chasing each other energetically! … and we’ve been told it’s going to be warmer ‘soon’. Unfortunately, creeks aren’t flowing en masse yet, even though it’s nice and wet. But wait: Mt William Creek started to flow two days ago. Thank you to Darcy Truman, our Community Engagement Officer while Hannah was away. You’ve been great to work with Darcy, and very helpful & patient with all the issues that arose. All the best for your next step, and we do hope to see you around! AND, welcome back Hannah! Your 6 months in a different area sounded most enjoyable and worthwhile, glad it worked out so … Read the rest

2021 September Prez Sez

We are very sad to learn of the death of Lyn Munro in early July. Judith will be writing about Lyn, in this or the next newsletter. She will be greatly missed, as a loved friend and fellow champion of the bush, plus for all her knowledge and input to FOGG and the Hamilton Field Nats; our deepest sympathy goes to Dave and their family.

As the short dark cold days of Winter start to give way to the (slightly) longer, (at times) sunnier, and equally cold days of late-winter, Spring is showing its presence all through the bush: Acacias and Eucalypts flowering, orchid leaves pushing up through the ground, brilliant red correa bells, fantastic fungi, and birds chasing each other and pairing up ready for nesting. It’s one of the most exciting times to be out in the bush, full of promise, especially after the plentiful rains we’ve been … Read the rest

2021 May PRESIDENT’S REPORT or, as Rodney dubbed it, PREZ SEZ

Welcome to FOGG’s 1st newsletter for 2021, and to an action-packed year of activities …. except the action has been very slow to start with; post-Covid, health problems within the committee, computer glitches – and as Margo said, time pressure on Parks staff. We apologise for the lateness of notification of events so far, but I am providing a provisional calendar for the rest of the year (see below); although none of these activities have yet been approved by Parks. As soon as this happens, you will all be notified.

We have had two outings so far this year, with our third coming up on Saturday 8th May. After all the Restrictions last year, it has been wonderful to gather together again, see each other, welcome new members, and share our interests and knowledge.

Our February event, finding and looking at reptiles, led by David Steane (who has … Read the rest

2020 September President’s Report

Hi Friends,

I hope you are all going well. It looks to me like spring is here and we seem to have missed winter. I don’t know about you but our rainfall is non existent and our seasonal creek and wetlands are still dry. What a disaster for our wetland plants, frogs and water birds. I hope we get some rain soon.

Given the lack of rain, today was another glorious sunny day for the Grampians and I took the opportunity to go for a walk. What a profusion of flowers we have at the moment of all colours yellow, mauve, pink, red and white. We all have our favourites. We will miss our FOGG events and the wildflower show this year, so I hope you can catch up on some webinars and zoom meetings instead.

I have certainly been out in the garden a lot planting and weeding. Talking … Read the rest

2021 June President’s Report

Good Day to Friends of Grampians Gariwerd,

On Friday 24th I will be attending the Grampians National Park landscape management plan Strategy meeting via teleconference.  We have come a long way in a few weeks with telecommunications!

This session will focus on preparation of a Draft Plan for public release and comment.  So please watch out for this and to respond with public comments.

We hope that you still have work and that you have been able to spend some time outside during this very difficult time.

We hope that you will enjoy the newsletter and thank you to Margo and Leigh for putting it together.

Thank you also to Bill for providing us an update on shield and clam shrimps and a very interesting article on gnammas.

Powerful owl

This is the time of year that Powerful owls are breeding and the other night we heard them at our … Read the rest