Category: 2018 Autumn Newsletter

2018 August Prez Sez

It has been a dry time in the park, with only a couple of rain events so far this year. Particularly in the north, a lot of trees are under pressure and new growth after fires is dying in many areas, particularly where the rock layer is not far below the surface. Some hillsides look like autumn colours, until you realise that there are only natives growing, and they are suffering. Our summer has continued a long time but the weather has finally taken on an autumn feel with those beautiful pleasant days and chilly damp nights. Even the odd misty morning. I love this time of year! It also allows struggling vegetation to survive until winter rains arrive. I still worry about lightning strikes and careless fires with the current fuel load of dead vegetation.

                Combine this with grazing pressures the vegetation is doing it tough, particularly on the … Read the rest

From Parks Victoria

OUR VERY BUSY RANGER IN CHIEF is seconded to the North East at the moment. Thank you Tammy Schoo for a comprehensive update, which I have unfortunately needed to shorten for the printed version.

It was all hands-on deck over the busy Easter and Victorian and South Australian School holiday period in the Grampians. High visitor numbers saw every campsite booked out weeks in advance and popular day visitor areas were brimming with families and international visitors.

Luckily there were minimal callouts for emergencies and antisocial visitor behaviour. Unfortunately however there were a higher than usual amount of campfires left unattended, rubbish left behind and  people ignoring signage – such as ‘no dogs permitted in National Parks’, ‘no entering the Balconies and Boroka lookout rock platforms’ and ‘no swimming at Mackenzie Falls’.  Interviews were conducted at the Balconies for visitors climbing over barriers and fines may be issued.

The Grampians … Read the rest

Talks By Members – 24 February 2018

We started the year with two presentations by our own members, followed by a  picnic tea/ BBQ (bring your own)  in Halls Gap afterwards.

            The first was presented by Ben Gunn, an archaeologist residing at Lake Lonsdale. Ben recently gained a Ph D for his work. Over the years Ben has spoken to FOGGS about local art sites, and we knew he was also doing much work in the north of the country so we were very much interested in hearing about what he had learnt.

“Art of the Ancestors: Analysing ceiling art of Nawarla Gabarnmang in Arnhem Land”

Ben’s thesis was about the development of a new way of recording and analysing rock art by incorporating three techniques: DStretch from rock art, Harris Matrix from archaeology and the Morellian Method from fine art. Using the ceiling art from Nawarla Gabarnmang in western Arnhem Land he was able to … Read the rest

Clean Up Australia Day – 3 March 2018

FOGG has been involved with cleaning up around the Grampians for over 30 years.

On Saturday, the 24th of March, seven FOGG members met with Parks Victoria staff in the Halls Gap picnic area. We were provided with gloves, rubbish bags and rubbish grabbers, and allocated two target areas to clean; Silverband Falls and the picnic grounds adjacent to Lake Bellfield.

There was very little rubbish found at Silverband Falls, however we did collect a number of bags of Scotch Thistle from the creek banks, most not far off seeding. We found quite a lot of rubbish at the picnic grounds next to Lake Bellfield including litter, rusted posts and bits of metal, and bird wire. All up, we collected more than 15 bags of rubbish weighing approximately 60kg. Overall, it was a very successful day.

Our thanks to Parks Victoria staff for providing our gear, and more importantly, a … Read the rest

March 26 2018 : Bunbury, Bunyips, and Bunjil: the family letters of Capt Richard Hanmer Bunbury of Barton Station

2018 Professor Ian D. Clark, Federation Business School, Federation University Australia, Ballarat

Professor Ian Clark, a Western Victorian local now at Federation University Ballarat, gave us a fact-filled afternoon talk on the 1840 accounts of Capt. R. H. Bunbury of Barton Station, south of Moyston; the origins of the Bunyip as recorded by early settlers in conversation with local Aboriginal people and from Aboriginal ground drawings in Western Victoria. The Bunyip also was a key player in the story of Bunjil and in the interpretation of the painting of Bunjil in the Black Range near Stawell. Bunyips have been recorded from most areas of Victoria, and while all are associated with waterholes or rivers, the descriptions vary considerably: from a giant emu to a fur seal to an extinct Palorchestes (that died out some 40,000 years ago). The best description, however, comes not from verbal accounts but from a depiction … Read the rest

March Committee Meeting Report – 13 April 2018

New curtains in the Mural Room have been put up following our suggestion

Rodney has purchased an EPirb

Bill and Rodney attended the fire conference on 18.10.17.

Volunteer Parks Training Day: Rodney and Margo attended. Following up from this Rodney has established a FOGGS page in the Parks portal and will maintain it. (Activities and possibility profiles of members) see further article.

Treasurer’s Report:  Discussion re members who have not renewed,  decided to leave as it is now close to the call for annual subs in July.

General Business: The seat on Zumsteins to Fish Falls track is in progress, Rodney to follow up as to when it is expected to be completed. The funding for this originally came from the Friends of Zumsteins group.

Activities were discussed  and this quarters confirmed. It was suggested that we hold some activities on Sundays.

 Golton Gorge   FOGGs agree to … Read the rest

Mike Stevens’ Talk – April 13

When we had asked Mike to update us on environmental issues in the park, particularly on the overgrazing issue, he was not yet acting as Ranger in Charge, so in the end we got some of each.

Sallow wattle: The aim is to control as much as possible, using a mix of handpulling and mechanical mulching. We really have to do as much as we can as it potentially could cause huge problems. In Wilsons Promontory a weed teatree has spread and spread. We asked about the sallow wattle monitoring that some of us had volunteered to do while Ryan was in the position. Mike was not very familiar with it and asked each of us to collate what we had done so far and show him, so he could see what use could be made of it.

Predators: We have both foxes and cats. Fox baiting has … Read the rest

Parkconnect

As reported in the last newsletter, Parks Vic is encouraging us all to  register to become an official Parks Victoria volunteer by creating a user account and volunteer profile with details about your interests, skills, and contact information.

It is a way of registering special skills, interests and qualifications so they can contact us for activities etc and keeps track of paperwork such as accredited chainsaw training and working with children checks.

We can use it too to look for volunteer activities in other parks. Should be useful when on holidays.

It’s quite easy to register. You need to create a profile and a password of course.

Register now at Parks Victoria

… Read the rest

Golton Gorge Project

After the fires of 2014 PV decided to close the picnic area and the track up the gorge. However, this met with much opposition from many people who loved the spot. Now a new track will be built by mainly volunteers. It won’t cross the main creek but take walkers up the left hand side. The volunteer work is being led by the Walking Track Support Group under David Witham and Graham Parkes using funds from the donation boxes spread through the park. They are being supported by various bushwalking groups and FOGG has agreed to join in. So as dates of working bees are settled we will let you know.… Read the rest

Advisory Group Report

The Advisory Group met on March 16 with Mike Stevens (Team Leader, Environment and Heritage)  as acting Ranger in Charge as Dave R is on secondment to the North East part of the state. We had two main topics to discuss with three visitors from Melbourne, plus of course a list of local ongoing issues.

Our first visitors were Tony Varcoe (Community Engagement and Inclusion) and Young Soo Kwon, an exchange ranger from South Korea who were  both interested to observe how an AG works as ours is one of the very few parks to have one. We introduced ourselves, the history of the AG and our own backgrounds and they then listened in as we discussed:

Community partnerships. There are 17 of these groups and the park benefits hugely eg the partnership with Deakin University costs $5000 but delivers $100,000 worth of projects.

Grampians Peaks Trail Progress:  Some … Read the rest