Category: Newsletters

Round Table Report

Wendy Bedggood

The last Grampians Roundtable meeting for the year was in December. We reviewed the original purpose and role of the roundtable and decided it was still relevant and a worthwhile group to keep going.

It aims to:

  • Improve communication between stakeholders, land management agencies and the community
  • Develop a shared understanding of complex land management issues, including fire management
  • Provide information that can contribute to DEPI and Parks Victoria’s decision making procedures, practices in relation to land management in the Grampians
  • Provide information that can contribute to government policy without being an official or formal source of advice to government.

I represent FOGGs, other members of the group represented are Hamilton Field Nats, CFA, Landcare, Wine growers, Apiarists, tourism industry, rockclimbers, the VFF, CMA’s, councils and the indigenous community, some of these groups are not regular attendees and we will be looking at ways we can help improve … Read the rest

The status of Long Nosed Potoroo in the Grampians

Mike Stevens, Grampians Wildlife Trust

The Grampians is highly significant as it is the single inland population of Long Nosed Potoroo in Victoria1. Until 2003 there was thought to be only a single population on private property at Pomonal1 with oral history existing of Potoroo visiting peoples veranda’s along at Waterhole Road.  This population was found by John Seebeck during a Christmas field trip in 1970 by members of the Mammal Survey Group of the Field Naturalists Club of the Victoria2.

Yet, in the space of only 8 years , 5 new colonies were found.

The first, in the head waters of the Glenelg River (north of Syphon Road). The second (and only two weeks later), Wimmera Reserves Ranger-in-Charge John Harris picked up a road kill on Grampians Road in the button grass heath of the Wannon Divide.  In summer 2009, the first ever widespread … Read the rest

Thelma Argall

Dave Munro

The Grampians region has lost another long time, strong supporter of the natural environment.

Thelma Argall was farewelled at a graveside service at Redbank Cemetery on Monday 29 December. She died a few months after being diagnosed with cancer. Typically she refused to have any treatment and stoically faced her fate.

Thelma gave truth to the adage that behind every successful man is a woman. While Ian McCann, her partner of many years, was highly regarded as a nature photographer, author and field naturalist, it was Thelma who performed the role of manager and field assistant. She was proficient at finding that elusive orchid or fungus and there is no doubt that her powers of observation matched Ian’s. They were a true partnership. They were both selfless in their willingness to share their knowledge and passion for the bush.

Her life-long love of nature started as a young … Read the rest

History Corner

FOGG member Win Pietsch has sent us some extracts from the minutes of the Stawell Field Naturalist Club, of which she, Thelma and Ian were core members.

 July ’57: Over 300 koalas liberated in Halls Gap area

Feb ’58: Aboriginal caves discovered in the Billywing, Glenisla. A visit to them in March.

July ’60: Ian McCann discovered snow daisies Brachyscame nivalis, growing at the southern end of Major Mitchell Plateau, confirmed as the most westerly occurrence of this plant in Australia.

Aug ’63: Mr Wakefield camped in the Grampians and came to check the contents of an owl pellet deposit found in the Victoria range. He sieved through the contents and found bone fragments of up to 400 animals, including 21 native species.

Feb’ 77: A greater long eared bat found for the first time in the Asses Ears area. Bat trapping in the Victoria Valley captured … Read the rest

President’s Piece

Welcome to our Petyan edition of our newsletter, and apologies for the late arrival. In fact it feels as if summer is already here and the Grampians, like most of the Wimmera, are scarily dry and the flower season is almost over already.

I hope you all have already sent back the questionnaire we sent by snailmail to get some feedback to help with planning activities. Of course you can also email your thoughts to Wendy or myself.

FOGG has been in existence for 30 years now and quite a few of our members have been with us for much of that time. It is vital that we ensure that we remain relevant to both our longterm members and newcomers. Those of you who get this by post will find a membership form attached. Please use it to recruit someone new to join us.

Actually activities are only part of … Read the rest

From Our Ranger In Charge – David Roberts November 2014

A busy few months in the park as we hit some critical milestones with the fire recovery program, completed some important strategic fuel reduction burns, ramped up the spring fox baiting program and commenced grazer control in the form of removing goats from the Mt Difficult range.

Caitlyn O’Reilly, our conservation volunteer coordinator has hit the ground running and quickly established partnerships and programs in all areas of our business. I can’t overstate how much we value this role and how much potential it has to assist us and communities get good outcomes on park.

The Walking track support group, under the leadership of David Witham have been active with works in and around the Heatherlie Quarry tracks. This site is in store for a spruce up as we invest in new signs and investigate a possible trail realignment.

It is amazing to reflect on the number of groups actively … Read the rest

AGM and Heatherlie Walk

We have had only one activity since our last newsletter, and that was our AGM and walk in the Heatherlie area on September 27. Our August walk had to be cancelled due to low numbers.

The weather for our Heatherlie explore was delightful and the flower display fascinating. We walked through a mix of unburnt and burnt areas. The burnt areas were burnt as part of a backburn lit during the horrid fires of January to stop the fire racing towards Halls Gap. But above us on the ridge we could see the ravaged bare slopes of the extremely hot burn.

In the burnt area the grass trees and redbeak orchids were in full flower, along with various other orchids, lilies and more. In the unburnt areas there was a good display of isopogon, tinsel lilies, daisies and spider orchids. Some of us were down on our tummies to photograph … Read the rest

Field Naturalist Survey

Searching for the Squirrel Glider

On the Queen’s Birthday weekend, this year, the Fauna Survey Group (FSG) of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) visited the Grampians to survey for arboreal mammals, in particular the Squirrel Glider. The group carries out fauna surveys on private and public land in accordance with its Department of Environment and Primary Industries research permit.

Eleven members travelled west and camped at the Plantation Camping Ground, where they were hosted by Ryan Duffy and Dave Handscombe from Parks Victoria. By and large the weather was very kind to us. On Sunday we were joined by Margo Sietsma and some of her family for some

Seven survey areas were identified by Parks Victoria – the Dadswell’s Bridge, Golton, Silverband Falls and Heatherlie areas within the Grampians National Park (NP), Deep Lead and Lonsdale Nature Conservation Reserves (NCR) as well as the Ledcourt State Forest (SF). … Read the rest

Biodiversity Seminar

The 17th Wimmera Biodiversity Seminar was held on Thursday the 4th of September in Pomonal. This year’s theme was “Fired Up” – looking at all things to do with fire and biodiversity in our landscape. Quite a few of local FOGG members were able to attend and it was a really excellent day. Unfortunately we do not have space to do justice to all the speakers had to offer.

Speakers this year included:

Bill Gammage – adjunct professor at the Australian National University (ANU) and author of The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia. The book describes how Aboriginal Australians were actively using fire to cultivate the Australian landscape prior to European settlement. Bill expanded on his further research and learning, discussing the importance of the totem bond between people and animals, the fact that there were so many different words for “fire” – a … Read the rest

Threatened Species – Hunting Orchids and Pollinators

As mentioned in the report on our AGM, we were successful in our application for a grant to protect an orchid area in the Ironbarks State park. Noushke and I went there in September with ranger Dave Handscombe to plan where the fence should go. The lack of rainfall was so evident; the ground was dusty dry and the usual orchids were so scarce. Scary.

Some of us joined a search with the native Orchid Society in October looking for some rare Prasophyllum, Caladenia and Thelymitra off Harrops Track in the vicinity of Camp Creek. We failed to find the target species but saw many other orchids. Gail and I spent a peaceful hour sitting in the warm sun beside a rare orchid in a pot, with a butterfly net in our hands, hoping to catch a wasp or other pollinator, but alas no success. Nobody at all interested.… Read the rest

Friends of Grampians Gariwerd