Barkers Creek Landcare and Wildlife Group and Connecting Country are presenting an intriguing event-Taking Root in Barkers Creek – an immersive soundwork/documentary exploring the environmental damage left by the 1850s goldrush – and how to fix it.
This is followed by supper and discussion.
Tickets
Wombat Forest Care have had success writing to politicians about Victorian Environmental Assesment Council (VEAC) matters. They have started a letter writing campaign to prompt the government to legislate the Central West Parks without delay.
Can you write to Maree Edwards, The Hon. Steve Dimipoilos and The Hon Jacinta Allan to legislate Mt Cole-Pyrenees and Wellsford Forests immediately, as recommended by VEAC?
These forests contain important plant and animal commumnities. According to VEAC, the variety of vegetation types in the Mount Cole–Pyrenees block provide habitat for a high diversity of flora and fauna, with 51 rare or threatened plants and 48 threatened animal species having been recorded here. Seventeen species that are part of the threatened Victorian temperate woodland bird community have been recorded in this block.
The Wellsford block provides habitat for a high diversity of flora and fauna including 32 rare or threatened species and a further seven members of the threatened woodland bird community.
Please email-
Maree Edwards MP
maree.edwards@parliament.vic.gov.au
The Hon. Steve Dimopoulos, Minister for the Environment
Reception.Dimopoulos@deeca.vic.gov.au
The Hon. Jacinta Allan, Premier of Victoria
jacinta.allan@parliament.vic.gov.au
The government has accepted the VEAC recommendation for a new Wombat-Lerderderg national park.
It was a welcome sunny day for an enjoyable and interesting walk along section of the
Coliban channel near Malmsbury. Author of the book, The Coliban Main Channel: A Walking Guide, Stephen Charman, shared details from his extensive historical research & love of walking. The walk focused on the Malmsbury section of the seventy kilometre long channel, which goes from Malmsbury reservoir to Crusoe Reservoir in Bendigo. We set off from Malmsbury Reservoir Picnic Ground and followed the main channel, where Stephen pointed out features of the infrastructure of the channel, both past and present. We observed remains of diversion channels, a story of how overflow from a slaughterhouse was managed by a wooden bridge, now concrete,so that the contaminated water did not flow into the channel. The Coliban River was often in proximity and the sight and sound of running water near Ellis falls was a lovely spot to stop for some morning tea. The walk was a glimpse into the movement of water across this dry landscape over the past two hundred years. Looking at this huge piece of infrastructure raises many issues that relate to the impact of our manipulation of the landscape.
Walk leader for this month’s walk on Sunday 20th July is Steve Charman, author of “The Coliban Main Channel, A Walking Guide”.
The focus of this return walk will be the Coliban Main Channel in Malmsbury, starting at Malmsbury Reservoir and describing a 6 to 7 kms loop that will, in part, return along the Coliban River. While the walk may prove disappointing for the botanists, there’ll be plenty for the history buffs. Mostly easy flat walking, but with one or two gates to climb.
Meet outside the Community House 30 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine at 9.20am to register and organise car-pooling for prompt departure at 9.30am, or be at the Malmsbury Reservoir Picnic Ground at 10am.
Walks are free and non-members are welcome. Bring water, morning tea and lunch.
You can read our advice to walkers document here
There is no need to book in for this walk but if you have any questions you can all the walk leader Steve Charman on 0411 357 601, or from Friday 18th July you can call the walks coordinators Lisa Hall 0488 102 191 or Gen Blades 0431 371 065.
If you’re crossing the Forest Street footbridge over Campbells Creek this month, you might want to cast your eye down to the downstream edge of the bridge. Those nondescript streaks of shades of green are colonies of three different moss species. The remarkable thing about this apparently ordinary scene is that council staff regularly come along here and scrape the moss off…and regularly it comes back, colonising an apparently inhospitable concrete surface. In its way, it’s a kind of heroism.
Council versus moss, now in its umpteenth season: Silver Moss and Cushion Moss regrowing after repeated removals…
The grey green moss is Bryum argenteum (Silver Moss). It’s common in Castlemaine streets, and is found on every continent on earth, including Antarctica. In a few weeks it will produce some picturesque spore capsules—but you’ll have to get down on your knees to see them properly. The deeper green is Grimmia pulvinata (Cushion Moss). It’s found from Siberia to the southern regions of Chile. Its spore heads are visible already.
Grimmia pulvinata with new spore capsules, Campbells Creek footbridge: it doesn’t matter how often it’s scraped off, it comes back as good as ever.
FOBIF’s field guide, Mosses of dry forests in south eastern Australia, has just been reprinted in a revised edition, including for the first time common names to go with those ferocious scientific tags. This guide, produced as an experiment in 2014, has proved tenaciously popular, and has now gone through 6 reprints.
Walkers on the newly opened section of the Campbells Creek track can’t fail to have noticed the substantial patches of flowering Hakea by the trackside. Hakea is a highlight of the track, and of the hillside on the side track leading up to Campbells Creek suburbia. When it’s in full flower, the aroma of honey in the air is unmistakeable.
Hakea decurrens (Bushy Needlewood) beside the newly opened section of the track, July 7: the aroma of honey is in the air.
The new section of track is a welcome improvement to this outstanding example of creek regeneration. And another welcome change: it’s proposed to change the name of the track to ‘Watjarang Baring’, meaning ‘Platypus Track’ in Dja Dja Wurrung language.
FOBIF is about to do a new edition of its Twenty Bushwalks in the Mount Alexander Region, incorporating several changes in on ground conditions, including the new Campbells Creek route and new Parks Victoria ventures in the Diggings Park.
A bleak forecast didn’t stop a smallish group of resolute walkers from taking on the June short walk yesterday. The route followed a quiet gully south of Chewton, much revitalised by recent damp weather. It’s quite amazing how even the little moisture we’ve had over the last ten days has brightened a grey landscape.
What better way to spend a Sunday? There is a universe down there, and you have to get down to see it. (Photo: Cassia Read)
Significant patches of ground stood out in bright colours of different moss and lichen species, and hand lenses were deployed enthusiastically and with great effect under the engaging guidance of Cassia Read. It should be said that a lot of bending, creeping and crouching was necessary to get the right observations, but the result was definitely worth the effort.
And another amazing, though apparently prosaic fact: the gully we traversed is the product of gold rush destructiveness, and is still struggling over a century later…definitely a candidate for World Heritage nomination?
Our thanks to Cassia for making her expertise so accessible in the field. Here’s a partial list of moss species observed:
Dawsonia longiseta (Small Dawsonia)
Polytrichum juniperinum (Juniper Moss)
Grimmia laevigata (Salt and Pepper)
Grimmia pulvinata (Cushion Moss)
Braunia imberbe (Green Hoar-moss)
Rosalubryum billarderii (Rosette Moss)
Sematophyllum homomallum (Bronze Signal Moss)
Hypnum cupressiforme (Plait Moss)
Triquetrella papillata (Common Twine Moss)
Triquetrella paradoxa (Messy Twine Moss)
Photos by Joy Clusker.
The Loddon River is central to much of Central Victoria and the Northern Plains. As it has wended its way from the highlands to the Murray for countless millennia, it has shaped the land, its fauna and flora, the people (both First Nations and those that came after colonisation) and the history of all of the above.
Newstead Landcare is excited to announce that renowned local geologist, Clive Willman will take us on a journey through the deep history of this important river and its catchment. This is a story of cataclysmic upheavals and volcanoes. Clive will take us through the formation of the Guildford Plateau and the story of the deep deposits of gold that eventually upended the landscape. Don’t miss this remarkable story.
The presentation, organised by Newstead Landcare is on Tuesday June 17th at Newstead Community Centre at 7.30 pm.
All are welcome to attend. Gold coin donations would be appreciated.
Clive Willman
The annual FOBIF Long Walk began bright and early as promised on Sunday June 15th, with a group of seven intrepid hikers setting off into the eastern reaches of Leanganook (Mount Alexander). Confidently leading the way off-track, Jeremy guided the group to some of the mountain’s hidden gems.
Much of the walk unfolded beneath a thick winter mist, which, while obscuring the anticipated lookouts, lent the landscape a cosy, almost mystical atmosphere, giving more than it took.
A visit to the mysterious stone circle.
Offering a glimpse into what the pre-European vegetation may have once looked like, several sections of the route passed through relatively intact woodland where mature eucalyptus trees (mostly manna gums or messmates with a scattering of river red gums) stood tall above a sparse tussock grass understorey.
A glimpse of the pre-European landscape with large eucalypts scattered around a sparse tussock understorey.
Less uplifting, however, was the number of dead or dying younger trees—likely a result of prolonged drought stress, particularly in areas where shallow soils cap granite outcrops.
Some highlights of the day included a side quest to a sculptural rock cave, a visit to the rock maze, admiring giant river red gums and manna gums and the joys (and pains) of tackling large hill climbs.
A view from inside one the hidden caves the group explored.
Yoorrook Deputy Chair Commissioner Travis Lovett, Kerrupmara and Gunditjmara man, had the vision and conviction to walk from Portland, where colonisation began, to Parliament in Melbourne. There the Yoorrook final report will then be handed to the Victorian government.
He is walking now, alongside local First Nations people and others, who have joined the walk at various stages. As the Commission stated:
“The walk will be a powerful way to build shared understanding of these truths, talking together about our history, while walking together to transform our future. For First Peoples and for all Victorians.
https://yoorrookjusticecommission.org.au/events/walkfortruth/
Two FOBIF committee members joined the walk on day 1 and day 2 at Portland. We arrived at the ‘convincing grounds’ at the end of day 1, the site of Victoria’s first recorded massacre of First Nations people. The second day, we visited Tae Rak Aquaculture centre and the UNESCO world heritage listed Budj Bim cultural landscapes. Stories were share by local First Nations people, stories of past, present and future aspirations.
As Victoria’s first formal truth-telling process, over the past four years, Yoorrook has heard powerful truths from people right across the state, giving evidence on the impacts of colonisation, including systemic injustice, as well as the strength, resistance and achievements of First Peoples. These truths form the basis of Yoorrook’s final reports, documenting the past and providing a roadmap to transform the future. The final report will be handed to the State Government at Parliament House on the final day of the walk, June 18. We urge anyone who is able, to join these walks & events. It is a meaningful way we can support our First Nations people and the movement towards Treaty.
The Convincing Grounds, Portland Victoria
White Everlasting Daisy (Chrysocephalum baxteri)
Slime Mould
Dunns Reef
Tall Greenhoods
Gnat Orchid
Blue Caladenia
Downy Grevillea (Grevillea alpina)
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge.
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge.
Sailors Gully ruin
Loddon River near Vaughan
Cortinarius archeri
Mycena subgalericulata
Cortinarius rotundisporus
Cortinarius cystidiocatenatus,
Ramaria sp.
Pink Heath
Mount Alexander
Mount Alexander
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page