Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Calling all gardeners in the Mount Alexander Shire! PLANT SELECTOR is your essential tool for choosing indigenous plants that will not only thrive in your garden but also support local wildlife. With expert local plant knowledge at your fingertips, you’ll be able to confidently select from 100 native species adapted to the unique conditions of our region.  

Many of us make hasty choices in nurseries, resulting in wasted money and very dispiriting results. Use PLANT SELECTOR to identify the right plant for you, your garden and for the environmental conditions of your site. Simply filter the list of 100 plants to find the plant you need, based on criteria that include plant height, tolerance to drought and waterlogging, horticultural uses and the wildlife that you want to attract and support through habitat creation. By growing local plants in local gardens, you can help create win-win landscapes that support both the wellbeing of people and biodiversity in our shire.

This tool was created by Dr Cassia Read at the Castlemaine Institute. Over many years, Cassia recorded ecological and horticultural information about local species suitable for gardens. This information has now been made accessible to all gardeners in the Shire, as a searchable online tool. Development of this tool was made possible through support from the Mount Alexander Shire Council’s Community Grants Program. Local plant experts Frances Cincotta (Newstead Natives) and Ian Higgins (Friends of Campbells Creek) rigorously reviewed the tool and provided local insights about growing these plants. Frances also shared her records of local flowering times. Cassia continues to maintain and update the website.   

All plants included on this website are found growing naturally across Djandak (Dja Dja Wurrung Country). We acknowledge the work of Dja Dja Wurrung in caring for Djandak over millennia and we hope that Plant Selector will support the essential work of healing this upside-down Country.

To use the tool visit: https://ci.org.au/plantselector

A flyer for PLANT SELECTOR can be found here

It is with regret and sadness that we report the death from cancer of Naomi Raftery, FOBIF committee member for several years, and secretary from 2014-2018. In that period Naomi was an important part of all of our work, including our publications, and especially in the running of our children’s programs. She exemplified the best qualities of an environmental activist: idealism and hard headedness, tolerance and firmness, thoughtfulness and good humour. Naomi was also involved in Connecting Country activities, and we fully endorse the following comments by Chris Timewell on her work in this area:

From 2011 to 2017, Connecting Country was extremely fortunate to have Naomi Raftery’s unwavering support and commitment towards achieving its conservation objectives – originally as a hardworking volunteer and member, and then also as a part-time staff member.  Naomi was the unsung hero behind the smooth running of field days, guest speaker events, committee meetings, restoration activities, and much more that Connecting Country undertook over this busy period.

In her humble way, she was invariably generous, friendly, patient, diligent, and insightful, and took steps to ensure that no-one would feel excluded or under-appreciated.  Naomi demonstrated a strong sense of fairness, social justice and ethical behaviour – and inspired her colleagues and others she met to raise their game.

Connecting Country, and many other organisations in Castlemaine and beyond, benefited from her passion for grassroots collaboration.  She knew the power of community groups to take meaningful steps at a local level towards making the wider world a better place.  Naomi was always among the first to put up her hand to offer help.

Her contribution and legacy is enormous, and she’ll be greatly missed. We extend our sympathy to her husband Sean and daughter Sophie.

Naomi speaking at a FOBIF children’s walk in Kalimna Park, 2014.

Christine Henderson will be leading the 6-8 km September walk in the Fryers Ranges. We will be meeting as usual at 9.30 am at the Community House in Templeton Street, Castlemaine and travelling by convoy to Taradale. If you would like to start at Taradale, meet at 9.45 am opposite the Metro service station in the main street. Contact Christine on 0417 529 392 for more information.

We would like to acknowledge the immense contribution of the six FOBIF committee members who chose to stand down at the 2024 AGM. Between them, these members served for over 75 years on the committee, creating a powerful legacy of environmental advocacy and education. We would like to thank:

• Marie Jones, a founding member of FOBIF and the 2024 recipient of the Joan Kirner Landcare Award, who served for 25 years on the committee.
• Bernard Slattery, who served for over 20 years on the committee.
• Bronwyn Silver, who served for over 15 years on the committee.
• Neville Cooper, who served for over 10 years on the committee.
• Lynette Amaterstein, who served for over 5 years on the committee.
• Jeremy Holland, who served for over 5 years on the committee.

We congratulate these wonderful people on their amazing efforts and hope they will still be around to assist the committee in the future, while taking a well-earned rest!

Here is a link to a summary article by Bernard on FOBIF’s achievements since 1998: FOBIF Since 1998.

Fifty-three  members and supporters came along to the FOBIF AGM on Monday 12 August. The evening began with a terrific presentation by local bird expert Geoff Park,Woodland birds in central Victoria – historical observations, current status and future prospects. A summary can be found here. minutes

This was followed by the formal part of the meeting. Minutes can be found here. The new committee members are Christine Henderson (President) and Lisa Hall (Secretary). Asha Bannon, Gen Blades, Frances Cincotta, Karl Just, Jo Matthews, Cassia Read, Sarah Day were elected as ordinary committee members. The positions of treasurer and vice president are currently unfilled.

Everyone is welcome to come to FOBIF committee meetings which are held on the second Monday at 6pm at the Community House in Templeton Street, Castlemaine. Contact Christine Henderson 0417 529 392 for more information.

The photos below were taken while people were chatting and enjoying the supper after the meeting. 

Our FOBIF AGM will take place at 7.30 on 12 August in the Senior Citizens Centre, Mechanics Lane (next to the library). After a brief AGM, Geoff Park will give a presentation on Woodland birds in central Victoria – historical observations, current status and future prospects. 

There are several vacancies on the FOBIF committee for the coming year and we are encouraging interested people to consider joining. There is a link to nomination forms and more information on the Geoff’s presentation  here.