Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

In case you missed it: the Mount Alexander Shire is doing a housing and neighbourhood character study for the townships of Castlemaine, Campbells Creek and Chewton.

It’s looking for your input. The date for submissions is Sunday November 6. You can find the details here

The population of the shire is expected to rise from 20,253 to 24,316 by 2041, more than half of them in those three townships.

Obviously there is a tangle of complicated issues here: heritage, environment, social justice, natural hazards in the form of fire and flood, …We believe it’s important not to be intimidated by the apparent complexities, however. There are some things which are worth emphasising.

First:  MASC’s Council Plan 2021-5 states as its objective ‘Our community is growing in harmony with nature.’ [FOBIF emphasis] Pressure for more housing can make this objective a hard one to keep, and it’s worth a submission just to underline community support for biodiversity, and a housing policy which works with it, not against it.

Secondly: State planning policy recommends ‘Directing population growth and development to low risk locations’. [FOBIF emphasis] Australia has an unfortunate history of challenging nature to do its worst, as the 2020 Royal Commission pointed out, when it noted, ‘Currently, all states permit homes to be built in bushfire and flood prone areas, and the degree to which planning or building standards act to mitigate risk varies across jurisdictions’. It’s worth putting in a submission urging development to be centred on safe areas not requiring destruction of bushland.

These two themes are linked, of course.

The Shire wants to know what you think: have a go!

Castlemaine Field Naturalists have informed us that the planned Grevillea obtecta talk and investigation walk planned for tonight and tomorrow have unfortunately had to be cancelled. Readers looking around them will not be surprised to find that the reason for the cancellation is that Georgie Custance is unable to make it to Castlemaine because of flood blockages on the roads. Our apologies.

Here’s a good reason to make it into the Bendigo CBD: go to the library! OK, there are libraries elsewhere in the region, but the one in the CBD has a trump card right now. It’s an aquarium, more than three metres wide, celebrating Bendigo Creek: not the gutter prominent in the city, but the creek as might have been…and could be? The aquarium features more than a dozen species of native freshwater creatures, and is a bit of a wonder.

Part of the aquarium celebrating Bendigo Creek…the view is even better under the water.

The creek’s history is an environmental horror story: if you haven’t seen it, check out the late Gerry Gill’s short history in his ‘The map and remembrance’ film series. You can find it here or here.

Gerry’s film compare’s the idyllic images we have of the creek before the gold rush with the depredations of the golden age, and celebrates the efforts of landcarers and managers trying to restore the creek. The aquarium is not only an eye opener for what it shows of under water life, it offers a bit more motivation to ‘care for country’.

The locally endemic Fryerstown Grevillea (Grevillea obtecta). is common in small areas of our region, but it’s not widespread and is subject to threats. This week the Castlemaine Field Naturalists are running two sessions encouraging citizens to participate in programs to monitor the plant, helping biologists to assess its true status and the need for recovery actions to enable it to persist in the wild.

First, at the Club’s monthly meeting, ecologist Georgie Custance will talk on monitoring the plant using the Proofsafe monitoring app. The meeting is at 7.30 this Friday the 14th, at the Uniting Church Fellowship room in Lyttleton Street Castlemaine. Want to check out the app first? Check here.

Second, Georgie Custance will lead a walk in the bush to visit some local populations of this wonderful species as well as the many other native plants that are flowering at the moment. During the walk Georgie will demonstrate how to use ProofSafe to record your sightings of Fryerstown Grevillea so that people can practice what they learnt at the meeting.  Location to be confirmed but either Fryers Ridge or Porcupine Ridge.

Meet: 1.30 pm at the Octopus (Duke St, opposite the Castle Motel). Bring:  Water, afternoon tea, sturdy shoes, hat and if possible, your mobile phone or tablet with the ProofSafe app. loaded. Enquiries: castlemainefnc@hotmail.com