Author Archives: fobif

Mal ‘Jase’ Haysom has produced yet another useful map of our area: this time, roads and tracks in the Taradale Nature Conservation Reserve and [almost] adjacent State Forest. The map can be found online here, or a paper version can … Continue reading →

UPDATE ON THIS POST: Please see the press release above relating to this matter Vicroads is planning to begin its tree clearance works on the Pyrenees Highway east of Newstead this week. Works were planned to start today (the 29th), … Continue reading →

The FOBIF committee hopes you’ve had a good start to the new year, and take good care not to melt in the coming week’s heat. The FOBIF monthly walks program for 2019 is now available, and can be found by … Continue reading →

A well-attended meeting in Newstead last Tuesday was told that Vicroads’ Pyrenees Highway tree removal and wire rope barrier project was about to proceed. The meeting was therefore a briefing, not a consultation: it was not going to change anything … Continue reading →

Do a few trees matter?The context of all the above is not only the preferences of a few tree lovers. It’s found in the map below: It seems that at every point in what passes for debate these days, we’re … Continue reading →

We’ve seen the margins of public land around towns sometimes used by residents to store their unwanted stuff—car bodies, machinery, etc. And we’ve seen residents encroach onto public land with garden extensions and attempts to expand their own properties. And … Continue reading →

Castlemaine Historical Society has just published an excellent new map by Clive Willman: Castlemaine Diggings: historical and modern place names. It’s available at the Info Centre in Mostyn Street for $15.00. All the place names are modern, actually, since they’re … Continue reading →

Vicroads has set up a community consultation on its plans to clear vegetation from the Pyrenees Highway between Newstead and Muckleford South. Readers may remember that FOBIF objected to some of these removals, arguing that the safety objective could be … Continue reading →

In 2012 a British think tank estimated that ‘for every pound made by advertising executives, they destroy an equivalent of £7 in the form of stress, overconsumption, pollution and debt; conversely, each pound paid to a trash collector creates an … Continue reading →

Coliban Water has been promising to close down some of its inefficient water races for years. These include the Poverty Gully race, which has been leaking repeatedly—a problem not helped when a DELWP fuel reduction burn destroyed the plastic lining … Continue reading →