Author Archives: fobif

Here’s an exerpt from a DEECA press release dated last Wednesday March 6th: ‘On a day of Total Fire Ban in the South West fire weather district last week, a campfire escaped at the Rocklands Reservoir in the Grampians and … Continue reading →

Landscape photography can be a problem. It can have a tendency to prettify nature—the ‘chocolate box’ effect, the one seen too often on calendars; or it can be tempted to ‘disaster chic’, with an emphasis on ruins and devastation. The … Continue reading →

Prompt action by firefighters confined a potentially dangerous fire on Mount Alexander to less than half a hectare on February 4th. As the photo below shows, the fire, though confined in area, was not a minor affair. We believe it … Continue reading →

Parks Victoria has closed the Loop Track to vehicles at the south end of the Diggings Park, in an effort to control the spread of a possible infestation of Cinnamon Fungus in the area. FOBIF walkers had expressed concerns some … Continue reading →

Over 70 Victorian conservation groups, including FOBIF, signed an open letter to Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen, late last year, urging better management of Central West forests. The letter was initiated by the VNPA and Wombat Forestcare, and reads as follows: … Continue reading →

FOBIF has questioned fire officers about their management of a parcel of land at the junction of Irishtown and Hunter’s Tracks in the Fryers forest. The 17 hectare zone has been carved into several smaller zones by brutal gouging of … Continue reading →

If you haven’t seen it, get along to the Castlemaine Gallery and check out its Stonework exhibition. This exhibition combining geological exhibits and related works of art offers an intriguing set of insights into our landscape. If for no other … Continue reading →

Forest Fire management proposes to burn 311 hectares of the Maldon Historic Reserve, near the railway reserve. There are a few questions, contradictions and complexities attached to this burn proposal: see our Posts, with a map, here, here and here. … Continue reading →

A packed house attended FOBIF’s AGM last Monday to hear Cassia Read’s talk ‘Gardening the Goldfields: you can have your roses and Blue Wrens too?’ A major theme in the info-packed talk was to present the garden as part of … Continue reading →

At the AGM the following members were elected unopposed to the FOBIF committee for the upcoming year: President: Marie Jones; Vice President: Neville Cooper; Secretary: Bernard Slattery; Treasurer: Lynette Amaterstein; Committee members: Asha Bannon, Frances Cincotta, Christine Henderson, Jeremy Holland, … Continue reading →