Author Archives: fobif

Newstead residents and readers of the Natural Newstead blog may be familiar with the spectacular and rare Powerful Owls, which have very successfully raised young down by the Loddon River. But what are the lives of these magnificent nocturnal hunters … Continue reading →

Noel Young sent us this report on the September FOBIF walk: True to its name the Wattle track was rich with flowering wattles. In pleasantly mild conditions, walkers covered nine and a half kilometers through a variety of bush with … Continue reading →

The organisers of the upcoming  Alan ‘Curly’ Hartup exhibition have supplied us with the following text: A wonderful exhibition of nature photographs by leading amateur photographer and longtime resident of Newstead, Alan Jesse Hartup (1915 –2004) will be opened at the Newstead … Continue reading →

After a fair bit of consideration, FOBIF has been experimenting with a Facebook page, as a way of varying our approach to informing the public about matters in our region, and maybe of reaching a new audience. The material we … Continue reading →

Try a walk in the bush at the Garfield Water Wheel, Castlemaine, Sunday 6th September, meeting at 9.30 am outside Castlemaine Continuing Education in Templeton Street. Youth Sustainability Champion, Nioka Mellick-Cooper, is a Year 9 student at the Castlemaine Secondary … Continue reading →

Julie Whitfield of Bendigo is an environmental consultant with a passion for butterflies, and she will be guest speaker at Newstead Landcare’s next meeting, Thursday 20th August. As a recipient of a prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship Julie recently had the … Continue reading →

Over fifty children attended events at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens this week as part of the FOBIF Winter School Holiday Program. Three events were held as part of the program, which aimed to give our local families an opportunity to … Continue reading →

Nioka Mellick-Cooper was the main organiser of this walk and she wrote the following post: The first 2015 youth bush walk took place on the Mount Alexander (Leanganook) and was a great day. There were 28 people that came bright and early … Continue reading →

FOBIF is running three nature-based events for primary school children in the upcoming school holidays.  Places are limited and booking is essential. Information about the program can be found on this FOBIF page.

The weather on Sunday (17th May) was perfect for our FOBIF walk into the Nuggetty Range. Thirty-three people came along and it was good to see some newcomers to FOBIF on the walk. The group was ably led by geologist, Brian Cuffley, who had … Continue reading →