If you see a Eucalypt in flower at this time of the year it is likely to be a Grey Box Eucalyptus microcarpa. They generally flower here from mid-February to April. (Yellow Box Eucalyptus melliodora has just finished flowering and the next Box to flower after the Grey Box in this area is the Long-leafed Box Eucalyptus goniocalyx.)
![web.-[2]grey-box-blossom.-2025](https://www.fobif.org.au/admin/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/web.-2grey-box-blossom.-2025.jpg)
Grey Box blossom and buds including some about to flower. Walmer, 8 March 2015
We are in the process of setting up a page of photos of Doug on FOBIF’s Flickr site. So if you have any photos you would like to contribute to this page, send them to info@fobif.org.au. Photographers will be acknowledged.
Photo courtesy of Connecting Country
There will be a gathering to celebrate Doug Ralph’s life next Saturday (March 7) at the Rotunda in the Botanic Gardens, Castlemaine. The group organising the event have provided the following information:
The celebration will start at 12 noon & the more ‘official’ proceedings will begin at 1 pm.
It is hoped that it will be a relaxed & informal gathering with the opportunity for people to offer something (word or song or anecdote etc) by way of celebration of the man we all loved so well & to pay our respects & give thanks for the oh so many ways he touched our lives
There will be a blackboard at the event for those who wish to participate & an MC to keep us in check.
Bring your own picnic lunch & your memories & let’s celebrate the life of Doug Ralph
Two items on the day of particular interest to FOBIF members will be a talk by Phil Ingamells on Doug’s role in the formation of FOBIF in the 1990’s and a reading from Vagabond: the Story of Charles Sanger, which was written by Bernard Slattery, Doug Ralph and Deirdre Slattery.
For further information ring Bronwyn Silver on 5475 1o89.
As we reported last week, the State Government has asked the Inspector-General for Emergency Management (IGEM) to conduct a review of performance targets for the future bushfire fuel management program on public land. The review will ‘examine a risk-based approach to bushfire fuel management against the existing hectare-based performance target program.’
Submissions to this review will be received up to 5 pm on Friday March 13. They can be sent to
igem.info@justice.vic.gov.au, or to the
Inspector-General for Emergency Management, GPO Box 4356, Melbourne 3001.
FOBIF has made a submission, the main part of which is reprinted below:
Target or Risk Strategy?
For some years we have argued that a fixed target is not a sensible approach to fire protection, that it would be damaging to biodiversity, would distract attention and resources from public safety measures, and that it would soon become an end in itself, separate from anything to do with actual bushfire risk.
From the beginning we were perplexed by the Royal Commission’s recommendation for a fixed target of fuel reduction, arguing, with many other bodies, that it seemed to be quite detached from any precise strategy of community protection, and that it seemed to contradict the idea espoused by the Commission that local knowledge should be valued , and not straitjacketed into a preordained set of priorities.
The Commission did, however, in recommendations 57 and 58, imply that the target could be altered if monitoring of its effects showed that would improve public safety, or biodiversity, or both. Why else have a monitoring system, if you don’t think it’s going to improve your practice where necessary?
Representatives from the FOBIF committee attended a meeting with Castlemaine Hot Rod Centre (CHRC) and planning consultant David Robb from Planit to discuss plans for a Dynamic Vehicle Testing Facility, Events and Recreation development at Gower on the Castlemaine-Maldon Rd in mid February.
A feasibility study is being developed by Planit for the CHRC in preparation for a planning permit application to be lodged in April with Mount Alexander Council.
Bushland near proposed Gowar hot rod centre: the question is, how much effect will the proposed development have on wildlife in the State Forest and Nature Conservation Reserve? And how will it affect the enjoyment of users of this bushland?
As mentioned in our earlier post plans for the site include:
—a 1.2 km tarmac test track
—parking for 500 vehicles with possibility of expansion
—facilities for movie nights, concerts and outdoor shows
—shower and toilet facilities and powered and unpowered camp sites
—fully equipped function room and catering facility
—display areas for up to 3,000 sites
—capacity for truck shows, rod runs, field days, etc
—‘potential to establish a network of mountain bike tracks combining parts of the site with existing tracks in the adjacent state forest’
A presentation of the site was given to start the meeting and CHRC chair Larry O’Toole took attendees, who included representatives from the North Central CMA and Castlemaine Historical Society, through a description of the site and its various attributes. The meeting was then opened up for comment and discussion by the various groups.
White Everlasting Daisy (Chrysocephalum baxteri)
Slime Mould
Dunns Reef
Tall Greenhoods
Gnat Orchid
Blue Caladenia
Downy Grevillea (Grevillea alpina)
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge.
Coliban river upstream of the Gibbons bridge.
Sailors Gully ruin
Loddon River near Vaughan
Cortinarius archeri
Mycena subgalericulata
Cortinarius rotundisporus
Cortinarius cystidiocatenatus,
Ramaria sp.
Pink Heath
Mount Alexander
Mount Alexander
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page