Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Our FOBIF AGM will take place at 7.30 on 12 August in the Senior Citizens Centre, Mechanics Lane (next to the library). After a brief AGM, Geoff Park will give a presentation on Woodland birds in central Victoria – historical observations, current status and future prospects. 

There are several vacancies on the FOBIF committee for the coming year and we are encouraging interested people to consider joining. There is a link to nomination forms and more information on the Geoff’s presentation  here.

In January we reported on the closure of Loop Track in the south of the Diggings Park–a measure designed to limit the spread of Cinnamon Fungus.

Track closures are a tricky matter, because there’s a constituency which believes it has the right to drive anywhere, regardless of the consequences. And so, almost inevitably, we have this:

Loop Track, July 28: a gate is ineffective against a determined and ignorant driver.

There are probably people who will never be persuaded to give nature priority over whatever they feel like doing: but it’s a fair bet that the majority of our community, given the right information, are willing to give the bush a fair go.

And here’s the problem: the notice on the Loop Track gate explaining why the gate is there is a fragile piece of paper encased in plastic. As of last week, it had fallen off the gate and was lying in mud.

As we’ve said before, clear and effective community education is far more important than any number of regulations, where the environment is concerned. A wide community consensus is central if problems like wood theft, rubbish dumping and track abuse are to be reduced.

And active ranger engagement with the wider community is a key part of that. Unfortunately miserly funding has rendered rangers an endangered species in our bushlands. And a respectful approach to nature is harder to encourage in a world where regular TV commercials encourage drivers to get out and bash the bush to their hearts content…

Readers may remember our reporting of a project to put new visitor info boards along the Goldfields Track. That was two years ago, and we’ve heard nothing till recently about the state of the project.

Now we believe that the plan is to put 80 information signs along the track between Ballarat and Bendigo.

FOBIF has expressed its interest in this project, and its two main concerns:

1. That the signs tell the truth about the landscape we live in, and not wallow in heritage guff.
2. That the track not be cluttered with signs. We believe the great charm of the track lies in its feeling of loneliness and abandonment. That feeling would be ruined by a plethora of signs telling people what to see.

Our concerns are not a criticism of the Goldfields Track committee, which is implementing the project.Our concerns are based on past experience with local signage. A good example is a board recently erected in the Walmer State Forest, part of which is shown here:

Walmer State Forest interpretation board: the geological information is wrong, and the photo has nothing to do with the text.

What’s wrong with the sign?

The main problem is that the photo is not of a sedimentary hill, granitic basin or volcanic plain: It’s of  a sluiced and degraded area. Why can’t the text say so? It’s hard to resist the feeling that the author(s) would do anything to avoid saying, ‘Our natural landscape has been ravaged by gold seekers, and is slowly recovering.’

Interestingly, a nearby sign with info on Indigenous culture refers to our landscapes as ‘upside down country’–a phrase which perfectly sums up the facts. It’s a pity tourism promoters and heritage experts haven’t taken it on board.

There are other problems with the sign, but its evasion of the recent facts is the most obvious: to put it plainly, it’s misinformation. We’re hoping the Goldfields Track Committee doesn’t fall into the same error. We’ve strongly suggested that the authors of all future signage thoroughly consult Susan Lawrence and Peter Davies terrifying book, Sludge: disaster on Victoria’s goldfields. A few quotes from that book would fit well onto a signboard.