Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

A small group of heroes tackled FOBIF’s May walk yesterday: a zigzag route through the Mount Lofty Natural Features reserve. Bitter weather at 9.30 improved nicely into a mild though brisk autumn day by 10…Well, maybe more brisk than mild, but not much more: great walking weather, in fact, with good patches of sunshine.

So…where is the summit? Some of the FOBIF group on the Mount Lofty ridge. Photo: Liz Martin

This reserve is a great eucalypt arboretum, with very large old specimens of Yellow Box, Long-leaved Box, White Box, Mealy Bundy and Red Box trees. In spite of its small size, it contains some lovely hidden valleys, and is surprisingly various.

Disappointingly, the group was unable to scale Mount Lofty peak, which is so discreet as to be unattainable. However, we did skip over the summit ridge, and it’s possible we went over the peak without noticing.

The Mount Lofty reserve has an extraordinary collection of large old eucalypts scattered amongst regrowth smaller trees… Photo: Liz Martin

Our thanks to walk leader Bernard Slattery for taking us through a route so complex he seemed occasionally confused about it himself.

…The reserve also has a number of fallen giants. Compare the size of the log with the surrounding regrowth. The comparison suggests how long the country needs to be protected before it can heal to its past grandeur.

Next month’s walk is around The Monk. Check the program for details.

An updated version of Responding to Country: Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests 1998-2023 is now available. The new edition includes an abridged version of Alison Pouliot’s speech, ‘The gradual changes, the shifts in tones’, given at the February 2023 launch of the FOBIF exhibition at the Newstead Arts Hub. You can purchase the book through our website, Stoneman’s Bookroom in Castlemaine or Bookish in Bendigo. 

Speakers at the launch, Newstead Arts Hub