Friends of the Box-Ironbark Forests

Black-fronted Dotterel. Photo by Geoff Park. See below for details of Geoff’s photos at Spadeworks in Newstead.

There are a number of local nature and history-based exhibitions as well as a ‘Trees of Significance’ tour that FOBIF members and subscribers might like to view or take part in during this year’s festival period (March 13-22). The information here comes from the Castlemaine State Festival catalogue, the Fringe Events program and the Open Studios in Newstead flyer. There may be some relevant shows we have missed. If so, let us know.

1. Solar Mining
Artist: Yutaka Kobayashi (Festival Program p.59)
Kobayash is a Japanese environmental artist. This exhibition is an ‘ecological installation that draws on the unique cultural heritage of the Castlmaine Diggings, the toll of diggers past and the finite resource: gold.’

2. Unsettled
Artists: Susan Donisthorpe, Frank Veldze, Kate Osborne (Festival Program, p.61)
Set in the Pennyweight Children’s Cemetery this is a sight specific sound and light installation, projected onto a replica of a traditional gold miner’s hut made entirely from mattress wire. Continue reading →

More than 150 people gathered to celebrate Doug Ralph’s life in the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens last Saturday afternoon (7 March).

Bev Geldard who acted as MC began by reading an excerpt from a 2014 interview with Doug published in Earthsong magazine.  Sasha Shtargot was the interviewer.

Doug: I was deeply moved by a book about the Yarra River written by Maya Ward (The Comfort of Water, Transit Lounge 2012). In that she mentioned a story of some monks at a monastery who drew their water from one river all the time. They experienced the river, in a way they became the river. If you are drinking water from a particular area you are that water, you are the food of the area. Aboriginal people understand that – you just become part of the land.

I go for walks in the bush. It’s my way of meditating and sometimes afterwards I don’t know where I’ve been, I just blend with the landscape. One day I was walking in this way in a trance and all of a sudden I stopped – three wallabies were sitting nearby, eating calmly. Normally wallabies run away when a human is near, but these just sat there. I stopped and looked at them and they looked at me. It was a special moment. (Click here to see full interview which Earthsong has kindly provided us with.)

Jan Wositsky then read a eulogy that he had composed soon after Doug had died:

When Doug’s daughter, Lindy, rang and said that Doug had died, in the shock of it all it went through me that a mighty tree in the forest had fallen.

A tree of knowledge, a tree of wisdom, an old tree – a river red gum or a stout box – that had stood through changing generations and cultures of this town, and of this country. Read full text

Continue reading →

Long-leaf Box in the foreground at Rise and Shine Bushland Reserve. Photo by Bernard Slattery, September 2014.

Geoff Park will be leading our first walk for 2015 this Sunday (15 March) to the Rise and Shine Bushland Reserve which is south of Newstead (locate on Google maps). The walk will be fairly short (4 km). Either meet at the normal place, Continuing Education in Templeton Street at 9.30, or at the Newstead Post Office at 9.45 if this is more convenient. Alternatively you can meet at the Reserve at 10am.

Geoff has informed us that we are likely to see many native birds, perhaps even some early arriving Swift Parrots. Check out our walks page for more information on this and other walks planned for this year. You can find out more about the Rise and Shine Bushland Reserve here on Geoff’s blog. The page includes a link to a Reserve bird list.

What can we expect to see in the months and years after the burning of Kalimna Park?

Part of an answer can be found in a pamphlet produced by the Castlemaine Field Naturalists after the previous burning of part of the park. We produce their tentative findings here on the spring 2010 Lawson Pde burn:

‘A group of naturalists has been monitoring the effects of burns in Kalimna and elsewhere in the district. This is done by setting up 20m by 20m sample areas [called quadrats],and by making a list of the plants in the quadrats, and for some plants [usually perennial shrubs and trees] counting the actual number of individual plants. Juveniles [ie, not yet flowering, mature and senescent plants are counted separately. After a burn, the quadrats are checked to see which parts of the quadrats  have been burned, and a map is made showing the burned and unburned areas.

‘Both burned and unburned areas are resurveyed from time to time to see what changes have taken place.

‘Some of the general conclusions so far are

• Plant distribution is variable. Sites that are close together often have a quite different plant composition
• Regeneration occurs in spring in burned and unburned sites
• Some species [particularly legumes, eg ‘egg and bacon’ peas] may regenerate profusely afer a burn
• There is much mortality of seedlings during summer and autumn
• In a drought year, there may be as much as 100% death of seedling shrubs and trees
• In a drought year, seedling success is much greater in unburned areas than in burned areas. This may be due in part to greater temperature extremes in the burned areas, and/or the lack of other vegetation to shelter the seedlings and protect them from predators
• Erosion is much more common in burned areas
• Multi-trunked trees with dry stumps are often burned out and fall…[this latest] burn was followed by a year with moderate rainfall, and so many seedlings have survived.’

[These notes are taken from the pamphlet A walk on the Kalimna Circuit Track, February 2013]

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.) 

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.

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.

Continue reading →

FOBIF members and people in the wider community have been saddened by the news that Doug Ralph, founding President of the Friends, has died of a heart attack at his home in Little Bendigo.

On his retirement from the FOBIF committee Doug was rightly described by Marie Jones as an Elder of the environment movement. He knew this country better than anyone else, and was generous in sharing his knowledge of it: hundreds of people have been introduced to its secrets on the guided walks he ran for many years, or via the contributions he made in innumerable forums.

Doug was tireless in his efforts to get better management for our natural heritage, but he was also insatiable in his curiosity about cultural history. Although he was sceptical about the value of gold mining, and relentlessly critical of its destructive effect on the environment, he had enormous sympathy for the miners and huge interest in the detail of their lives.

One of Doug’s most striking qualities was his inclusiveness. He kept his eye on the important issues, and was impatient of efforts to divide this community into ‘old’ and ‘new’ residents. What counted for him was getting things right, not where someone came from. A fifth generation local, he welcomed anyone who had something to offer the community.

Doug wasn’t scared of labels. He had a terrific sense of irony, but wasn’t ashamed to put himself on the line: ‘I’m a tree hugger. I’m proud of it.’ He gave as his religion, Bush Baptist.

There was no one like him.

Chris Johnston sent us this photo of Doug hugging a tree at Columbine Creek in July 2013. He took a small group to walk there.

For more tributes to Doug, see

Natural Newstead February 26 post

Connecting Country February 25 post

Muckleford Forest February 25 post