Earthcare
News
May 2002
I do what I can, where I am.
NATURAL HERITAGE ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR
(PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS PLANTING DAYS).
Earthcare
is revving up for another exciting planting and working bee calendar with
activities scheduled on the last weekend of every month, come along even for an
hour and get to know and care fore the most special places and people in the
City.
Our
first day planting was last Saturday out at the St. Kilda breakwater. It was a beautiful day, warm and calm. The breakwater is looking stunning with
previous three year’s plants having come to maturity. The plants that are thriving are Salt bush, pig face and noon
flower. We had an excellent turn out of volunteers with many new faces and a
great number of little hands helped out.
Over 800 plants were planted.
Thanks also to Parks Victoria who provided the money for the
plants.
Our
next Activity is at West Beach. This is
my favourite. It is a wild space and a
contemplative space. It is fantastic
for playing hide and seek and watching the sunset. It has a wonderful diversity of flora with coastal, fore-dune and
salt-marsh species represented. Its
estuary is a fishing ground for the great egret, cormorants and the white faced
Heron and its dunes a hunting ground for the Australian Kestrel.
West
Beach is in great form at present. The
juncus that was threatening to overtake the salt-marsh has been brought back
under control. This has been thanks to
the joint efforts of Earthcare, The City of Port Phillip and Australia Trust
for Conservation volunteers. Even the
plantain is under tough competition from the native couch. The plants planted last year by Earthcare
are thriving.
Please
note the change in times for the planting!!
This change has been made so that we can make it to the Corroboree
grasslands project launch that begins at 2pm.
WEST BEACH NATURAL HERITAGE
ACTIVITIES
10AM TO 1PM, Sunday 26th
May 3, 2002
All Welcome
Freshly
brewed coffee and muffins will be served at around 1130am
Kids
activities will include:
·
Hide and seek
·
Planting and weeding
·
Guided educational tour
of the site at 11am
Jobs to be done:
·
Planting around 2000
salt marsh plants
·
Weeding plantain and
juncus-anyone brave enough to tackle the juncus will need to wear long pants
and sleeves and gloves. If you have a
mattock or spade please bring it with you.
EARTHCARE MEMBERS ARE YOU FEELING LEFT OUT IN THE COLD??
Over
the past few years the committee has put a lot of effort into projects,
campaigning and publicity. However we
wonder whether Earthcare members have been left out. We have therefore decided to contact you all personally to find
out what interested you/matters to you.
Please expect a phone call in the next month or so. If you have not heard from us by the end of
June please feel free to email the President: Josephine Samuel-King on mjsk@vicnet.net.au
Earthcare Meeting
Mary
Ellen Talmag will be giving a talk on the birdlife of Albert Park with
reference to the Albert Park environment. She has been keeping a data
base of Albert Park birds since 1979.
Thursday 30th June, 7.30pm at the Ecocentre (if Ecocentre unavailable, we will meet across
Blessington St at Cora Graves centre) Jessica 0412 103 550
Friends of Elwood Foreshore, Interested?
Bruce
Partland from Elwood is interested in forming a friends group for Elwood
Foreshore as a sub-group of Earthcare. The group would monitor flora and fauna,
liaise with the Council on planning and management issues as well as the usual
planting and weeding working bee's. If anyone is interested in the group please
contact Rob Scott on 9537 2599 or robscott@naturelinks.com.au.
PLANTING ON THE BREAKWATER
Despite all sorts of bad weather forecasts, the day was warm and sunny and
the breakwater was a very pleasant place to be. We planted 800 assorted
salt
tolerant species and are keeping our fingers crossed that the very end of
the breakwater will soon have Atriplex paludosa-salt bush growing there. It
has proven a very difficult spot to get anything to grow.
The penguins have finished moulting apart from one young female who seemed
intent on moulting on the dog beach. She is now in the wild life shelter
waiting for new feathers to grow. Unfortunately we caught a penguin with
fishing line around it's leg. He seemed healthy although his foot was badly
damaged so we cut off the line and let him go. The colony is thriving and
41711 is still around, he is eleven years old now and still fathering
chicks.
What's on May / June
26th May Planting
West Beach St Kilda, Melways 57 J8 Details O412 103 550 10m-1pm
26th May Parks
Community Corroboree Tree Grasslands Project Opening. In Park Between Football
Ground and Corroboree Tree. 2pm
30th May GAV
Training - Intro. Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Bay Park Lodge, Mt Martha.
10am-4pm Cost $30 members Ph 9450 5304 jvanbraam@gavic,org.au
30th May Earthcare
Meeting Featuring Mary Ellen Talmag on the birds of Albert Park, at the
Ecocentre. 7.30pm
2nd June Penguin
Research, meet at start of St Kilda Pier at 7.00pm Angela 95278334
14th June Deaedline
for contributions for June Earthcare News aliart@bigpond.com
16th June Friends
Of Port Melbourne Foreshore working Bee at Perc White Reserve
(mel.56 F3) 9.30am-12noon. Details Janet 9645 2269
16th June Penguin
Research, meet at start of St Kilda Pier at 7.00pm Angela 95278334
27th June Earthcare
meeting, have a chat with your Earthcare friends.
29th June Planting
meet at Grosvenor St Railway Bridge. Details Rob9537 2599 11am-2pm
The EcoCentre is at the corner of
Blessington and Herbert Sts, St Kilda.
Earthcare
St Kilda Ph: 0500 832 784 Postal PO Box 287 Elwood 3184
Email aliart@bigpond.com
THE
ECOHOUSE PROJECT IS HAPPENING AT LAST!!!
From Jo Samuel King
Do
you remember almost three years ago, in early 1999, how Earthcare came up with
the idea of turning the house where we met (now the Ecocentre) into a model
sustainable building?? This turned into one of the biggest and most adventurous
projects Earthcare ever undertook. Earthcare
members, through the Ecohouse working group contributed literally hundreds of
hours (I hate to calculate it could have been thousands of hours) of volunteer
time to get this project off the ground..
They
developed the vision for the project through the winter of 1999.
The
vision was to transform the building into a model sustainable building that
will act as a seed for further change.
It will harvest, conserve and recycle water and power, use
environmentally friendly materials and promote enviro-friendly living.
The
project was launched the project with the help of Michael Mobbs in August
1999. By April 2000 with the voluntary
assistance of Peter Ho our architect and his team we had developed a master
plan and attracted the interest of The Honorable John Thwaites, who visited the
Ecocentre to learn about the project.
By
this time the building had become the Ecocentre and Earthcare began to hand the
management of the project over to the Ecocentre committee of management. It was at this point that the hard work
really began. We needed to gain
council’s support for the project. This was achieved by June 2000. By October 2000 we had organised funding for
a paid project coordinator (much to the relief of my family) Peter Barker took on this position and has
done a sterling job!
We
needed to raise around $250,000 for the project. This has been a mammoth effort and thanks to our sponsors (that
include The City of Port Phillip, the Department of infrastructure, among many
others) we have finally secured the finances for the project. Most of 2001 was spent developing the plans
and negotiating with Heritage Victoria.
We now have heritage, planning and building approval and are currently
in the process of selecting a builder.
All going to plan, building will commence within the next few weeks.
Earthcare
members involved in the project included the committee- Zoe Hogg, Alison Rowe,
Alison Strachan and ordinary members Joe Malignaggi, Duncan Hall, Tracey
Ibrahim, Freda Erlich, not to mention, Neil Blake as Ecocentre coordinator and
myself, Josephine Samuel-King as the original project coordinator.
Please
go to the Ecocentre web site: ecocentre.com if you are interested in reading
about the project in further details.
N.B. The Ecohouse construction phase may begin
before the end of May, this has practical implications! The EcoCentre will be
unavailable as a meeting space for approx. six months. The Earthcare May Meeting will be at the
EcoCentre, (if possible) if it is unavailable, the meeting will be across
Blessington St at the Cora Graves Centre.
Neil Blake will be available in the old
Tearooms, located behind the EcoCentre, on the same phone number (9209 6291),
usual hours.
PENGUIN IN THE FRIDGE
Sometimes dead penguins are found on the beach and the penguin
study group are asked to freeze them until a post mortem can be done. This
means that we have to put them in our own freezer which is really not the
nicest thing to do. Please does anyone have an old bar fridge that they could
donate to the Ecocentre for this purpose.
Neil
ph:9209 6491 or email zoemh@bigpond.com
or aliart@bigpond.com
Penguin Research 7.00pm at start of St Kilda Pier June 2nd Info Angela
9527 8334
The Corroboree Tree Grasslands project is to be
opened this month.
After several set backs, such as the Laser Arch
proposal, the project is now racing ahead to the point where it can be opened
to the public.
The Opening is scheduled for May 26, at 2pm,
on the site near the Corrboree Tree at St Kilda Junction. Significantly, that date coincides with the
'Journey of Healing' (formerly Sorry Day), emphasising the reconciliation theme
of the project. The Opening is to be
held in conjunction with the Port Phillip Citizens for Reconciliation and the
St Kilda Historical Society. Everyone
is welcome to hear speakers and entertainers from the indigenous community.
The project is the first community-based development
of the park since the Grand Prix Corporation converted it into a race
track. The project has attracted the
boundless energy of the members of the Park Community Association and is widely
supported by many local community groups and businesses. Parks Victoria has been impressed by the
extent of community support for the project, particularly the number of
volunteers who attend planting days.
The project is a practical example of successful
community involvement and stands in stark contrast to the angst generated
within the local community by the authoritarian approach adopted to the
'enhancement' of the park by the Grand Prix Corporation.
So, where is the project now? In the last few weeks
old bitumen paths have been removed, new 'soft' paths have been laid and the
two Meeting Places have been installed. A protective barrier has also been
erected to shield the Tree from the frequent crashes by cars using the Queens
Road entry ramp.
A beautiful stone wall has been constructed, paving
laid and aboriginal artwork installed.
A replica of a midden will be built into the stone wall and a large
mosaic depicting Bunjil, the Creator of the people of the Kulin Nation, will be
laid out on the floor of the larger of the two Meeting Places.
In the frantic few weeks left there is still much to
do - mainly planting. The project will not be totally complete by Opening day
but the structure will have been set up and the concept will be very
clear. About 9 000 native grasses have
been planted so far this Autumn with another 8 000 grasses and trees still to
go including 12 River Red Gums grown from cuttings taken from the Corroboree
Tree. The spirit of the Tree will survive, even if the Tree itself should
perish.
Many days have been set aside for planting, mostly
Sundays: can you help, even for an hour or two? We provide all the training and tools that you may need. We start
at 10 am on each day, at the project site. Contact Sally Daish (9690 5818) or
John Addie on 9682 2323 for further information.
Background to
the project
The project is centred upon the Corroboree Tree at
the St Kilda Junction in Albert Park, a pre-European meeting place. It has a reconciliation theme and aims to
celebrate the Centenary of Federation in a manner which is more relevant to the
indigenous community.
It was inspired by the coming together of the five (and possibly seven)
tribal groups in southern and central Victoria into a federation known as the
Kulin Nation. Those tribes formed that
historic Federation for purposes very similar to the reasons that the six
Australian Colonies came together in 1901, as well as a common belief in
Bunjil, the Creator.
The homeland of each of the tribal groups is to be
represented in the Park by areas of distinctive native grasses; also by
aboriginal artwork portraying some unique aspect of the indigenous culture of
each tribe. Those tribal ‘markers’ will
be set out in the pattern of the star constellation “The Seven Sisters”, a
constellation which figures prominently in a number of aboriginal legends. Each star of the constellation ‘fits’ into
each of the seven tribal lands.
There will also be two meeting/talking places, one
facing the Corroboree Tree with artwork symbolising the Kulin Nation as a
whole. The other faces the Junction
Oval, with artwork referring to the significant role of indigenous people in
Australian Rules football.
The project is not only symbolic in nature. It has created employment opportunities for
indigenous people. Artists contributed significantly during the design stage
and will be directly involved in the artwork symbolizing indigenous
culture. An apprenticeship in tree care
has also been made available by a company supporting the project.
The project is linked to the Aboriginal Heritage
Trail. This trail, another Centenary of
Federation project, features in the recently published book ‘Walks in Port
Phillip’. Ultimately, trail markers
will guide visitors from the relatively obscure entrance of the Trail into
Albert Park to the Corroboree Tree. The
markers will be carved or embossed with Aboriginal heritage themes, in keeping
with the concepts behind the grasslands.
The project is funded and/or supported by the
Commonwealth Government, Parks
Victoria, the City of Port Phillip and both the Myer and Lance Reichstein Foundations,
together with a number of community and business organisations.