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Mission Statement About Koalas Newsletters |
Recent FOLKLAW Projects
Some of our volunteers helping to build the avairy/koala enclosure.
The Koala Enclosure/Bird Avairy on completion.
The new Residents of the New Koala Enclosure. - blind mum and 2 babies. Some plants have been planted in the Kennedy Rd park at the top of Kennedy Rd in Somers. The park has very few trees and will make a great wildlife corridor which will greatly assist with the movement of wildlife when the plants we put in are mature. We have been in contact with the Mornington Peninsula Parks manager who have since prepared the site and layed down mulch in 3 stages starting in the Autumn 2007 and continuing through 2008. We started putting the plants in as soon as it was wet enough. We have a number of used sticks and plastic guards that we used at no cost. Somers volunteers have assisted with this ongoing project. Refer to the section below on Other FOLKLAW Work for an update on this venture.
We are also growing plants for the Somers Foreshore Committee. We have also grown and donated several thousand plants for the Lord Somers Camp and Somers Education Camp.  On 27th July 2008 we had our annual Tree Planting Day at the Somers Koala Reserve. We planted about 250 trees and bushes and spread mulch. No photos are available. Last year (2007) we planted out a number of other areas around Somers with indigeous plants, many which were grown by us.
For 2007 National Tree Planting Day we helped organise the infilling of areas within the RW Stone Reserve. Approximately 30 adults and children turned up on the day and planted about 350 plants. Large areas were sprayed before hand and then mulch was spread out on the day by some energetic volunteers while others planted. A BBQ was held after the event and a good time was had by all.
On Sunday18th August, 2007 FOLKLAW held a working bee at the Kennedy Rd Park in Somers. 14 volunteers planted 256 indigenous plants around part of the edge of the park. Some areas had already been sprayed and mulched by the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council so we planted these areas out first and then progressed down towards the back of the park and along the back fence line. Subsequent working bees will be held to continue planting up the other side of the park. Morning tea was provided and some residents met their neighbours for the first time. Below are some of the volunteers who stayed for morning tea.  We have also donated several thousand indigenous plants to the Lord Somers Camp and Somers Education Camp who are introducing more indigenous plants in their grounds.
FOLKLAW was involved with the National Tree Planting Day on 30th July 2007 as we have been over the past few years. We have registered with Greening Australia’s Website and have had a number of successful days thanks to the public who volunteer their time to put in plants around the Koala Reserve.
We recently applied for a grant for a customized trailer so that it is easier to transport our tools and refreshment stand to our working bee sites. We failed to get the grant in the first attempt but our application was automatically resubmitted when the next grant money became available. As we were successful in the second round of funding, we ordered a new trailer in May 2007 and took delivery of it in August. The trailer is available for use by other environmental voluntary groups. It has opening doors at the rear and side and a platform at the front for a mower or wheelbarrow. We store most of our equipment in it, including first aid kit and coffee and tea facilities. It means far less preparation work for our working bees as we no longer have to load and unload all the equipment. Below is a picture of our new acquisition without the tools. 
Two of our committee members and another volunteer planted about 80 manna gums at the home of the local wildlife carer. The carer specializes in treating and rehabilitating injured and sick koalas but has an ongoing problem of having to get gum leaves to feed them while they are in her care. We decided to plant the trees so that she will have an easy source of food for the koalas in a few years.
We had a display at the Hastings library from 14/7/06 – 03/08/06 to educate the public about caring for their environment and to encourage them to join our environmental group. Information about local native animals and how to attract them back into the garden by planting indigenous plants was part of the display. We received very good feed back from the library staff about the number of people that took the time to read our display board. FOLKLAW was also involved with the planting of 2000 trees, shrubs and grasses in the Ray Stone Reserve in Camp Hill Rd. South East Water had used this reserve to store all their equipment and as a good will gesture to the people of Somers they donated 2000 plants. FOLKLAW together with some children from the Somers Primary School and other volunteers planted them over 2 days. Although some perished during the long dry summer, many have survived and the reserve looks much better and attracts koalas and other animals and birds.
On 13th November 1996 FOLKLAW was involved with planting 284 indigenous trees in the grounds of Cerberus to remember the 280 men who served in the 4 RAN Sloops HMAS Parramatta, HMAS Swan, HMAS Warrego and HMAS Yarra in Word War 2. In 2006 we went to the 10th anniversary Memorial Service at Cerberus and afterwards walked among the 284 trees that had been planted. A new plaque was put in place and the old one was donated to the Cerberus Historic Society.
Over the past few years, FOLKLAW has had an information stall at the Somers Arts Fair and the Somers Garden Fair. We have raised money by selling indigenous plants, auctioning a poster sized photo donated by one of our Committee Members and having a garage sale. This money was donated to our local wildlife carer for medicines, blankets etc. Over the years FOLKLAW has been actively involved with the Somers Primary School plant nursery and garden.
A FOLKLAW member has very generously painted some beautiful posters of the Somers Koala Reserve which we use in our displays. She has also done some signs warning cars to slow down when koalas cross the road and during the baby bird season.
In 2001 FOLKLAW organized a volunteer day to plant out the Kennedy Rd Track. The day was a great success with many people turning up. Although some of the plants did not survive the harsh Summer, many did, especially the Manna Gums at the end of the track. Some of the smaller plants, including grasses are actually spreading. The track is still maintained on a yearly basis with spraying of weeds and replacement of plants that have died. We have also organized a number of speakers to lecture on such topics as migratory birds, local bats, etc.
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Our
latest project was to purchase the materials to build an avairy/koala
enclosure for our local wildlife carer. We bought the
building
materials with money raised from Ritchies' supermarket donations.
The specifications for the enclosure was given to us by the
wildlife carer to suit her specific requirements. On April
6th
2008, June 8th 2008 and 2nd November 2008 we held working bees at her
place and built the enclosures. The 2 structures are built
next
to each other. The bird avairy has a solid corrigated roof
over
one end and walls of mist green colour bond corrigated roofing.
A
low wall of approx 2 ft of corrigated sheeting surrounds the bottom of
the enclosure to provide wind protection. Fine mesh is used
for
the rest of the walls. The koala enclosure is similar but
with a
solid roof made of 2/3 clear roofing and 1/3 colourbond
roofing and larger mesh. The 2 cages are separated
by timber
beams so that the koalas will not get their claws caught in the bird
avairy mesh. The bird avairy will be used to enable injured
or
sick birds to strenghten they wings prior to being released into the
wild. In total over 3 Sunday working bee days about 190 hours
of
voluntary labour and $2.891.95 of donated money was used to complete
the Koala enclosure/bird aviary.
Over
the years we have applied for and received two grants for tools and
equipment. From these we were able to purchase diggers,
mattocks, weeders, loppers, mulching forks, pruners, a brush cutter and
other equipment. These tools are shared with other
environment or interested groups around Somers. We were also
able to buy and erect a shed with money from another grant.
This shed holds all our tools, display stands and brochures for when we
hold an information stall. We also store our recycled stakes
and plastic guards in the compound.
