By Ed Thexton
10am on a beautiful Friday in the centre of the Inverloch oval. Five hundred-plus children from across the educational institutions of Inverloch. Aunty Sonia Weston welcomes us and conducts a smoking ceremony to kick off a day of Rs: restoring biodiversity through resilience, regeneration, reintroduction, and reconnecting to country.
A fitting start to a day of planting by the gun planters of the Inverloch Childcare Kindergarten, Inverloch Kindergarten, and the Inverloch Primary School Environment Team.
First up, seven of Inverloch Childcare Kindergarten’s best descend on the Beacon Court Reserve in Inverloch. This was recently dominated by Sweet Pittosporum. In an hour, 300-plus plants of a dozen or so species are planted into the pre-dug holes.
10am on a beautiful Friday in the centre of the Inverloch oval. Five hundred-plus children from across the educational institutions of Inverloch. Aunty Sonia Weston welcomes us and conducts a smoking ceremony to kick off a day of Rs: restoring biodiversity through resilience, regeneration, reintroduction, and reconnecting to country.
A fitting start to a day of planting by the gun planters of the Inverloch Childcare Kindergarten, Inverloch Kindergarten, and the Inverloch Primary School Environment Team.
First up, seven of Inverloch Childcare Kindergarten’s best descend on the Beacon Court Reserve in Inverloch. This was recently dominated by Sweet Pittosporum. In an hour, 300-plus plants of a dozen or so species are planted into the pre-dug holes.
Second up, the Inverloch Primary School Environmental Team ascend to the Wallace Avenue Reserve to plant into a prepared mulched bed. In a nice example of circular economy, the mulch was made of the chipped and composted Pittosporum taken out of Beacon Reserve.
It’s worth getting to know the small public reserves of Inverloch. The Beacon Court Reserve was named for the beacon that once guided boats into Andersons Inlet. It holds remnants of the original Narrow Leaf Peppermint dominated community but, Pittosporum and other weed species grew to dominate, killing the Peppermints and simplifying the plant community. Over the last few years our Society has led the renewal.
Adjoining neighbours have also championed the resurgence of the Wallace Ave Reserve, and it’s a beauty. Don’t rely on my word, read the book. Judy Anderson has written the inspiring true story of how a community came together to save this public park. It’s available at Inverloch’s best book shop.
It’s worth getting to know the small public reserves of Inverloch. The Beacon Court Reserve was named for the beacon that once guided boats into Andersons Inlet. It holds remnants of the original Narrow Leaf Peppermint dominated community but, Pittosporum and other weed species grew to dominate, killing the Peppermints and simplifying the plant community. Over the last few years our Society has led the renewal.
Adjoining neighbours have also championed the resurgence of the Wallace Ave Reserve, and it’s a beauty. Don’t rely on my word, read the book. Judy Anderson has written the inspiring true story of how a community came together to save this public park. It’s available at Inverloch’s best book shop.
Inverloch and Kongwak primary schools students rest upon ,br.Koolasuchus cleelandi as their planting efforts wrap up. The Wallace Ave Reserve has a life size sculpture of Koolasuchus cleelandi, a big-mouthed, flat-headed, local amphibian discovered by and named after Mike Cleeland, the South Gippsland Conservation Society’s long standing education officer and leading palaeontologist. A visit to Wallace Avenue is worth it to just see this five-metre long creation that kids love to climb on or even lie on.
Seeing the dinosaur panels created by over 150 artists of Inverloch Primary School is another great reason to go to the Wallace Ave Reserve. There’s even a planted Wollemi Pine, one of the world’s oldest and rarest trees, sometimes called a living fossil.
In the third and final planting of the day, the Inverloch Kindergarten planters come back to the Inverloch oval to plant a mound near the Scout Hall with a grove of local Banksia. These should provide a magnificent reminder, every day, to all who go to the Inverloch Primary School, of the 2024 Schools National Tree Day.
Seeing the dinosaur panels created by over 150 artists of Inverloch Primary School is another great reason to go to the Wallace Ave Reserve. There’s even a planted Wollemi Pine, one of the world’s oldest and rarest trees, sometimes called a living fossil.
In the third and final planting of the day, the Inverloch Kindergarten planters come back to the Inverloch oval to plant a mound near the Scout Hall with a grove of local Banksia. These should provide a magnificent reminder, every day, to all who go to the Inverloch Primary School, of the 2024 Schools National Tree Day.