Environment

It’s official. The Western Port Woodlands matter.

8/6/2025

The government has recognised the value of the woodlands. Now to turn recognition into protection.

By Catherine Watson

THE conflict between sand quarrying and protecting biodiversity in the Western Port Woodlands has been a festering sore in the Bass Coast community for more than 30 years.

With 11 quarries already operating in the woodlands, and several more approved, a planning panel for the Bass Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) project was tasked with sorting out the mess.

This was one of many messes they had to deal with but it was the most contested DAL issue, with more than 500 submissions calling for increased protection for the woodlands and a solitary submission from a multinational mining company calling for more protection of sand mining.

In the line of fire

15/5/2025

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On December 19 and 20 fire swept through the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve, threatening residential and farming properties in the Gurdies and further afield.
Around 192 hectares was burnt including 125 hectares of the reserve and 50 hectares of
the council’s native vegetation reserve. Firefighters managed to save all dwellings,
although sheds and fences were lost.

Mike Clarke in the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve, April 2025. “Managing fire for people and wildlife is not rocket science, it’s much more complex than that.”

By Professor Mike Clark

MOST Victorians recognise that we live in a highly flammable landscape and that was really brought out as the Gurdies fire came close to houses adjacent to the reserve.

Fire has been a part of this landscape for millions of years and we know the general narrative that because of that it bounces back, in some cases pretty quickly. In the Gurdies reserve you can see the resprouting from epicormic buds beneath the bark, doing what comes naturally and there's signs of acacia seeds that have been triggered to germinate by the heat or smoke produced by the fire. Superficially you'd say “Oh well, everything's back to normal again."

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Living lightly

28/2/2025

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Permaculturalist Rock Coleman shared his knowledge at last year’s Garden Gems series.

ARE you interested in growing veggies? Do you want to learn about solar panels and home batteries? Are you trying to live a more sustainable life?

Bass Coast Shire Council has launched Living Lightly Bass Coast - a series of workshops that will run across the year to help residents learn new skills to live more sustainably.

Workshops will be presented by experts that will focus on making homes and communities more affordable, sustainable and resilient.

They build on the success of last year’s Garden Gems and Sustainable Living series.

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Signs of life

2/2/2025

By Catherine Watson

Dr Sera Blair calls it “searching for life after a fire”. Exactly four weeks after the Gurdies fire, she and Victorian National Parks Association colleague Jordan Crook began the process of documenting the return – and survival – of wildlife.

They were not yet permitted into the Gurdies Nature Conservation Reserve due to Parks Victoria’s concerns about hazardous trees, so they began work in Bass Coast Shire Council’s adjoining 52ha Native Vegetation Offset Reserve.

The fire started near the Sand Supplies quarry, and burned through this reserve on the first day, threatening homes in Woodland Close. A wind change the following day pushed it north, threatening homes along the Gurdies Road and Island View Road.

Russ stands his ground

1/2/2025

News update, Feb 9, 2025
Following an onsite meeting between Russ and the council, the requirement for clearing was reduced to slashing a two-metre strip around the perimeter of the bushland. Russ says the work has been done and he’s satisfied with the outcome. The council will inspect the site to ensure its standards have been met.

Russ Williams: "This is virgin, virgin, virgin native bush.’”

By Catherine Watson

YOU might pick Russ Williams for an ageing rocker but you would never guess that he spent most of his working life as a real estate agent.

Nor would you pick him for a typical greenie, but the long-time Coronet Bay resident is ready to defend his patch of bush against what he sees as an over-reaction of bureaucracy.

A week ago he received a fire prevention notice from the council ordering him to clear the undergrowth in the bushland on his small beef farm.

“I couldn't sleep that night,” Russ says. “I’ve never had this before, not in 50 years.”

Rich pickings in Proving Ground

14/10/2024

Hundreds of distinctive and rare Strzelecki gums have been found in the former Holden
Proving Ground. Photo: Irene Proebsting

THE largest stand of critically endangered Strzelecki Gums in existence has been found at the former Holden Proving Ground, confirming its status as a biodiversity hotspot.

At almost 900 hectares, this is the largest patch of uncleared land in Bass Coast and the central chunk of the Western Port Woodlands.

Now owned by VinFast, the proving ground is currently on the market and a coalition of 20 conservation groups is pushing for the eastern portion of the site to be acquired for conservation purposes.

Earthly delights

12/9/2024

At Eden Rise, Daphne and Joe Proietto have transformed paddocks into a five-acre native garden.

By Kate Anderson

The Open Gardens Victoria spring season kicks off with two beautiful native gardens in Bass Coast Shire, opening on the weekend of September 28–29.

Nestled in Woolamai’s rolling Bass Hills, Eden Rise has stunning views out to Western Port, French Island, and Phillip Island. It was originally a horse agistment property with little more than sheds and a handful of trees, but owners Daphne and Joe Proietto have spent the past 13 years transforming grassy paddocks into a stunning five-acre garden. Work commenced on the garden long before the house was built.

Saving our beaches

12/9/2024

Storm surges on September 4 pound the Inverloch coast. The South Gippsland Conservation Society is pushing for urgent dune reconstruction to prevent further damage.

By Philip Heath

THE South Gippsland Conservation Society believes the draft Resilience Plan of the Victorian Government’s Cape to Cape Resilience Project provides a comprehensive framework for staged coastal adaptation for the next 50 and more years, taking into account anticipated climate change impacts.

Adaptation pathways for each section of the coastline between Cape Paterson and Cape Liptrap, including Anderson Inlet, are set out, with identified actions linked to anticipated increases in sea level and other triggers.

To solar or not to solar - that is the question

11/9/2024

Tim Herring crunches the numbers on home battery storage.

By Tim Herring

WHEN we bought our house, it had an old, small solar system (over 10 years old) which didn't work very well. After the start of the Ukrainian war, shortages caused gas and coal prices to increase significantly and flooding in Australian east coast coal mines helped keep the prices high. We decided to put in a new solar system of sufficient size and battery capacity to make a reduction of at least 60 per cent in our annual electricity bill - at that time around $2200 per annum.

I got four quotations from local suppliers in October/November last year. The industry norm is to quote only the final figure for the system, but I had insisted on a breakdown of prices for each item. I noticed that most providers were leading with solar only (no battery) and I figured out why pretty quickly – the "basic" system of 5-6kW was being quoted as "free" after subsidies. This was undoubtedly attractive, but didn't stand up to proper examination. There were two subsidies (Solar Vic PV and STCs) totalling around $5,000, plus a "subsidy" of $6,000 which was actually an interest-free loan – requiring repayment, albeit at zero interest. Hence the very low prices.

The tourist trap

10/9/2024

Bimbadeen, at Ventnor, where Bob and Anne Davie have practised regenerative farming for decades. There are fears that Bass Coast’s rural tourism strategy could be the death knell for farming on Phillip Island

By Greg Johnson

MANY Phillip Islanders are worried about our council’s latest plan for tourism. In a radical move by our council to attract bigger spending “high end” tourists, most rural land on the island would be opened for uses including luxury resorts.

Where is the future for farming in all this, and how will the land and environment be protected?

When the Bass Coast Unlocking Rural Tourism Strategy (BURT) was first aired in 2022 it received plenty of objections. Councillors approved it in March 2023 after advisers’ assurances about environmental protections. However, I doubt that these assurances hold up, or that the strategy is in the best interests of Phillip Island.

Trees that please

15/8/2024

Townsend Bluff giant, enjoyed by generations of little tree climbers.

By Catherine Watson

WHAT’S your favourite tree? The gorgeous old eucalypt on Townsend Bluff is a favourite of many. For others it’s the Churchill Island moonahs.

Now here’s an opportunity to ensure recognition and protection of the trees you love. Having established a register for Phillip Island’s significant trees several years ago, the council has widened the register to include the whole shire.

Inverloch’s a hot spot for trees, of course, and several coast manna gums near the town centre on the register.

Our war on pitto

11/7/2024

Robyn and Jon Temby with casualties: The battle is over but the war goes on.

By Jon Temby

ABOUT three years ago we bought a property in West Creek that had a Trust for Nature covenant protecting its bushland.

We knew there was Pittosporum undulatum on the property and that it was going to be a big job to get rid of it. We probably didn’t realise just how big a job. The Pittosporum had formed an almost complete canopy, shutting out the light and outcompeting almost all our understorey plants across the entire bushland section. In places, thickets were close to impenetrable and the ground underneath bigger stands of Pittosporum (which we call ”pitto”) was totally bare of other vegetation.

A little thing called Tryssglobulus

9/7/2024

Only two specimens of Tryssglobulus aspergilloides have
ever been collected and one of them was found in the
Western Port Woodlands

By Ian Pascoe

IF YOU go down to the woods today, you’ll only see a fraction of the organisms that live there. You will probably fail to see the really little things. You might see mushrooms and mosses and lichens and beetles and ants and flies and other things that you are already familiar with. But I’m talking about the really little things, some of which you will never have heard of.

Let me tell you about Tryssglobulus aspergilloides. You’re unlikely to know about this tiny fungus, because only two specimens have ever been collected and one of them was found in the Western Port Woodlands!

Why the secrecy?

13/6/2024

The community is supposed to be consulted about the progressive rehabilitation of the Sand Supplies mine on Crown land in the Grantville Nature Conservation Reserve.

By Neil Rankine

VICTORIA’S mining regulations have a lot to say about sustainable development, community consultation and transparency but in practice it’s a sham.

Over the past 12 months I’ve seen how local mining companies in Bass Coast avoid public scrutiny. They do so with the acquiescence of the government agencies tasked with regulating the mining industry.

The Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act, 1990 specifies that mine operators must share information with the community and give them a reasonable opportunity to express their views about the activities authorised by their work plans.

Penguin chicks come through

3/6/2024

Photos: Phillip Island Nature

By Lisa Gilbert

PHILLIP Island’s little penguin population has survived a strong El Nino event, with a higher than expected number of fledgling chicks this breeding season.

Phillip Island Nature Parks researchers say the longer breeding season, which ran from July 2023 until the end of March 2024, was marked by a strong El Nino event that impacted global weather, with ocean temperatures surging to unprecedented levels.

But despite predictions that penguin populations would suffer in the warming world and the ocean temperatures around Phillip Island registering record highs, our little penguins flourished, with two successful clutches in one season.

Parrot puzzle

15/5/2024

The injured Eastern Ground Parrot in care at the Bunurong Wildlife Care centre.

By Dallas Wyatt

An injured parrot found at Inverloch has created excitement and interest amongst local birdwatchers and field naturalists.

The parrot was identified as an Eastern Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) and its occurrence is the first recorded for many years in the Bass Coast region.

Greg Johnson Q&A

18/4/2024

The newly elected president of the Phillip Island Conservation Society
learned activism from some of the best.

Greg and his late wife, Marg, who was PICS secretary for 20 years.

Post: How did you become involved with PICS? Was it a particular issue?

Greg Johnson: While searching the coast for an affordable holiday shack in the days when that was feasible, we found one at Ventnor, not so far away from home [in Eltham]. It was a bit of a wreck, but I was keen for somewhere accessible to enjoy my sailing dinghy. I’ll never forget celebrating our first day as holiday-home owners with a long beach walk and seeing our first Sea Eagle gliding parallel with the coast in the on-shore wind.

We were bird enthusiasts; my partner Marg had done a bushwalking course; I’d become a native plant gardener in Eltham, and we had often enjoyed the wildly beautiful Wilsons Prom with our children. We loved nature and that day we breathed in the coastal beauty of our new Island ‘home’. We were sure we’d find a local conservation group we could join.

Rick and the beanstalk

15/4/2024

Rick Coleman introduces a new generation to the magic of gardening
at the Wonthaggi Community Garden. Photos: Sharon Willcox

By Catherine Watson

THERE’S a fairy tale quality to Rick Coleman’s introduction to gardening. Aged 12, he planted a packet of beans in the back yard of his Caulfield family home. He can’t remember why because no one in his working class family was a gardener.

But he watched enchanted as they first sprouted through the soil, then grew a stalk, and produced first flowers and then pods filled with beans.

And that’s the magic of gardening.

Cemetery clearing backlash

15/4/2024

The Tarwin Lower Cemetery is noted as a site of botanical significance.

By Catherine Watson

THE Tarwin Lower Cemetery is renowned for its wildflowers and orchids so locals were concerned in late February when they heard an excavator within the hallowed grounds.

Several tracks were cleared through the vegetation at the direction of the Tarwin Lower Cemetery Trust, apparently to create firebreaks and to access and remove patches of sallow wattles.

The clearing is the latest incident in a long-running disagreement between the trust and local naturalists about the values that should be preserved at the cemetery, one of the oldest in South Gippsland.

Lights out for shearwaters

12/4/2024

Roadside rescue by a Nature Parks ranger

By Lisa Gilbert

PHILLIP Island Nature Parks is enlisting the help of local businesses and communities to protect short-tailed shearwater chicks on their first migration north.

This year, the annual campaign, Dark Sky So Shearwaters Fly, will run from 19 April to 10 May, and will ask residents and businesses in the bird flight path to switch off their lights for up to 10 nights to minimise risks to the seabirds and to motorists.

Each year, shearwater chicks make their 14,000km first flight to Alaska in late April or early May.

Bright manmade light sources can be a fatal attraction for the young seabirds as they learn to fly. They are drawn to street lighting and land on roads, becoming a hazard to themselves and to motorists, particularly on the San Remo bridge.

Silver lining for little old penguin

3/4/2024

Silver was found severely malnourished.

By Lisa Gilbert

A LITTLE penguin found malnourished on the beach has been identified as one of the oldest penguins ever seen at the Phillip Island mega-colony.

Silver is 22 years old, more than three times the average life expectancy of a little penguin.
The oldest documented penguin at Phillip Island was 25, and last seen in 2001.

Silver was found wandering, in front of the Penguin Parade stands, at risk of being killed by a bird of prey. When rangers rescued her, they found she had a silver band around her flipper, an identification method that ceased in 2004. Since then, penguins have been microchipped.

The thin green line

22/3/2024

The Corinella foreshore walk ... a wide, shaded, wind-protected microclimate created by the low trees and shrubs. Photos: Geoff Ellis

By Ed Thexton

I VISITED the Corinella Foreshore recently and it was a revelation. In the harsh clifftop environment, directly exposed to the prevailing south westerlies, the path west of the boat ramp wound through a wide, shaded, wind-protected microclimate created by the continuity of diverse, indigenous low trees and shrubs. Elevated vantage points provided views to Western Port.

I couldn’t help but contrast it with the foreshore path in my home town of Inverloch, which looks more like a municipal utility than a natural experience.

I drove to the northern section of the Corinella path, where the abundant birdlife on the bay spoke of the richness of the near shore marine environment.

A family affair

22/3/2024

Judy Morcom's garden

By Kate Anderson

GARDEN lovers are in for a treat on Saturday, April 6 with the chance to visit two delightful Inverloch gardens, owned by mother and daughter Judy Morcom and Sue Jarvis.

Set just oﬀ the Bass Highway as you enter Inverloch from the Wonthaggi end, Judy’s garden is an inspiring owner-designed garden set on one acre.

When Judy and Allan Morcom bought the property 16 years ago, it was little more than a farm paddock with a stand of mature trees at the rear of the property and the headwater of Ayr Creek running at the front in an open drain.

Relief for Ruttle Estate residents

22/3/2024

Residents have been fighting since 2017 to preserve the wetland reserve.

By Peter Ghys

BASS Coast Shire Council this week refused an application by an Albert Ruttle Estate landowner to clear vegetation and build a house on a portion of the wetland reserve set aside as communal open space for residents of the estate.

It’s a second victory this year for Ruttle Estate residents who have been fighting since 2017 to preserve the wetland reserve.

The development of the wetlands featured in marketing of the estate and was a condition of the original planning agreement for the Albert Ruttle subdivision back in 1993.

The power trip continues

22/3/2024

Werner and Ursula Theinert accepted Saul Griffiths' challenge
to Electrify Everything. And the lights stayed on during our recent prolonged power outage.

By Werner Theinert

THE Nissan Leaf e+ discussed in my previous articles (The power trip, October 1, 2020) is still going strong with nearly 60,000 kilometres on the clock. It’s still only been charged away from home twice, at a cost of $8 each time at the fast chargers at the Moe Folk Museum. We also sold the van recently and we are now waiting for delivery of the new BYD Seal … Hopefully soon! This will mean that we have electrified everything.

In July/August last year we got sick of waiting (three years) for regulators in Canberra to regulate on bidirectional charging using the car’s 63kWh battery to power the house. It appears that it’s okay to install a battery in your house, as long as it doesn’t have wheels or a steering wheel. We finally decided to install a home battery without a steering wheel which had the capability to make the home power outage-proof.

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