Eulie Brewster on her 80th birthday, Wilsons Prom, August 2006
By Terri Allen
IF ONLY we could bottle 'Essence of Eulie', perhaps we could acquire more energy, exuberance and erudition. Well into her eighties she still led walking groups and field excursions, toured the countryside, read voraciously, wrote historical extracts, participated in bird counts and fire recovery monitoring, weeded local reserves, planted trees and yet remained a girl guide at heart.
Eulalie (Eulie) Brewster, who died on July 1, was a colossus of the South Gippsland and Bass Coast conservation scene for over 75 years.
IF ONLY we could bottle 'Essence of Eulie', perhaps we could acquire more energy, exuberance and erudition. Well into her eighties she still led walking groups and field excursions, toured the countryside, read voraciously, wrote historical extracts, participated in bird counts and fire recovery monitoring, weeded local reserves, planted trees and yet remained a girl guide at heart.
Eulalie (Eulie) Brewster, who died on July 1, was a colossus of the South Gippsland and Bass Coast conservation scene for over 75 years.
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Eulie was born in the sandbelt country in St Kilda and brought up in Sandringham, a wondrous area of heathlands in those days. Her father died of pneumonic flu when Eulie was two, leaving her mother, Eulalie, to support two very young children. To make ends meet, she made and sold craftwork, received a small income from her husband's St Kilda hardware business, Proctor and Hill, managed this business during World War II and taught in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
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A memorial service for Eulie Brewster will be held at the Inverloch Uniting Church at 10.30am on Monday August 10, the day before what would have been Eulie’s 100th birthday. |
She also regularly attended Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) meetings and contributed to the Victorian Naturalist. Eulie and her brother Arthur accompanied their mother on field naturalist excursions from a young age.
Schooling at Sandringham East State School was of a bygone era, one of morning talks and observations, the nature table and nature study where pupils were taught to observe the intricacies of the natural world. After Hampton High School, Eulie attended Melbourne Teachers' College, where she was trained in the principles of nature study, used Leach's Australian Nature Studies as her handbook and ensured that Friday afternoons were devoted to bush rambles.
After a spell as a student teacher at State School 3754 Hampton, Eulie was posted, as headteacher, to Sandy Creek near Tallangatta at the end of 1944, to Mt Duneed near Geelong for term two 1945 and to Yinnar South February 1946 to March 1947. Eulie was now able to impart her love of plants and also learn from her country students.
At Yinnar South she met a local farmer, Oswald Brewster, who guided her to a precious cache of epiphytic orchids (Sarcochilus australis) and introduced her to the treasures of the Gippsland bush. Two sparks were lit that day, one resulting in her marriage to Os and the other that would lead to the conservation of Foster's Gully - now Morwell National Park:
Schooling at Sandringham East State School was of a bygone era, one of morning talks and observations, the nature table and nature study where pupils were taught to observe the intricacies of the natural world. After Hampton High School, Eulie attended Melbourne Teachers' College, where she was trained in the principles of nature study, used Leach's Australian Nature Studies as her handbook and ensured that Friday afternoons were devoted to bush rambles.
After a spell as a student teacher at State School 3754 Hampton, Eulie was posted, as headteacher, to Sandy Creek near Tallangatta at the end of 1944, to Mt Duneed near Geelong for term two 1945 and to Yinnar South February 1946 to March 1947. Eulie was now able to impart her love of plants and also learn from her country students.
At Yinnar South she met a local farmer, Oswald Brewster, who guided her to a precious cache of epiphytic orchids (Sarcochilus australis) and introduced her to the treasures of the Gippsland bush. Two sparks were lit that day, one resulting in her marriage to Os and the other that would lead to the conservation of Foster's Gully - now Morwell National Park:
Away at the top of the gully there are many banks of the tiny helmet orchids with their maroon caps, yellow centres, and striped 'sideboards'. The nodding greenhoods dance on a sunny slope with a few tinier ones with several heads to each stem, quite nearby. In some patches of this very rich countryside it is impossible to walk through the bush without standing upon orchids of some kind.
Eulie Brewster, Victorian Naturalist, January 1957
From 1947 to 1974 Eulie and Os dairy farmed at Nerrena out of Leongatha. They brought up their four children with a love of the bush and camping, combing the local roadsides and reserves for flora and fauna, exploring Foster's Gully, the Bunurong coast, Wilsons Promontory and Mt Worth, always with plant and bird field guides at the ready.
The siblings' recollections of field naturalists excursions reveal a plethora of experiences. Jeannie remembered spider orchids along the railway line near Tarwin Station, swamphens in the lagoon en route to Lyndons' farm, trips on the 'horror stretch' between Buffalo and Cape Liptrap and the Bear Gully track.
David recalled the huge trunk of a logged tree where springboards and crosscut saw had been used at Yinnar (now Morwell National Park), wedgetails, orchids, fly agaric at Gunyah, trips up Sagassers Road and the contrast between farm paddocks and the bush.
The bookworm, Alison, would complain at being dragged out to the bush, but had a clear memory of her younger sister falling in the water at Narracan Falls and going out in all sorts of weather.
More adventurous, Heather's memories were of being bitten by a wombat at the Prom (it was found dead the next day!), realising she could name plants and the yellow orchids with brown spots at the Prom; she liked getting out in the bush, but she dragged behind the others and dreaded leeches.
The siblings' recollections of field naturalists excursions reveal a plethora of experiences. Jeannie remembered spider orchids along the railway line near Tarwin Station, swamphens in the lagoon en route to Lyndons' farm, trips on the 'horror stretch' between Buffalo and Cape Liptrap and the Bear Gully track.
David recalled the huge trunk of a logged tree where springboards and crosscut saw had been used at Yinnar (now Morwell National Park), wedgetails, orchids, fly agaric at Gunyah, trips up Sagassers Road and the contrast between farm paddocks and the bush.
The bookworm, Alison, would complain at being dragged out to the bush, but had a clear memory of her younger sister falling in the water at Narracan Falls and going out in all sorts of weather.
More adventurous, Heather's memories were of being bitten by a wombat at the Prom (it was found dead the next day!), realising she could name plants and the yellow orchids with brown spots at the Prom; she liked getting out in the bush, but she dragged behind the others and dreaded leeches.
Eulie Brewster, right, with Joyce Haddon, bird banding at Corner Inlet, 1996
Eulie had pored over The Victorian Naturalist since she started to read; she wrote many articles for the magazine and became an Honorary Member of the FNCV.
Ellen Lyndon, a fellow field naturalist and Leongatha resident, wrote to Eulie for three years before they eventually met in August 1951, the forceful Ellen bearing down on tiny pram-pushing Eulie. The pair clicked and soon the Brewsters and Lyndons were spending their Saturdays botanising and pulling each other's bogged cars out of quagmires on rural roads of South Gippsland. When Ellen learned to drive, she would collect Eulie and children and off they would go. Eventually Eulie, too, had her driving licence and, when both families could afford more reliable cars, they ventured further afield.
Eulie was a founding member of the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists Club. A piece about a seal in the Tarwin River was the first of many articles submitted to the Latrobe Valley Naturalist:
Ellen Lyndon, a fellow field naturalist and Leongatha resident, wrote to Eulie for three years before they eventually met in August 1951, the forceful Ellen bearing down on tiny pram-pushing Eulie. The pair clicked and soon the Brewsters and Lyndons were spending their Saturdays botanising and pulling each other's bogged cars out of quagmires on rural roads of South Gippsland. When Ellen learned to drive, she would collect Eulie and children and off they would go. Eventually Eulie, too, had her driving licence and, when both families could afford more reliable cars, they ventured further afield.
Eulie was a founding member of the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists Club. A piece about a seal in the Tarwin River was the first of many articles submitted to the Latrobe Valley Naturalist:
In mid-February two young boys fishing at Koonwarra were most startled to find a seal in the river - thirty-five river miles inland from the sea...reporting that it snorted loudly and blew through its nose...During the next few days there were reports of sightings from various farms upstream...
Eulie Brewster, April 1965
She was a foundation member of the South Gippsland Conservation Society (SGCS), helping in the reservation and expansion of Bald Hills and the fight to save Screw Creek. She wrote for the newsletter, led excursions, weeded reserves and planted trees. She was the resident Inverloch botanist and was awarded Life Membership in 1989.
Through illustrated talks on both history and natural history, Eulie and Os informed, entertained and educated diverse groups including the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists, local conservation and historical societies, the Botany Group of the FNCV in Melbourne, CWA ladies, school children and the elderly.
In 1995 after a walk at the Wonthaggi Heathlands, Eulie wrote to The Sentinel Times to gain support for a friends' group. The response was immediate, and she supported the Friends of the Wonthaggi Heathlands with her botanical knowledge on excursions and auditing vegetation.
Through illustrated talks on both history and natural history, Eulie and Os informed, entertained and educated diverse groups including the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists, local conservation and historical societies, the Botany Group of the FNCV in Melbourne, CWA ladies, school children and the elderly.
In 1995 after a walk at the Wonthaggi Heathlands, Eulie wrote to The Sentinel Times to gain support for a friends' group. The response was immediate, and she supported the Friends of the Wonthaggi Heathlands with her botanical knowledge on excursions and auditing vegetation.
Friends of Wonthaggi Heathlands excusrion to Kings Flat Flora Reserve, 2002. From left, Anne Looney, Geoff Glare, unknowns, Gaie Atkinson, Helen Hollole, Marcia Brown, Nola Thorpe and Eulie Brewster
After the Easter bushfires at Wilsons Promontory in 2005, Eulie, along with members of the conservation society and Friends of the Wonthaggi heathlands, helped Parks Victoria staff to assess the burnt zone and to monitor recovery. She had a vivid memory of visiting the Prom after the last major fires in 1951 and was able to compare the two bushfires.
She joined the Woorayl Historical Society in 1970, collecting and recording Inverloch history since 1974 when she and Os retired to Inverloch, led local history walks, and became patron of the Inverloch Historical Society when it formed in 1996.
Eulie had a fascination with fossils and, with Ellen Lyndon, led excursions to fossiliferous sites at Walkerville, Koonwarra and along the Bunurong. She was a member of several bird groups, volunteered for bird-banding expeditions, took part in bird counts and led birdwalking excursions. She belonged to the Friends of Morwell National Park and Victorian National Parks Association. She read and digested all their newsletters and magazines and was a walking encyclopedia of natural history.
She joined the Woorayl Historical Society in 1970, collecting and recording Inverloch history since 1974 when she and Os retired to Inverloch, led local history walks, and became patron of the Inverloch Historical Society when it formed in 1996.
Eulie had a fascination with fossils and, with Ellen Lyndon, led excursions to fossiliferous sites at Walkerville, Koonwarra and along the Bunurong. She was a member of several bird groups, volunteered for bird-banding expeditions, took part in bird counts and led birdwalking excursions. She belonged to the Friends of Morwell National Park and Victorian National Parks Association. She read and digested all their newsletters and magazines and was a walking encyclopedia of natural history.
"Leader on walks, keen birdwatcher and knowledgeable botanist, Eulie led by example, revered by all. We stand on her shoulders."
Friends of the Wonthaggi Heathlands
Her extensive knowledge of Gippsland flora and fauna was readily shared: with university students researching projects, with the Bird Observers Club of Australia on excursions, with senior citizens on Monday rambles, at the Bunurong Environment Centre, with genealogists, history buffs, field naturalists, primary school classes, visitors to the Bass Coast Heritage Group's 'I remember when...'
She was a true lady botanist: caring, repairing, sharing ...
I'll have a bottle, please.
This is an edited extract of Terri Allen’s profile of Eulie in Gippsland Lady Botanists, published in 2007 when Eulie was a sprightly 81.
She was a true lady botanist: caring, repairing, sharing ...
I'll have a bottle, please.
This is an edited extract of Terri Allen’s profile of Eulie in Gippsland Lady Botanists, published in 2007 when Eulie was a sprightly 81.