- Published on
By Noel Maud
WHEN THE recently completed Wonthaggi to Inverloch trail officially opened it ushered in a new era of protection for some of our most vulnerable and important birds, animals and plants.
The middle section traverses Marjorie Scott’s property which is being progressively transformed into an environmentally sustainable farm featuring kilometres of indigenous vegetation-lined lanes, wetlands feeding into Wreck Creek and woodlots of indigenous and threatened trees and shrubs.
When the trail was first proposed with the idea of making use of undeveloped and disused road reserves between the two towns, Marjorie saw the potential, but also identified major difficulties for her plans.
WHEN THE recently completed Wonthaggi to Inverloch trail officially opened it ushered in a new era of protection for some of our most vulnerable and important birds, animals and plants.
The middle section traverses Marjorie Scott’s property which is being progressively transformed into an environmentally sustainable farm featuring kilometres of indigenous vegetation-lined lanes, wetlands feeding into Wreck Creek and woodlots of indigenous and threatened trees and shrubs.
When the trail was first proposed with the idea of making use of undeveloped and disused road reserves between the two towns, Marjorie saw the potential, but also identified major difficulties for her plans.
The road reserves through her place zig and zag around property boundaries and are all replete with remnant vegetation. Following these reserves would have resulted in kilometres of biolinks being largely destroyed. And the trail would have wound around behind her main wetland, requiring extensive, expensive infrastructure.
The trail provides an off-road link between South Gippsland’s two fast-growing towns.
There would also have been difficulties in managing stock and in maintaining privacy for the hundreds of waterbirds breeding within the large wetland.
“My brother-in-law Joe Donohue had walked the property and studied issues around the existing vegetated road reserves. He came up with the idea of moving away from the vegetated road reserves and for me to offer my north boundary for the trail,” Marjorie says.
The suggestion seemed so obvious. It meant the disused road reserves would be retained as biolinks, the trail would run through a new biolink and she realised she could set aside 14 hectares abutting the trail for revegetation.
By giving away an 1890 metre by 10 metre wide strip of her land (now named the Wreck Creek Conservation Reserve) the trail was shortened by over a kilometre, and there was no loss of remnant vegetation.
The revamp reduced the cost of the trail by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and advanced a major passion project that she has nursed for the past 50 years.
“A major motivation for me in supporting this project has been the lace monitor,” Marjorie says.
“I’ve known about them for the past 50 years. I’ve seen them occasionally all the way from Boudary road (near Wonthaggi) to Toorak road (near Inverloch).
“I saw one small one, about a metre long, in June, which means they are still breeding. They are huge prehistoric-looking things, growing up to 2.5 metres long.
“But their remnant vegetation has been shrinking and their problems include foxes. I have seen a fox climb a tree to get at lace monitor eggs.”
With an ongoing fox control program, and now the promise of enhanced habitat restoration she hopes the future of the lace monitor, or goanna as it is commonly called, will be secured.
And then there are the wedge-tailed eagles which nest in hers and the neighboring RACV resort bushland. They also are struggling to survive as their bushland remnants are progressively destroyed.
With the route locked in, the revegetation had to be planned for. Several organisations were quick to come on board with plants, labour and planning.
The Bass Coast Landcare Network started a project dubbed Places for Laces. Bass Coast Shire’s biolinks project has been planting thousands of indigenous trees and shrubs alongside the track and Greening Australia has been engaged in direct seeding and growing plants.
The Wonthaggi Seedbank and the Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group have also provided plants and are driving the next phase of the revegetation program.
“My brother-in-law Joe Donohue had walked the property and studied issues around the existing vegetated road reserves. He came up with the idea of moving away from the vegetated road reserves and for me to offer my north boundary for the trail,” Marjorie says.
The suggestion seemed so obvious. It meant the disused road reserves would be retained as biolinks, the trail would run through a new biolink and she realised she could set aside 14 hectares abutting the trail for revegetation.
By giving away an 1890 metre by 10 metre wide strip of her land (now named the Wreck Creek Conservation Reserve) the trail was shortened by over a kilometre, and there was no loss of remnant vegetation.
The revamp reduced the cost of the trail by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and advanced a major passion project that she has nursed for the past 50 years.
“A major motivation for me in supporting this project has been the lace monitor,” Marjorie says.
“I’ve known about them for the past 50 years. I’ve seen them occasionally all the way from Boudary road (near Wonthaggi) to Toorak road (near Inverloch).
“I saw one small one, about a metre long, in June, which means they are still breeding. They are huge prehistoric-looking things, growing up to 2.5 metres long.
“But their remnant vegetation has been shrinking and their problems include foxes. I have seen a fox climb a tree to get at lace monitor eggs.”
With an ongoing fox control program, and now the promise of enhanced habitat restoration she hopes the future of the lace monitor, or goanna as it is commonly called, will be secured.
And then there are the wedge-tailed eagles which nest in hers and the neighboring RACV resort bushland. They also are struggling to survive as their bushland remnants are progressively destroyed.
With the route locked in, the revegetation had to be planned for. Several organisations were quick to come on board with plants, labour and planning.
The Bass Coast Landcare Network started a project dubbed Places for Laces. Bass Coast Shire’s biolinks project has been planting thousands of indigenous trees and shrubs alongside the track and Greening Australia has been engaged in direct seeding and growing plants.
The Wonthaggi Seedbank and the Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group have also provided plants and are driving the next phase of the revegetation program.
Marjorie Scott (right) with Christine Rankine and Gary Hayward at the official opening of the trail.
The official opening of the new Inverloch to Wonthaggi path was held on Marjorie’s property midway between the two towns.
On a cold, rainy morning, hundreds of cyclists, including Inverloch and Wonthaggi schoolkids, pedalled to the western entrance of the Wreck Creek Conservation Reserve for hot food and drinks and an enlivening indigenous welcome to country and smoking ceremony.
Marjorie has since been presented with the Bass Coast Shire Community Award for the environment and sustainability.
The trail has been receiving near universal praise for providing an off-road link between South Gippsland’s two fast-growing towns, and revegetation is progressing along its 17-kilometre length, with much energy along the trail and wetlands of the Wreck Creek Conservation Reserve.
On a cold, rainy morning, hundreds of cyclists, including Inverloch and Wonthaggi schoolkids, pedalled to the western entrance of the Wreck Creek Conservation Reserve for hot food and drinks and an enlivening indigenous welcome to country and smoking ceremony.
Marjorie has since been presented with the Bass Coast Shire Community Award for the environment and sustainability.
The trail has been receiving near universal praise for providing an off-road link between South Gippsland’s two fast-growing towns, and revegetation is progressing along its 17-kilometre length, with much energy along the trail and wetlands of the Wreck Creek Conservation Reserve.
Volunteers plant around the wetland on a recent cold, wet morning.
The world owes Marjorie Scott a big thank you 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻
And Joe Donahue for his input into the realisation of this trail .
More has to be done to help the sustainability of the planet .
Go,go you good people !👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻🫶🫶
Look what creative thinking and generosity of spirit can do.
May the lace monitors thrive, along with all the other life-forms who will enjoy the habitats you have created or protected. What a wonderful legacy.
What a wonderful human 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼
Bruce Phillips