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.

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.​

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!

By Dallas Wyatt

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

​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.

By Kate Anderson
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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.

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.

By Catherine Watson
 
ONE evening a couple of weeks ago my naturalist friends Dave and Jackie Newman headed to Phillip Island to see if they could spot some Eastern Barred Bandicoots in the wild. They’d been told a couple of quiet spots where they might see them, but had no luck.
 
They tried a few other places before striking the bonanza in a most unexpected spot: central Newhaven. In less than an hour, they spotted six bandicoots running around in people’s front yards. As Dave said, “Unbelievable!”