Bass Coast Post - Field Notes by Terri Allen

Friends honour the 'two Bills'

5/3/2020

Bill Slade’s daughter Steph at the “Two Bills” seat at the Rifle Range Wetlands.

By Terri Allen

TWO friends of the Wonthaggi Rifle Range Wetlands, recently departed, will be remembered by us all.

Bill Berry, adjoining farmer, was part of the team which revegetated the Rifle Range in 2005. Bill Slade, park ranger, helped with the project and monitored the area over the years.

Together they moved out cattle which had escaped into the area through kangaroo-damaged fences. Their last meeting was on such a venture.

Today they have plaques on a seat overlooking the site.

Vale the Bills.

A force of nature

6/2/2020

Eulalie Brewster photographed at Wilsons Promontory soon after the disastrous fires of 2005. Eulie was part of a volunteer team that monitored the recovery of the vegetation.

By Terri Allen

AT LAST the achievements of Inverloch’s living treasure Eulalie (Eulie) Brewster have been recognised, with the award of a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day honours.

EuIalie turns 94 in August, but her inquiring mind, ability to connect with all age groups, extensive reading, quick grasp of situations, willingness to tackle any job, outward-looking nature and encyclopaedic memory make her a living treasure.

She is an asset to the conservation movement, an example to all who meet her.

I knew Eulie’s friend Ellen Linden first. They used to go bush walking together. Ellen said to me, “When I’m gone, you’ll have to go to Eulie at Inverloch.” So I always say Eulie was bequeathed to me. She’s been a great source of knowledge and a wonderful friend.

‘A gentle man who earned respect’

24/1/2020

Wonthaggi Parks Victoria ranger Bill Slade died while fighting fires in East Gippsland.

By Terri Allen

BILL Slade, who died tragically while fighting fires in the Omeo region on January 11, was a kind personable man, extremely proud of his family, considerate of the public and a hard working Parks Victoria ranger in the Wonthaggi depot.

He had worked for Parks Victoria for 40 years, so knew our area intimately, from fox baiting on Phillip Island, manning controlled burns in our parks and reserves, monitoring our coastline and working on the George Bass Walk from Punchbowl to Kilcunda.

The lake that vanished

14/11/2019

Allen family barbecue, Lake Lister, c. 1956. From left, Glenda (a family friend), Leonie, Peter and Graeme.

Lake Lister was a magical place - until the day two miners decided to deepen it with a few sticks of gelignite.

By Terri Allen

LAKE Lister has always been a magnet, drawing foragers, adventurers and naturalists. A large freshwater lagoon, spring-fed, it nestles between the coastal dunes and cleared farmland (once paperbark flats and heathy undulations) west of Wonthaggi on private land.

The allure of the back lane

1/8/2018

Photo: Leonie Smith

By Terri Allen

THE older settled areas of Wonthaggi have a veritable treasure trove, a maze of back lanes. These narrow lanes flanking our back yards hold a wealth of stories, beckon us to explore.

A purler of a day

14/6/2018

Terri Allen gives thanks for a perfect winter’s day at the Mouth of the Powlett.

Backyard critters

2/2/2018

Black-headed Bull-Ant (Myrmecia nigriceps) Photo: patrickkavanagh

Terri Allen finds the hood can be a dangerous place.

The Hovell tree

2/2/2018

The original Hovell Tree in Albury

A young eucalypt at the State Coal Mine commemorates the first European explorer to venture overland to the Wonthaggi plains. Terri Allen reports.

Wet wonderland

14/11/2017

In 2005, it was a paddock with a single tree. Now the Wonthaggi Rifle Range wetlands is home to an amazing variety of wildlife.

Alien orchid on the march

19/11/2016

Disa bracteata. Photo: Leonie Smith

Disa bracteata. Photo: Leonie Smith

By Terri Allen

Disa bracteata, formerly Monadenia bracteata, was found in January 2005 on regenerating heathland abutting the coastal reserve at the Wonthaggi Heathland.

The weed-orchid from South Africa was first found in Albany, WA in 1944, thought to be brought in sacking covering goods at the port. It spread northwards to Geraldton, eastwards to Esperance and to the edge of the wheat belt. It is now naturalised in WA, SA and Victoria.

Paperbark town

5/11/2016

By Terri Allen

WONTHAGGI was once a vast paperbark swamp interspersed with sheets of water and sand hills vegetated with heaths and eucalypts. Paperbark impeded the Bunurong tribe, early European explorers, run-holders, miners and, later, the residents of the town.

In the steps of our forebears

24/9/2016

Planting of the Wonthaggi Rifle Range wetlands just over 10 years ago was a massive community effort.

Out of the ashes

27/8/2016

By Catherine Watson

A SURVEY of the Tank Hill Conservation Reserve nine months after fire swept through much of it reveals some rich and unexpected botanical treasures.

How sweet it is

30/7/2016

Sweet bursaria. Photo: Chris Lindorff

By Terri Allen

THE summer sound of jingling in the bush heralds seed time for bursaria. Bursaria spinosa, an attractive drak green shrub to eight-metre tree, goes by a variety of names: sweet bursaria, blackthorn, native box, kurwan, Tupy or Christmas tree (the Tasmanian name as it flowers profusely on dry rocky hills at Christmas time).

Back of beyond

2/7/2016

With the quarter-acre block a threatened species, Terri Allen celebrates the big backyard of her childhood.

Scenic short cut

9/4/2016

By Terri Allen

A TREASURE on the western edge of Wonthaggi, the Campbell Street bush is tucked between Campbell Street and West Area Road from Brown Street to Chisholm Road.

The yellow peril

12/3/2016

Montpellier broom infests a large part of the Five Brace site. Photo: Nature Share

By Terri Allen

ONCE cottage gardeners espoused a yellow-flowered shrub as a hedge plant or garden specimen; this shrub Montpellier broom, Genista monspessulana, originated in Europe.

A green miracle

30/1/2016

Terri Allen charts the changing landscape in Tank Hill in the weeks since the reserve was ravaged by fire.

The barbarian of the bush

31/10/2015

Terri Allen confesses to a love-hate relationship with coast teatree.

A friend of the family

22/8/2015

TERRI ALLEN pays tribute to a majestic messmate that has been part of her life for as long as she can remember.

Caring for country

13/6/2015

The resident black-shouldered kites have shown great interest in the work. Photo: Geoff Glare

The resident black-shouldered kites have shown great interest in the work. Photo: Geoff Glare

Volunteers transforming a cleared coastal paddock near Wonthaggi enjoyed the company of their fellow planters and the local wildlife.

Marcia Brown, 1942-2015

16/5/2015

By Terri Allen

CLAD in black gumboots, windbreaker and woolly hat, the sturdy figure of Marcia Brown braved all weathers to botanise, birdwatch, seed collect, monitor burn sites and plant trees. This was the woman we met in the field.

The seed of an idea

9/5/2015

The Wonthaggi Seed Bank started with a few local farmers planting shelter belts. Today it's helping to revegetate hundreds of hectares of public land.

The hill that disappeared

14/4/2015

An aerial shot of Tank Hill after the hill had been quarried for sand.

An aerial shot of Tank Hill after the hill had been quarried for sand.

By Terri Allen

IN SOUTH Wonthaggi, the tallest sand ridge on Reed Crescent proved its worth in the town's infancy by providing good clean spring water and thus became known as Tank Hill.

Before the Lance Creek Reservoir, these springs filled a watercart which toured the streets supplying householders. A windmill on top of Tank Hill pumped water from a spring on the south side of the hill to a tank from which ran a pipe down Matthew Street. There was a tap at each intersection – it would take a long time to fill a billy on hot days.

December 13th, 2014

13/12/2014

Walking Wonthaggi’s Wetlands by Terri Gitsham Allen, Friends of Wonthaggi Heathland and Coastal Reserve Inc, 2014, $10 [proceeds from the sale of this book will go back into the environment].