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 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.
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 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.
 In 2005, it was a paddock with a single tree. Now the Wonthaggi Rifle Range wetlands is home to an amazing variety of wildlife.
 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.  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.  Planting of the Wonthaggi Rifle Range wetlands just over 10 years ago was a massive community effort.
 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.  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).  With the quarter-acre block a threatened species, Terri Allen celebrates the big backyard of her childhood.
 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.  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.  Terri Allen charts the changing landscape in Tank Hill in the weeks since the reserve was ravaged by fire.
 TERRI ALLEN pays tribute to a majestic messmate that has been part of her life for as long as she can remember.
 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.
 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 Wonthaggi Seed Bank started with a few local farmers planting shelter belts. Today it's helping to revegetate hundreds of hectares of public land.
 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.  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].
By Terri Allen
IF YOU fancy local plants in your garden, vegetation suited to your soil and climate, look around, inquire, and see if you can add some of these plants to your garden.  Photo: Michal Rubeš By Terri Allen
WINTER is enlivened by the appearance on damp sandy soils of sundews (droseras), which in spring put forth minute white or pink blooms, becoming dormant in late summer. These small carnivorous perennials usually grow in nitrogen-deficient soil, so need to lure insects to supplement their diet.  We’re lucky to have five local banksia species, lighting up the bush with their candle-like blooms and providing food for birds, insects and mammals.
Wattle seed icecream, anyone? Bracken ointment? A cumbungi bag? Terri Allen lists some locally indigenous plants useful for food, fibre and medicine.
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Field notes by Terri AllenGippsland born and bred, Terri Allen is a member of the Victorian Field Naturalists Club, the South Gippsland Conservation Society, Birds Australia and the Friends of Wonthaggi Heathlands. She is the author of Gippsland Lady Botanists (South Gippsland Conservation Society, 2007). Archives
August 2018
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