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.
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.
Many of Eulie’s interests have been life-long. Her mother taught at Bairnsdale, the cradle of the nature-study-in-schools movement, where John Leech had taught from 1892 to 1898. In 1918 she joined the Victorian Field Naturalists’ Club so Eulie went on excursions from birth and much later used Leech’s ideas in her own teaching.
Through illustrated talks on local and natural history, Eulie and her husband Os informed, entertained and educated diverse groups, ranging from field naturalists and tourists to school groups and the elderly.
She joined the VFNC in 1944, becoming an honorary member in 1984. She has led Gippsland excursions, joined interstate expeditions and written articles for the Victorian Naturalist.
She became a foundation member of the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists’ Club in 1960, initiating the move to conserve Fosters Gully, now Morwell National Park.
As a foundation member of the South Gippsland Conservation Society (SGCS), Eulalie helped to conserve our special part of Gippsland, including the Bunurong Coast, Screw Creek, Bald Hills, the Thompson Estate in lnverloch, Wonthaggi Heathland and the Tarwin Lower reserves.
She has walked all these reserves, researched and promoted their history, weeded and replanted them. She has been the resident botanist and historian for lnverloch, answering all queries from tourists/visitors to the Bunurong Centre. She was the lnverloch branch leader for three years, being awarded life membership in 1989.
For twenty years Eulalie aided Dr Clive Minton and the Victorian Wader Study Group by doing reconnaissance monitoring prior to banding weekends. She has been a life-long bird watcher, even today meticulously recording every bird seen in her garden daily. She belongs to Birds Australia and Bass Coast Birdlife, over the years leading birdwalks and helping to monitor populations of orange-bellied parrots and hooded plovers around Andersons Inlet.
Eulalie was part of a group that visited every park and reserve in Bass Coast and South Gippsland shires, monitoring and recording flora and fauna. The material was used in the book Coast and Bush Walks by Terri Allen, Mary Ellis and Jennifer Watts, published by SGCS in 2010. Eulalie used her extensive knowledge of over sixty years in these shires, leading the walks in these reserves.
The Wonthaggi Seedbank seed collectors have benefited from Eulalie's knowledge and skills when she has been able to join us on our weekly collecting over the past twelve years.
A group called Prom'n'aides (derived from SGCS, FOWH and LVFNC) was formed after the disastrous bushfire at Wilsons Promontory in 2005. Eulalie was one of the initial team, spending a day a month at the Prom (and, later, Cape Liptrap Coastal Park and Wonthaggi Heathland) monitoring pre and post fire vegetation. This was to assess vital attributes in the burnt zone and to monitor recovery in Coastal Banksia Woodland and Coastal Dune Scrub Mosaic vegetation.
The going was tough and dirty, weather conditions often bad, but Eulalie was a valuable team member, always reliable and meticulous in her measurement and observations.
Eulalie was patron and founding member of the lnverloch Historical Society. Until recently she led historical walks around Inverloch for visitors every summer. She still houses much of the stock (books, papers, artefacts) in her home as the society is without a building.
She is the come-to person for anyone wanting information on lnverloch and district. She has written four books on lnverloch history and is a ready and willing speaker. Recent events include the unveiling of a storyboard at the Tarwin Lower Cemetery (she contributed information for this) and the local branch of the National Trust bus tour of the Bunurong area where she addressed the group on the early history of lnverloch.
Through illustrated talks on local and natural history, Eulie and her husband Os informed, entertained and educated diverse groups, ranging from field naturalists and tourists to school groups and the elderly.
She joined the VFNC in 1944, becoming an honorary member in 1984. She has led Gippsland excursions, joined interstate expeditions and written articles for the Victorian Naturalist.
She became a foundation member of the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists’ Club in 1960, initiating the move to conserve Fosters Gully, now Morwell National Park.
As a foundation member of the South Gippsland Conservation Society (SGCS), Eulalie helped to conserve our special part of Gippsland, including the Bunurong Coast, Screw Creek, Bald Hills, the Thompson Estate in lnverloch, Wonthaggi Heathland and the Tarwin Lower reserves.
She has walked all these reserves, researched and promoted their history, weeded and replanted them. She has been the resident botanist and historian for lnverloch, answering all queries from tourists/visitors to the Bunurong Centre. She was the lnverloch branch leader for three years, being awarded life membership in 1989.
For twenty years Eulalie aided Dr Clive Minton and the Victorian Wader Study Group by doing reconnaissance monitoring prior to banding weekends. She has been a life-long bird watcher, even today meticulously recording every bird seen in her garden daily. She belongs to Birds Australia and Bass Coast Birdlife, over the years leading birdwalks and helping to monitor populations of orange-bellied parrots and hooded plovers around Andersons Inlet.
Eulalie was part of a group that visited every park and reserve in Bass Coast and South Gippsland shires, monitoring and recording flora and fauna. The material was used in the book Coast and Bush Walks by Terri Allen, Mary Ellis and Jennifer Watts, published by SGCS in 2010. Eulalie used her extensive knowledge of over sixty years in these shires, leading the walks in these reserves.
The Wonthaggi Seedbank seed collectors have benefited from Eulalie's knowledge and skills when she has been able to join us on our weekly collecting over the past twelve years.
A group called Prom'n'aides (derived from SGCS, FOWH and LVFNC) was formed after the disastrous bushfire at Wilsons Promontory in 2005. Eulalie was one of the initial team, spending a day a month at the Prom (and, later, Cape Liptrap Coastal Park and Wonthaggi Heathland) monitoring pre and post fire vegetation. This was to assess vital attributes in the burnt zone and to monitor recovery in Coastal Banksia Woodland and Coastal Dune Scrub Mosaic vegetation.
The going was tough and dirty, weather conditions often bad, but Eulalie was a valuable team member, always reliable and meticulous in her measurement and observations.
Eulalie was patron and founding member of the lnverloch Historical Society. Until recently she led historical walks around Inverloch for visitors every summer. She still houses much of the stock (books, papers, artefacts) in her home as the society is without a building.
She is the come-to person for anyone wanting information on lnverloch and district. She has written four books on lnverloch history and is a ready and willing speaker. Recent events include the unveiling of a storyboard at the Tarwin Lower Cemetery (she contributed information for this) and the local branch of the National Trust bus tour of the Bunurong area where she addressed the group on the early history of lnverloch.