• Vice President's Report
• Our next walk

• Other items of interest
• Out and about

Good news!

Towards the end of last year, we became aware of the need to amend the permit that was granted by Whitehorse City Council in 2000 to have a community nursery on our current site. After months of consultation with Council, committee and volunteers Council determined that other than a couple of requirements, a permit was no longer necessary. Opening hours for sales will be 9 am until 1 pm on both Wednesdays and Fridays. Occasional Saturdays, such as Sale Days are permitted. You may have heard a collective sigh of relief when notification of this decision was received.

Work on a manageable structure of our organisation is ongoing. With about 90 tasks identified for the running of the nursery, the next stage will be to consolidate these tasks.

Defining OH&S and membership responsibilities are nearly complete. The nursery coordinator will not be as easy but thanks to many willing volunteers, responsibility for many of the day to day tasks are being taken on in an informal way. A real learning process for all. A bucket of cuttings is quickly prepared, correctly catalogued and labels prepared before being happily placed in the igloo. Production of plants is our core reason for being!

The laptop is constantly being updated. The ongoing easy availability of information is vital for the future; those following on from our current volunteers.

The City of Whitehorse Spring Festival on Sunday 21st October was again supported jointly by Bungalook and Greenlink community nurseries. Crowds surrounded the tent, many wanting one of the 1,000 free plants, but many were also seeking information about indigenous plants; what and where to plant in their garden. This perceived interest is heartening.

The end of the year is fast approaching. Along with so much of Australia we in Whitehorse are experiencing a very dry season – maybe not drought conditions, but difficult never the same.

On Saturday 27th October I joined a group of enthusiasts on a wild flower walk through Yarran Dheran. Our great concern was the lack of seed being produced which means that some species may not be available this coming season. No seed, no production.

Thanks to Yarran Dheran Advisory Committee for arranging this and a huge range of talks and walks through Yarran Dheran as does the Blackburn Lake Sanctuary Advisory Committee. If only we had time to go to these and the many other activities that are arranged within our city and beyond.

With the hotter weather coming, shades are being erected and the watering system being monitored. As mentioned above, cuttings are being constantly prepared. Seed continues to be sown and tiny seedlings tubed up and nurtured.

The garden around the nursery is flourishing. It is so good to take a prospective customer to find a plant in situ. We can describe a plant or show as many pictures as we like, but a growing specimen is so much better.

And last but not least . . .

Production August 2,138, September 1,636, and October 3,525.
Total Volunteers hours::: 1,079.55
Total production::: 7,299 plants plus 169 for Knox Environment Society (seed provided) Total 7468

While many go on holidays at this time of the year, it is a very busy time for our permit holders in particular – out collecting seed and cuttings. Production at the nursery continues during December and January. We'd love to see you come along.

Enjoy the festive season and keep safe.

Margaret Witherspoon
Secretary/ Nursery Coordinator
6 December 2018

We are setting up a team to consider where the Bungalook nursery could be, what it might be doing, what it will look like in ten years time and how we will get there. For those members and others who share this interest in our future and can give us a bit of time, we are very keen for you to join our small group. Your insights and wisdom would be really valued as we go through the process. Please contact us by email wcipp@yahoo.com.au or talk to Mark Anderson or Anne Payne.

Sanctuary and Land for Wildlife

Blackburn Lake Sanctuary is one of the few significant remaining natural bushland reserves in Melbourne and one of the best-known bushland parks in the City of Whitehorse. With its high-quality indigenous bushland, lake and wetlands, extensive walking-tracks and informative Visitor Centre, Blackburn Lake Sanctuary is a living reference to the natural and cultural history of the district.

Schools and the general community enjoy excellent learning opportunities through the Sanctuary's well-respected Environment Education Program.

Greenlink kindly played host to four members from Bungalook at a special Grass Identification workshop presented by Graeme Lorimer on 11 November, 2018.
The workshop concentrated on identification of the local members of Poaceae (grasses), both indigenous and introduced, with some tips on how to distinguish Poaceae from Cyperaceae (sedges) and Juncaceae (rushes).
Graeme used the parkland adjoining Greenlink to introduce us to the terminology used in the taxonomy of grasses, starting with Bromus catharticus , the introduced Prairie Grass. Bromus was a great starter because we could actually see the anatomical details.
We learned to look for the most useful characters of a specimen, for example: runners vs radiating stems (tufted grasses), branched or unbranched stems, the presence or absence of a ligule at the junction of the grass blade and stem, the characteristics of the ligule, the parts of the seed-bearing spikelets, the presence of one or more awns (and whether these were coiled like a ribbon or twisted like a barber's pole), and the size, shape and feel of the leaves, stem and sheath. The last three are dependent on the environmental conditions.
Our over-taxed brains were fed by delicious scones for morning tea (made by Robert) and sandwiches for lunch. It was a thoroughly enjoyable but exhausting day. Thanks to Graeme Lorimer for sharing his expertise and to Greenlink for hosting the workshop.
Anne Warren

Latrobe University has within its grounds 30 hectares of bushland in its care, including a large fenced area, an indigenous plant nursery and an impressive wetland with a number of frog species. Being in an area of grasslands and red gum woodlands the plants vary from our eastern suburbs. No ground flora exists in the fenced Sanctuary as the kangaroos living there eat them all!

Recently four members of Bungalook visited the nursery and spent a very valuable time with Scott the nursery co-ordinator, and Michael, the manager. Their knowledge was impressive, and we appreciated their enthusiasm to generously share hints for plant production. We learned a lot. The promised half-hour turned into an hour and a half. Their collections range from dry local areas to the wet Toolangi hills and they have many parks and reserves to draw on and to supply plants to. The nursery is staffed by its volunteers and students from the university environment courses.

In Spring next year, they are happy to have a bigger group from Bungalook to visit and we four look forward to returning to this interesting nursery and to exploring the sanctuary further.

The nursery is open for sales to the public 10am to 3pm Sunday to Friday.
Marion Siseman

Over one hundred and fifty people attended the 30th anniversary of Wurundjeri Walk, a 20-hectare bushland park in Blackburn South, on a beautiful sunny day in November 2018.

An official welcome by Central Ward Councillor Denise Massoud.
A special presentation by Marianne Woodford to David Sykes, the recently-retired and long-serving Chairman of the committee.
Cutting the big birthday cake (with icing decoration courtesy of Peter Coughlin).
Mounting a comprehensive display of historic park photos and paraphernalia.
Launching the park's 30-year history website and booklet (authored by David Berry with website creation by Sally Polack).

Launching the park's bird identification booklet authored by George Pergaminelis.
Conducting a number of guided park walks highlighting the history, flora and fauna of Wurundjeri Walk (thanks to guides Gillis Horner and David Berry).
Planting thirty indigenous plants in the 30th anniversary garden bed near the Orchard Grove play-space (cheers to supervisors Noel Hall & Bill Tucker). Plants were donated by Bungalook Nursery - thanks Margaret Witherspoon and Friends of the nursery.
A sausage sizzle, face painting, lots of catching up and plenty of chat!

The mayor and Councillors and two ex-Councillors who were very involved with the early development of the park, State members of Parliament, ParksWide Bushland Parks Coordinator, retired Wurundjeri Walk Advisory Committee members, Advisory committee members for other Whitehorse Bushland Parks and representatives from Bungalook and Greenlink Nurseries.

The Wurundjeri Walk Advisory Committee (WWAC) and Friends of the Park have planted over 50,000 indigenous plants in Wurundjeri Walk.
500+ park activities have been organised by the Committee in the thirty-year period .
Around 240 WWAC meetings have been held (averaging 8 meetings per year).
The Committee has attracted over $30,000 in external grant funding for the purchase of plants, equipment, publicity & interpretive material.

In addition to organising many park activities for the Friends of Wurundjeri Walk and the local Blackburn South community, the committee has conducted park activities with many groups and organisations including Orchard Grove Primary School, St. Luke the Evangelist Primary School, WCIPP/Bungalook Nursery volunteers, the Aurora School, the Sai Baba group,

Carter Holt Harvey staff, Mitcham Primary School, local Scouts and Guide/Brownie groups, Burnley Horticultural College students, members of the Association for the Blind, Greening Australia Green Taskforce trainees, Skillshare students from Footscray and Nunawading, the Nunawading Impact Club and the Association for Severely Handicapped and Family Relief Hostel.

Adapted from report by David Berry - Photos: courtesy Louise Barrett

The HFR corridor has been saved, the first tranche of 20 parcels was transferred to Crown last year and the second tranche of 9 parcels totaling 13.277 hectares has now transferred to the Crown. This brings the total land saved as open space for the community by transfer to crown to 34.9777 hectares.
This occurred in late October, but I have only found out about this now due to an oversight, better late than not.
Here is a link to the media release from Shaun Leane MP. Member for Eastern Metropolitan Region http://www.shaunleanemp.com.au/media-releases/healesville-fwy-reserve-now-protected-public-open-space/ You can get more information on the following DELWP page dedicated to the management of the reserve and community involvement in planning of the establishment of the park. This website also includes up to date maps of the land involved for the reserve.
https://engage.vic.gov.au/healesville-freeway-reserve
For those interested in a more detailed map, here is a link to LASSI , zoom into the area, parcels that are crown land are denoted with a C.
https://maps.land.vic.gov.au/lassi/LassiUI.jsp
It has been a long and at times hard fought campaign and I am so glad we got there in the end.
There are so many to acknowledge and thank –
Shaun Leane, without his support, advocacy and tireless efforts to get the commitment from Government and then follow through on it, this would not have happened.
The Friends of the HFR, though we are a small group of people, everyone worked hard, with passion, dedication and perseverance.
The Community, who clearly and unequivocally gave us direction by voting so overwhelmingly to keep the corridor as open space. Whenever we had public events the community supported us by coming out in large numbers.
Schools, community groups all supported us generously.
This has truly been a community campaign and will be for the benefit of the community long into the future.
Thank you to all who have played a part to make this happen.
The design and roll out of the park is the next step and we hope to see the same enthusiastic attendance at working bees and planting days to make our dream a reality.
Map of Healesville Freeway Reserve from Springvale Road to Boronia Road. The Healesville Freeway Reserve is made up of 35 hectares of undeveloped VicRoads land running for 3.5 kilometres from Springvale Road in Forest Hill to Boronia Road in Vermont.

Healesville Freeway Reserve

Eucalyptus obliqua

Adapted from a snippet submitted by Amanda Simpson

Stringybark was the first eucalyptus described by Europeans, naming the whole species.
This gorgeous, iconic tree will hopefully survive climate change as you couldn't kill it with a pickaxe
(but please don't try).

Season's Greetings to all our friends of Bungalook.