banksia bulletin autumn 2008

banksiaissue number 030 - autumn 2008

bulletin

Friends of Bayside 2008 contact list

Friends of Balcombe Park Coordinator: Mrs Joan Couzoff26 Balcombe Park Lane, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 1060

Friends of Bay Road ReserveCoordinator: Michael Norris (Abbott Ward Councillor)5 Deakin Street, Hampton 3188Phone: (03) 9521 0804

BRASCACoordinator: Mrs Janet Ablitt4A Fairleigh Avenue, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 6646

Friends of Brighton DunesCoordinators: Mrs Elizabeth McQuire34 Normanby Street, Brighton 3186Phone: (03) 9592 6474andMs Jenny Talbot71 Champion Street, Brighton 3186Phone: (03) 9592 2109

Friends of Cheltenham ParkCoordinator: Mrs Valerie Tyers65 The Corso, Parkdale 3194Phone: (03) 9588 0107

Cheltenham Primary School SanctuaryCoordinator: Mr John WaughPO Box 289, Cheltenham 3192Phone: (03) 9583 1614

Friends of Donald MacDonald ReserveCoordinators: Mrs Alison and Mr Bill Johnston4 Wellington Avenue, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 5459

Friends of George Street ReserveCoordinator: Dr Val Tarrant47 Bayview Crescent, Black Rock 3193Phone: (03) 9598 0554

Friends of Long Hollow Heathland/Friends of Table RockCoordinator: Mr Ken Rendell33 Clonmore Street, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 4452

Friends of Gramatan Avenue Heathland SanctuaryCoordinator: Mr Ken Rendell

Friends of Merindah Park and the Urban ForestCoordinator: David Cockburn72 Spring Street, Sandringham 3191Phone: (03) 9598 6148

Friends of Native WildlifeCoordinator: Michael Norris (Abbott Ward Councillor)5 Deakin Street, Hampton 3188Phone: (03) 9521 0804

Friends of Ricketts Point LandsideCoordinator: Mrs Sue Raverty5 Rosemary Road, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 2103

Friends of Watkins BayCoordinator: Mrs Moira Longden73 Dalgetty Road, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 2725

Marine Care Inc. Ricketts PointConvenor Phil Stuart104 Dalgetty Rd, Beaumaris 3193Phone: (03) 9589 3053

St. Leonards College Conservation GroupCoordinator: Ms Joanne Burke163 South Road, Brighton East 3187Phone: (03) 9592 2266

AcknowledgementsThank you to all the people who have contributed to this issue of Banksia Bulletin. The editors encourage people to submit articles, however Bayside City Council reserves the right to edit or omit articles. Artwork, illustrations and photographs can also be submitted to feature in the publication.

DisclaimerThe views expressed in the Banksia Bulletin are not necessarily those of Bayside City Council or its representatives.

EditorsAmy Weir, Andrea Davies and Cr Terry O’Brien

Copy deadlines 2008Copy deadlines are set for the first Friday of the month of release:Winter 2008 Friday 20 June 2008 for release mid JulySpring 2008 Friday 5 Sept 2008 for release end September

Banksia Bulletin is published quarterly by Bayside City Council to service people interested in enjoying and protecting the local environment. Corporate CentrePO Box 27 Royal AvenueSANDRINGHAM VIC 3191Telephone: 9599 [email protected] of business 8.30am – 5pmMonday – Friday (except public holidays)

Printed on 100% recycled paper.

Cover photograph: Musk Lorikeet in red flowering gum in Linacre Road, Hamptonby Jane Darling, Bayside Resident

banksia bulletin - autumn 20082

Early autumn brought with it some much-needed rains to our parks, gardens and bushlands and the colour green is beginning to creep back into many lawns. We are almost ready to begin our planting season and I know many of our Friends’ groups will be braving the cooler weather in the coming months to revegetate many of our bushland and foreshore areas during their regular working bees. Keep an eye out in the Bayside Leader for upcoming community planting days in early winter.

We hope for further rain to assist heathland regeneration after the controlled burn at Balcombe Park in early April. The burn site will be eagerly monitored over the coming months to see what surprises come up and we are confident of getting some really good regeneration of indigenous heathland species.

Another interesting issue that has recently been presented to Council is the Draft Animal Management Plan. The draft plan, which was adopted by Council on 29 April, includes a proposal for Council to agree to consider compulsory cat desexing. This is to address the issue of rising numbers of abandoned cats in local shelters. The Cat Protection Society says about 53,000 cats are received by cat shelters in Victoria each year and of those, about 36,000 are destroyed. Compulsory desexing may assist in reducing these numbers and also have the flow on effect of reducing cat predation on our native bird fauna.

We have some wonderful photographs in this edition of seals in Beaumaris and parrots in red flowering gums in Linacre Road in Hampton, taken by people out and about in Bayside. It is great to see local residents taking an interest in our native fauna and I encourage all readers to submit contributions to the Banksia Bulletin, whether they are drawings, photographs, articles or poems, as I think this is one of the best ways to showcase our magnificent Bayside environment.

Cr Andrew McLorinanMayor

In this ISSUEFriends of Brighton Dunes 4 Jenny Talbot

Most popular wildlife emergency number to close 5 Wildlife Victoria Inc.

2008 controlled ecological burn at Balcombe Park Jo Hurse 6 - 7

Bayside Community Nursery 2007 – 2008 Propagation Season. 8 - 9 Carmen Skrobonja

Tree Valuation – how much are your trees worth? 10 - 11 David Williams

Trading away our wilderness illusion 12 Brenn Barcan

From the newest member of the Bushland Crew 13 Daniel Tobin

Seals at Beaumaris 14 - 15

Who are you really feeding? 16 Amy Weir

Possum rivalry at Brighton 17 Brenn Barcan

Working Bee Dates 19

From the Mayor

banksia bulletin - autumn 2008 3

Friends of Brighton Dunes

Everywhere trees and shrubs,

even indigenous ones, are

stressed and often dying. Our

average rainfall in Victoria,

and all southern Australia, has

gone down and our average

temperature gone up. Climate

change is hitting us hard.

Through the last six months we

have carried water bottles in to

the plants we put in last planting

season and some of the older

ones, and Mark Rasmussen and our

excellent Citywide bush crew, have

bought in the water tank when

possible. Most of the plants put in

last planting season will die without

proper follow-up (watering) over

the next several summers.

Many people say plants in bush

reserves should not be watered, but

we are now caught in a situation

where so many plants, indigenous

or otherwise, cannot keep pace

with the rate of change.

Water is life.

Our average temperature in

Victoria has risen by 1.5 degrees

since 1990. This is a colossal

change. For the north of Australia

the rise is less, but still enough

to precipitate more storms and

flooding. A few weeks ago Mackay

had 625mm of rain in 24 hours,

more rain than Melbourne gets in

a year. It is thought that most of the

coral of the barrier reef, one of the

wonders of the planet earth, will

die if there is a two degree rise in

average temperatures.

Last summer a clump of six or

eight tea trees Leptospermum

laevigatum died in one area of

our reserve. This summer another

clump had died. The heat

and the dry have gone on too

long. Many of the coast wattles

Acacia sophorae have died. The

magnificent 120-year old bursaria

Bursaria spinlosa var. macrophylla

is nearly dead. The boobiallas

Myoporum insulare are stressed.

Surprisingly, the sea-berry salt-bush

Rhagodia candolleana is coping

well with the drought.

It is counterproductive to let trees

and shrubs die if it is possible to

give them water, because the

more trees die in Melbourne the

more rain repelling our climate will

be. The smog that envelops our

city interferes with the formation

of rain droplets. The more plants

we have the cleaner the air.

Our area and other urban bush

areas are a very important part

of the Australian heritage, as

important as historical buildings.

Not only do they help with air

quality, through them modern

city people get a glimpse of what

the environment was a mere 200

years ago.

Incredibly, rare species are

sometimes found – only last

year two botanists found Actites

megalocarpa on Dendy Street

beach.

This summer, special thanks must

go to Kevin Gurry, who never

misses a working bee. The work is

hard, but our rewards are great.

We make a difference.

Jenny Talbot

Co-Convenor – Friends of the

Brighton Dunes (Dr Jim Willis

Reserve).

The long dry continues, even though it is now officially autumn.


Most popular wildlife emergency number has changed

Victoria’s most frequently called

emergency wildlife telephone

service has changed its number.

The impact on Victoria’s wildlife is

yet to be assessed.

“While we are concerned that

it might take a while for people

to get to know our new number,

we are concentrating on the

positives,” says Wildlife Victoria’s

Executive Officer, Sandy Fernee.

“To ensure our vital emergency

service is not put in jeopardy,

we’re conducting a strategic

communications campaign to our

500 members, rural and regional

media, veterinary surgeries,

essential services like the police

and CFA, and local community

groups with a new poster, stickers,

media statements, an updated

website and information packs.”

Wildlife Victoria is the State’s largest non-profit organisation rescuing, rehabilitation and caring for Victoria’s injured native and orphaned wildlife.Operating since 1989, Wildlife

Victoria has a team of more

than 500 volunteers who care for

and rescue injured animals and

who operate Wildlife Victoria’s

emergency telephone service

that takes more than 20,000 calls

per year.

The previous number has

changed.

The new telephone number to ring for injured wildlife across the State is

13 000 WILDLIFE or 13 000 94535.Wildlife Victoria will rent new

telecommunications services to

support the new number. Sandy

Fernee says that while the new

system will provide improved

records and database capacity,

it will be considerably more

expensive to operate.

“But it’s not the cost that we

are most worried about, ‘ she

says. “Our greatest fear is that

animal lives may be lost in the

changeover or as people get

used to the new number.”

“The very valuable work of Wildlife

Victoria will not be compromised.

We continue to be dedicated

to the care and protection of

Australia’s native wildlife, and the

fact that we have to change our

emergency phone number won’t

effect our commitment, our drive

or our passion one little bit”.

For further information, visit the

Wildlife Victoria website at www.

wildlifevictoria.org.au

Media Release – 15 April 2008

Wildlife Victoria Inc.


2008 controlled ecological burn at Balcombe Park

Citywide Service Solutions and Bayside City Council held a controlled ecological burn on Tuesday 8 April at Balcombe Park Reserve, Beaumaris. Inclement weather did alter the burn schedule as it was originally planned for Thursday 3 April. On the day, barriers were placed across all paths

leading into the park to ensure that members of the public kept a safe distance away. A number of letter drops were undertaken for all surrounding properties and all emergency services were informed. The area of the burn is approximately 1000 metres squared plus firebreaks.


Each year, with the assistance of community groups such as the Friends of Balcombe Park, Council and Citywide conduct an ecological controlled burn in one heathland reserve to stimulate the soil stored seed. The surrounding coast tea tree is cut down and used as the primary source of fuel for the fire.

Ecological burns are known to be highly beneficial to many Australian ecosystems. This is particularly relevant to the ‘heathland’ vegetation communities such as Balcombe Park Reserve. In many cases plants from heathland vegetation communities require fire to survive. Without the natural fire regime to stimulate plant cycles these communities can senesce and die, causing a drop in plant species diversity.

The main objectives of the controlled burn are to restore areas degraded by invasion of coast tea tree back to the original vegetation communities of sandbelt or sand heath. Changes in the frequency and intensity of fire since European settlement pose one of the most serious threats to the health and preservation of our bushlands.

Strong enthusiasm and support come from within the local community for the control burn. The resulting fire is extinguished later the same day and after the autumn/winter rains; the indigenous seedlings emerge attracting the native fauna back to the area.

Jo Hurse - Bushland Team LeaderCitywide Parkcare

Site prior to burn

Site at the height of the burn

Site after the burn


Bayside Community Nursery 2007 – 2008 Propagation Season. From mid July 2007 to mid February 2008, Erika and I and our nursery volunteers were busy propagating plants. This was to ensure we had stock

ready for sale at our Gala Day

on Saturday 29 March 2008 and

ready for planting by our Bushland

and Horticulture crews in May.

Most species have germinated

well and cuttings have

successfully produced roots.

The two main propagation

methods I use in the nursery are

seed (sexual) propagation and

cutting (asexual) propagation,

with some layering and division

techniques (also asexual) used

for a few species. In our nursery,

sexual propagation is always

the favoured method of plant

production as plants grown

from seed have better genetic

diversity. Cuttings produce

identical clones of the parent

plant, which can have the effect

of reducing the gene pool of a

population or species. Only those

species that we do not yet know

how to grow from seed (and I

am always experimenting!) are

grown from cuttings. By collecting

cutting material from as many

individuals as possible within a

population (ideally at least ten

plants), and from the top, middle

and bottom sections of a plant,

the problem of genetic diversity

loss can at least be minimised.

This seasons ‘disaster’ (or

challenge!) has been a rat

getting into our igloo and digging

up seed trays a number of times

to get to the tasty Acacia,

Bossiaea, Atriplex, Rhagodia

and Dianella seeds. The other

challenge was the severe storm

that came through just before

Christmas. We lost many trees

along the Reserve Road frontage

and suffered some stock loss and

damage to the advanced tree

irrigation system. Miraculously,

the house, igloo and shade-

houses were left untouched. As

the last of the fallen tea trees

are removed from the large

garden bed adjacent to the

nursery house, an opportunity to

create an indigenous display and

interpretation planting is revealed!

I am currently working on a

landscape concept for this area.

This season’s joy has been the

pleasure of being able to sow

seeds from two ‘previously-

thought-to-be-extinct-in-

Bayside’ plants!

Sticky long-heads, Podotheca

angustifolia, was found and

identified by Val Stasjic after

the wildfire in George Street

heathland. The ‘Flora of

Melbourne’ describes Podotheca

as a 20cm – 30cm tall annual

daisy with sticky, hairy leaves

and narrow, woolly, yellow flower

heads in September to October.

It also notes that it is presumed

extinct within the Melbourne

area and that it was last seen in

Cheltenham in 1909.

Terry, from the Bushland crew,

collected minimal seed, allowing

most of the seed to naturally

disperse and remain on site. I

sowed the first lot of seeds on

12 November 2007 and seven

seedlings were pricked out by

nursery volunteer, Elsie, on 24

January 2008. A second lot of

seed was sown on 25 January

2008 but, at the time of writing, no

germinants were visible.

The description of dune thistle,

Actites megalocarpa, in the

‘Flora of Melbourne’ notes that

it too, is probably extinct within

the Melbourne area and that it

was last collected from Brighton

Beach in 1887. It is described

as a 10cm – 60cm tall, fleshy,

rhizomatous perennial with stiff,

oblong leaves with prickly teeth

along their margins. It has yellow

daisy flower heads in September

to June and is a plant of primary

dune scrub and coastal cliffs.

In June 2006, Jo Hurse spotted

several small populations of

dune thistle at the northern end


of Brighton Dunes (Jim Willis

Reserve). This year Mark, from

the Bushland crew, collected

a small amount of seed from a

number of plants. This seed was

sown on 25 January 2008 and I

am excited to report that by 7

February 2008, 20 small seedlings

had germinated!

It is so rewarding to look around

and see the nursery almost full to

capacity with all our indigenous

plants. It is also reassuring to

consider that these plants, with

their inherent habitat, diversity

conservation and ecological

benefits, will all find their way

into our local private and public

landscapes.

Carmen SkrobonjaNursery SupervisorCitywide Parkcare

Carmen Skrobonja (left) and Erika Anderson with cutting trays

Carmen and Erika in “the igloo” with seedling trays

This season’s joy has been the pleasure of being able to sow seeds from two ‘previously-thought-to-be-extinct-in-Bayside’ plants!


Tree Valuation – how much are your trees worth?It is hard to assign a dollar value to an object that, in most cases, cannot be bought or sold and when often the benefits are impossible or extremely difficult to quantify.

So why assign a dollar value to

trees at all? Won’t this just reduce

an important natural asset to a

commodity that the rich can buy

and sell as they please?

The use of a tree valuation

system is all about achieving

equity in the decision-making

process, particularly as it relates

to development and Council

management.

A common claim by planning

permit applicants is that the

redesigning of a structure is not

in proportion to the value of

retaining the street tree, or any

tree for that matter. If the tree

had a recognised value that

was equal to or in excess of the

redesign costs then a solution that

retains the tree becomes more

likely. The ultimate aim being that

knowing the costs associated with

requesting the removal of a street

tree the designer or architect will

consider the Council asset prior to

starting the design process.

Another example relates to

Council’s own management

expenditure. Older trees in

urban areas will slowly decline in

health resulting in an escalation

in management costs and the

hazard associated with the tree.

In a perfect world it would be

ideal to leave trees in situ until

they are dead and perhaps

long after, but unfortunately

Council’s increasing exposure to

liability claims will progressively

decrease the level of risk Council

is prepared to accept. Whilst

not the sole determinant, a tree

valuation system can allow an

objective measure of when the

costs to reduce the risk presented

by a declining tree start to

become out of proportion with

the value of that tree.

So how can a tree be given a

dollar value? As was already

mentioned, nearly all the benefits

and costs associated with a tree

are extremely difficult to assess.

There are a variety of options

that could be taken to calculate

the dollar value of a tree, from

its value as a wood product

through to an exhaustive analysis

of the benefits and costs. At one

end the calculation is likely to

drastically undervalue the tree

and at the other extreme the

calculation is likely to cost the

value of the tree.

A system of valuation should

achieve two things:

1. Provide a consistent and

repeatable methodology to

establish the value of a tree.

2. Reflect community opinion of

the importance of trees in our

landscape.


As part of the recent review

of the Street Tree Strategy it

was proposed that a valuation

method be adopted. This method

is based upon the projected

maintenance costs over the life

of the tree and modified by its

current amenity, health, structure,

origin and significance.

The proposed method aims

to provide a quick estimate

of the replacement cost of a

tree to be used when assessing

development applications

requesting removal of a Council

tree and maintenance options

for Council’s tree asset. It is

important to realise that there

are other criteria in addition to

the value that are used when

reaching a decision on when a

tree can be removed.

In a world where cost benefit

analysis often determines

available funds, being able to

calculate the total value of

Council’s street tree asset is an

invaluable tool.

Perhaps next time you are

walking through Bayside’s leafy

streets, maybe it’s worth thinking

about how much a tree is worth

to you.

David Williams

Arboriculture Officer,

Bayside City Council


The articles included marvellous

maps which illustrate this Australia-

wide and international activity

by Aboriginal people. These

maps shatter the wilderness

illusion of many of non-Aboriginal

Australians. They also shatter

the myth of Australian isolation

epitomised in Geoffrey Blainey’s

book ‘The Tyranny of Distance

– How Distance Shaped

Australian History.’

McCarthy’s revelations were

included in the September and

November editions of ‘Oceania’,

a journal published in September

and November 1939 by the

Australian Museum in Sydney.

The opening paragraph of

McCarthy’s first article says: -

Although the importance of barter

in Australian Aboriginal culture

has always been recognised,

adequate records of its nature in

various parts of the continent have

not, unfortunately been made.

For those interested in cultural

problems, such as origins and

diffusion of traits, and for museums,

it is important to know whether a

specimen was or is made in the

locality in which it was collected,

or whether it was traded there

from elsewhere; for those studying

the structure of Australian society it

is important to know the form of all

social mechanisms in local areas.

For those reasons, those in contact

with the Aborigines in any part

of Australia should record all

data relating to barter and

exchange. In view of the fact

that few diagrams have been

published of the routes upon

which raw materials and finished

products travel from their place

of origin, I have in this study tried

to correlate the data available

in a diagrammatic form, with the

object of ascertaining the extent

of the interchange of articles and

other traits between local groups

and tribes, and, by linking up

distant connections, to ascertain

the relationships between trade

routes and cultural trends, and

where possible, migration routes.

McCarthy’s articles are

important but not easy to read or

understand. The simplest way to

convey his information is to use

the many maps and the notes

under them. The maps were

not drawn by McCarthy, but by

Miss E Bramell, who McCarthy

acknowledges; …’for the series of

difficult maps she has so carefully

preserved’. He also acknowledges

the help of Leo Austin L Clauert, D

Mahoney, CC Teale, NB Tindale,

Professor AP Elkin and Dr Phyliss

Kaberry.

Editor’s note: Copies of the maps

were not able to be reproduced

here but may be seen in copies of

the following journal(s) –

References:

‘Trade in Aboriginal Australia’ and

‘Trade Relationships with Torres

Strait, New Guinea and Malaya’

by Frederick David McCarthy

Oceania Journal (Sept and Nov

1939) published by the Australian

Museum, Sydney

Brenn Barcan Local Resident

Trading away our wilderness illusionIn 1939, the Sydney-based anthropologist and pre-historian, Frederick David McCarthy, wrote a series of articles which he called ‘Trade in Aboriginal Australia, and ‘Trade relationships with Torres Strait, New Guinea and Malaya.’


I will give a brief history of what I

was doing before joining the team.

My background prior to Citywide

was in landscape design and

construction. I have been

involved in landscaping for many

years and completed many

jobs both here and overseas in

the UK and Canada. One of my

projects was working on a huge

man-made lake and bio-zone in

Reading, England.

Upon arriving back from my

travels overseas I found myself

working for Citywide at the

Cheltenham depot where I met

a great bunch of people. There

was a great feeling about the

way everyone interacted. A few

months later an internal position

came up on the Bushland crew

and I knew I had to apply for it!

It was a fantastic opportunity to

learn more about the indigenous

plant species of the Bayside area.

An interesting project we have

been working on is the Balcombe

Park controlled ecological

burn. We are confident the

regeneration will be similar

to the George St wildfire and

previous control burns. I have

been working with Friends of

the Urban Forest and Merindah

Park and BRASCA (Black Rock

and Sandringham Conservation

Association). I have met many

enthusiastic ‘Friends’ group

members and I look forward to

working with Friends of Balcombe

Park in the near future.

Daniel Tobin Bushland CrewCitywide Parkcare

From the newest member of the Bushland CrewFor those of you that haven’t met me already my name is Dan Tobin and I have only recently joined the Bushland Crew.


During a recent site visit to the

Beaumaris cliffs, some very furry

sunbakers were spotted making the

most of a beautiful sunny autumn

morning. These three spent the day

basking on the sunny rocks and

enjoying the view of Port Phillip Bay,

and seemed quite uninterested in

photographer David Wood, who was

able to take these great shots.

Seals at Beaumaris


The ‘Who are you really feeding?’

campaign aims to educate

people not to litter their food

leftovers along the foreshore.

Leaving uneaten fish and chips

or sandwiches for the local

animals might seem like a nice

idea, but feeding wildlife can

have a detrimental effect on

the balance and health of the

range of animals that live in our

foreshore parks.

Food litter also attracts pest

animals such as rodents and

pigeons that carry diseases and

compete for habitat and food

with the native wildlife.

A rodent control program was

trialled in early 2007, which was

successful in eliminating some

unwanted rodent visitors along

the Sandringham foreshore, but

there were sightings during the

recent summer period.

Council will continue targeted

rodents baiting along the

Sandringham foreshore, but

really need the support of the

community to help eliminate

food sources.

Posters have been placed in take

away food shops in Sandringham

Village and small signs have also

been installed on picnic tables

and BBQs on the foreshore at

Sandringham to help educate

visitors.

If you are interested in more

information regarding this

program, please contact Bayside

City Council’s Waste Education

Officer on (03) 9599 4717.

Amy Weir Environment Research Officer

Who are you really feeding?A new educational program in Bayside is urging foreshore visitors to place their food litter in the bin to help stop feeding wild animals and to reduce pest animals visiting the foreshore.


Possum rivalry at Brighton Until 2007 the only possums I had seen in the suburbs, or in the bush, were ringtails.

They could be seen (at night)

walking on powerlines or fences

and roofs, or squashed flat on

roads, or electrocuted and found

dead on footpaths. Sometimes

their fox-gutted carcasses could

be seen along the foreshore

south of Brighton Baths, or in front

gardens. They could be heard

thundering on our roofs, in our

ceilings (and we could see the

stains they left), or ‘snoring’ away.

Then in June 2007 my patience

was rewarded. I saw a brushtail at

night, of course on a high paling

fence, and ‘playing possum’

while I watched. Things got better

and better. Often two could be

seen together (presumably male

and female). Then late one night

I saw two adults and a small one

on the ground under a tree, while

the infant moved around slowly.

Brushtail possums are not

vegetarians. They also eat meat.

A possum-expert friend told me

he thought that a brushtail could

successfully take on a cat!

All sightings were ringtails or

brushtails. Once I saw my first

brushtail I didn’t see any ringtails.

My possum-expert friend said

they knew that discretion was the

better part of valour. Then about

10pm on Saturday 15 March this

year I saw two brushtails on a high

paling fence feeding on a lilly-

pilly. About seven hours later (at

5am) I saw two ringtails just sitting

on the same fence.

One night I was awoken by a

loud noise, which sounded like

a sledgehammer hitting an iron

girder. It sounded as if it was

coming from the street, where

construction works had been

proceeding for months. I went out

to the street in my dressing gown

but saw nothing. After searching

with a torch, I saw a brushtail

making the noise in a tree next

door. It stopped when I shone the

torch on it, but it did not retreat.

What an amazing noise!

Footnote: The 1979 edition of the

‘Australian Encyclopedia’ says:

‘Economics and Conservation’.

The brushtail had the unenviable

reputation of providing the best-

known possum skins in the world’s

markets’…’in 1996 more that

4,000,000 brushtail skins were

marketed in London and New

York. In QLD in 1919 the number

of skins officially recorded was

2,500,000; in 1923 it was 1,200,000.

During the open season in New

South Wales, in 1931-2 more than

1,000,000 skins were exported.

Official figures fall short of the

real total’. The ‘Australian

Encyclopedia’ doesn’t quote

figures for Victoria, or mention

Aboriginal people and the

importance of possums to them

for food, clothing, identity and

survival.

References:

‘Possums as food, clothing,

tools, maps, history and identity

for Aboriginal people’. Banksia

Bulletin Winter 2006

‘Possums and the self sufficiency

of Aboriginal people’. Banksia

Bulletin, Winter 2007.

Both have been written by me.

Also see: ‘The Life of Marsupials’

by Hugh Tyndale Biscoe. Held by

Brighton Library. Bayside Libraries

have bound copies of

Banksia Bulletin.

Brenn Barcan Local resident


Time/Day JUNE JULY AUGUST

Balcombe Park Last Sunday 10am - noon

28th 27th 31st

Bay Rd 2nd Saturday 10am - noon

7th 12th 9th

BRASCA Contact Janet Ablitt ph 9589 6646

Brighton Dunes Tuesdays 8am - 10am 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th

1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th

5th, 12th, 19th, 26th

Cheltenham Park 1st Sunday 10am - noon

1st 6th 3rd

Cheltenham Primary Contact school 9583 1614

19th 24th

Donald MacDonald 1st Sunday 10am - noon

1st 6th 3rd

George St 3rd Sunday 10am - noon

15th 6th 3rd

Gramatan 1st Sunday 1 - 3pm

1st 6th 3rd

Long Hollow Last Sunday 1pm - 3pm

29th 27th 31st

Friends of Native Wildlife - Contact M. Norris*

1st Saturday 9.30am

Ricketts Point Landside 3rd Tuesday 1pm - 3pm

17th 15th 19th

Table Rock Last Tuesday 12.30pm - 2.30pm

24th 29th 26th

Watkins Bay Last Wednesday 1pm - 3pm

25th 30th 27th

Gardenvale Primary SchoolContact Brigitta Suendermann ph. 9530 0328

Watkins Bay Contact Katrine Lee ph. 9555 5250

Friends of BaysideWorking Bee times for June to August 2008

*Contact Michael Norris for site details on (03) 9521 0804


www.bayside.vic.gov.au

banksia bulletin autumn 2008

Documents

mrs alison

bayside city council

mrs sue raverty5 rosemary

mrs valerie tyers65

linacre road

bulletinfriends of bayside

david cockburn72 spring

brighton east