This Sunday, October 28, Muckleford Landcare will have a stand at Mucklefest.
Mucklefest is a country fair held annually at the Muckleford Railway Station. There are lots of activities, competitions and food stalls throughout the day. It’s quite a big event these days.
We will be there hoping to make contact with potential new members and others who might be interested in landcare. Consider paying us a visit – or even better sitting at our table and meeting people for a short period of time.
We would certainly like to catch up with members and friends and there will be lots of other activities to entertain you – and the kids too.
Following the success of the presentation by Don Watson at this year’s AGM, Muckleford Landcare is busy working up an exciting program of projects and events for the year ahead.
To ensure that you stay in touch with the range of activities we encourage you to become (or renew) your membership of the group. The cost is just $25 per household (or $15 concession).
A membership form for 2012/13 is attached for your information.
Following the talk from Don Watson, the Annual General Meeting was held.
Muckleford Landcare wishes to welcome several new members. We are developing plans and activities to keep all our members engaged and active for the next 12 months.
We particularly wish to welcome Ross Luscombe to the committee. Committee meetings are held monthly and anyone is welcome to attend. The next is due to be held on Monday October 22, 12 pm at the The Hub in Barker Street.
The committee for 2012-13 is:
Paul Hampton – President
Sue Slaytor – Secretary
Barry Sutton – Treasurer
David Griffiths
Frank Forster
Ross Luscombe
Muckleford Landcare particularly wishes to express its thanks to David Griffiths for his leadership over the past few years. David remains on the committee where his expertise and passion for the cause are greatly appreciated.
On Wednesday 10 October, more than 50 people attended the Castlemaine Golf Club to hear well-known writer Don Watson talk about his upcoming book, The Book of the Bush.
Don grew up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland that is still farmed by his brother. Don has spent several months travelling the country talking to ‘bush’ people and observing political and social life outside the cities. In a wide-ranging and allusive chat Don made several thought-provoking points. He believes that having made their ‘clearings’ in the bush, Australians are unusually aware of what has been lost and that after 10 years of denial, they are also deeply conscious of the violent ‘theft’ that enabled their settlement. He claims that it is this inescapable consciousness that explains the ‘melancholy’ that permeates much bush life. He also described vividly the anger that is also an important motif of rural life.
He argues that the real bush folk weren’t the squatters, who came and went quickly, but the selectors who followed. Their struggles to survive on what were often inadequate blocks are a legacy that still permeates farming life and culture today.
Don Watson ponders a question from the audience
For the audience the talk was a fascinating glimpse into the making of a book with all its rich byways and complications. A feature of all Don’s work is the refusal to simplify politics or moralise too easily, and given his ongoing battle to preserve simple public language his own ways of describing the world are refreshingly direct, colloquial and witty. We suspect that the local sales of the book will be very good indeed.
We are also hoping to feature more fascinating speakers at events throughout the year.
At the AGM we would particularly encourage you to consider joining our committee. Nomination forms will be available on the night.
We are currently looking forward to a very active year and your voice will help us plan, implement effectively and deepen our community connections.
The committee meets once a month. If you are interested and wish to know more please contact the Secretary, Paul Hampton, tel 54742189.
A reminder that our AGM is scheduled for Castlemaine Golf Club at 8.15pm on October 10. The formal meeting will be preceded by Don Watson’s talk about ‘The Bush’ at 6 pm, soup and light refreshments. The bar will also be open. We expect the whole evening to be concluded by 9:30 pm. If you intend to come along please let us know by Wednesday October 3.
This will be a great night to meet people and hear an outstanding thinker and writer. We look forward to seeing you.
Annual memberships are due on the night. We encourage you to take a membership. The small fee involved (currently $25) helps to support our basic functions: stationary, mailing, equipment etc.
Don Watson is one of Australia’s wittiest, original thinkers and raconteurs, and is currently completing a book on the Australian bush. He will be revealing some of his insights into the Australian landscape as a prelude to the Muckleford Catchment Landcare Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 10 October. Don’s presentation will commence at 6pm, will be accompanied with soup and refreshments, and will be followed by the AGM at 8.15 pm
This landmark event is being held at the Castlemaine Golf Club, Pyrenees Highway, Castlemaine.
Members of the public are very welcome to join us for the talk and soup prior to the AGM.
Don Watson was an academic historian for 10 years before resigning to write political satire for TV and the stage (including The Gillies Report), and speeches for the Victorian Premier John Cain.
After time as a research fellow at The University of Melbourne he became Prime Minister Paul Keating’s speechwriter and adviser. He remained in that position until Keating’s electoral defeat in 1996. His account of this time, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister (2002), remains a best-seller to this day
Don’s columns, articles and essays have appeared in all major Australian journals and newspapers.
In recent years Don has become internationally famous for his scathing yet hilarious books about the deterioration of contemporary language – Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language (2003), and Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon (2004).
His book American Journeys (2008) won The Age Non-Fiction and Book of the Year awards, the inaugural Indie Award for Non-Fiction, and the Walkley Award for Non-Fiction.
His latest release Bendable Learnings: The Wisdom of Modern Management follows on from Death Sentence and Weasel Words.
His views about a subject that is both dear to our hearts and culturally complex are bound to provoke much fresh discussion and thought.
If you are interested in farming, landcare and the future of ‘the bush’ then this talk is a must.
So that we can cater appropriately we would appreciate a RSVP. Please let us know you are coming at – mucklefordlandcare@gmail.com
The balmy burst of spring weather certainly played its part and we had a good turn-out for our Sunday morning working bee in Creasys Road to celebrate Landcare Open Day. We managed to remove several hundred of our re-usable tree guards and join together for an amiable morning tea in the sun.
Muckleford Landcare members enjoy a break in amongst the plantings at the Creasys Road corridor
Below you will find the information leaflet about the project prepared by Sue Slaytor and made available to the participants. It has been an impressively successful project and well worth visiting if you are in the vicinity.
In the meantime, we encourage all landcarers to enjoy the other events this week, the details for which are available at the Connecting Country website.
And we recommend that you pencil our next event in your diary. On Wednesday, October 10, well-known author Don Watson will give a talk about his forthcoming book on the Australian bush. Not to be missed.
Creasys Road Corridor Project
Purpose: To link roadside vegetation in Turners Lane to Chinaman Creek by planting over 35 native species along a treeless section of Creasys Road.
Area: Approx. 2.1 hectares (3 private properties and south side of Creasys Road)
Support: 4 landholders, NCCMA (2nd Gen. funding), Mt Alexander Shire Council, CFA
Density: Average of 2,860 plants / hectare in a corridor 18 to 35 metres wide.
Vibrant growth in the Creasys Road corridor
Site Prep: Spray Blackberry, St John’s Wort and Phalaris in January 2009, burn dead weeds in June, fumigate and collapse rabbit warrens. Prepare site with Yeoman’s plough/rotary hoe combination to open subsoil without inverting soil profile, cultivate topsoil and provide mechanical grass/weed control. The east site was netted to prevent rabbit entry.
Planting: Stock grown in Hiko trays was planted by two people using Pottiputki planters. Planting occurred intermittently. Planting Turners Lane commenced in late August 2009 and project planting was completed at the east site by early November.
The plants were not watered-in either at planting or afterwards. When planting within the last area the roots were dunked in wetted water absorbing crystals (temperatures had reached 30oC by then). The drought did not break until January 2010. Limited rainfall had managed to get deep into the soil profile because of the site preparation.
Plants survived and thrived on the residual soil moisture.
Messages: Installing guards was the most time-consuming aspect of the project. These guards have been used on a number of projects and have proved cost-effective. But if adequate rabbit control is undertaken then guards do little more than identify plant locations. Is the time/effort of guarding worthwhile??? Get a machine to prepare the site- it will suppress weed (no chemicals) and makes planting easy. Plant in spring – plants establish quickly and can compete with annual grasses. Watering is not necessary – because of soil preparation plant mortality has been minimal, in fact a number of plant species suffered from receiving excess water several months after planting.
Join Muckleford Landcare in helping to celebrate Landcare Week and help contribute to another successful and important project.
When: 10:30am – 12:00pm
Where: Corner Creasys Road and Turners Lane.
We will be removing and collecting the reusable tree guards along Turners Lane. This is an opportunity to get up close and personal with a model corridor planting approaching its third year, grab some morning tea and meet other group members. You will also be able to pick up some of new brochures. New acquaintances are particularly welcome. Please bring gloves, secateurs and a smile.
Muckleford Landcare has commenced the development of a community plan for the Chinaman Creek valley. The aim of the project is to develop a long term plan for the economic and environmental resilience of the Chinaman Creek catchment, and to prioritise and secure funding for immediate works in association with Connecting Country.
In early June most landholders in the valley received a questionnaire aimed at creating a snapshot of the current state of the catchment, and gaining some idea of the residents’ visions for the future. The data from the survey is being compiled by Landcare Facilitator, Max Schlachter, for presentation to a meeting of interested parties on Saturday, June 23. Using input gained from the survey responses and from this session Max will begin drafting a detailed plan.
All people interested in finding out more and/or contributing to the process are warmly invited to the meeting. Afternoon tea will be provided.
Muckleford Catchment Landcare Group 