national parks association of the australian capital territory inc. 55 no 2 jun 2018.pdf · forever...

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Rosenberg’sreport

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National Parks Association of the Australian Capital Territory Inc.

Volume 55 Number 2 June 2018

NPA Bulletin Volume 55 number 2 June 2018

CONTENTS

News from the committee

President’s report ................................................................2

Esther Gallant

Notice of Annual General Meeting.....................................3

OAM Presentation ..............................................................3

Report from the Environment Subcommittee.....................4

Rod Griffiths

NPA ACT Work Parties.......................................................4

Martin Chalk

Christine Goonrey...............................................................5

Kevin McCue for the committee

Rakali recovering from near extinction...............................5

Kevin McCue

Hammered by hooves ...............................................................6

Di Thompson and Annette Smith

Update on the ACT Rosenberg's Monitor project –

the 2017–18 season............................................................9

Don Fletcher

How should we celebrate NPA’s 60th? ...................................11

Sonja Lenz and Philip Gatenby

What's happening with NPA publications? .............................11

Sonja Lenz

River rafting in Canada: chasing butterflies

down the Nahanni............................................................12

Esther Gallant

Nights Out...............................................................................13

Gerry Jacobson

2018 Forests Forever Ecology Camp .....................................14

Max Mallett and Erin Fischer

Articles by contributors may not necessarily reflect association opinion or objectives.

NPA outings program, June – September 2018 ...............15–18

Glenburn Precinct....................................................................19

Col McAlister

Bushwalk reports

Six days in the Budawangs ..............................................20

Philip Gatenby

Three Mile Dam ...............................................................22

Brian Slee

Jounama and Ravine – a follow-up..................................22

Brian Slee

Spotlighting at Mulligans Flat..........................................23

Isobel Crawford

Bullen Range South .........................................................24

Ed Highley

Dananbilla acacia trial.............................................................25

Kevin McCue and Philip Gatenby

Book reviews. Charlie Carter: Hermit, Healer and

High Country Legend. By Klaus Hueneke ......................26

Rupert Barnett

Bold Horizon. High-country Place, People

and Story. By Matthew Higgins.......................................27

Mike Bremers

PARKWATCH ..........................................................................28

Compiled by Hazel Rath

NPA notices.............................................................................30

Meetings and speaker information ..........................................31

NPA information and contacts.................................................31

2 NPA BULLETIN − JUNE 2018

This has been a very busy quarter for thecommittee, with encouraging good newson some of our activities.

Research grants and scholarships

Phil Zylstra has submitted anencouraging report on his use of ourresearch grant for studies of bushfiremodelling (see Christine Goonrey’sreport in the March 2018 Bulletin). Thetwo students we sponsored for ForestsForever Easter Ecology Camp in EastGippsland (Goongerah) have written anenthusiastic article on their experience(reported in this issue of the Bulletin).The Committee will offer to sponsor10 environmental science students fromANU or UC to attend in 2019.

NPA projects/grants

The NPA-funded pilot project on trackingof Rosenberg’s Monitors in the ACT hasbeen completed, with all involvedenthusiastic about the information

obtained and the potential of a futurelarger study. A number of NPA ACTmembers assisted with the study (see DonFletcher’s report in this issue).

The committee has agreed tocontribute to a citizen science study of theNative Water Rat (Rakali) in the ACT,jointly with the Canberra FieldNaturalists. This project was initiated bythe Platypus Conservancy Group inVictoria. They want to extend their surveyto the ACT and have asked for localsupport (see Kevin McCue’s report in thisissue). A group representative will comefrom Melbourne to give a public talk on2 August.

Books

The Field Guide to the Birds of the ACTand the Field Guide to the Butterflies ofthe Australian Capital Territory havebeen reprinted. A stall at the Connect andParticipate Expo at the Old Bus Depot on24 March sold books and gave out

information,as well asrecording namesof people interested in knowing moreabout NPA ACT. Jane O’Donohue (aformer committee member) has takenover the project to provide organisationsand schools with Namadgi books asrewards for kids’ participation inenvironmental activities.

Website redesign

Redesign of the association’s websitehas been completed by member SabineFriedrich. Chris Emery (webmaster) hasrequested that members visit it and

President’s report

(continued next page)

NPA BULLETIN − JUNE 2018 3

As reported in the MarchBulletin, NPA ACTmember, Di Thompson,was awarded an Order ofAustralia on Australia Day2018. Di was presentedwith her medal by theGovernor-General on3 May.

submit comments or problems to him.High-quality photos of NPA activitieswould be appreciated for display.

NPA 60th anniversary celebration

Suggestions made at the Aprilgeneral meeting member’s forum havebeen noted. Before plans can progress, acommittee and chair are needed toarrange the event. Volunteers areencouraged to contact any committeemember or the NPA office [email protected]

Publicity/promotion and engagementcommittee

A subcommittee is being organised toplan a strategy for attracting new andyounger members. Suggestions andvolunteers will be welcomed by allcommittee members.

New Conservator for Flora and Fauna

Ian Walker has just taken over thisposition. Rod Griffiths and I met withhim to discuss both his role and theactivities of the NPA. He encouraged us

to bring issues ofconcern to him,and we invitedhim to walk withus in Namadgi.He accepted andon 18 May thewalk took place,taking in theYerrabi Track andvisiting GudgenbyCottage.

General meetingtrial format

Starting in May asecure link toonline minutes ofthe previousmeeting will be provided in BurningIssues. A few paper copies will beavailable at the meeting for those withoutonline access, along with detailedfinancial statements. These will be on atable near the hall entrance with theattendance book. The chair will requestany corrections before asking for

approval. Minutes will be displayedonly if there are significant correctionsto be made. We hope that this will bothshorten and enliven the meetings whileproviding everyone with an opportunityto read the minutes.

Esther Gallant

President’s report (continued)

OAM Presentation

NPA stall at ACT Government Connect and Participate Expo.

Photo by Esther Gallant.

Nominations for NPA ACT office bearers and committee 2018/19

Nominations are sought for office bearers and committee members to be elected at the AGM on 16 August 2018.

We nominate ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

for the position of …………………………………………………………………………………………… in NPA ACT for 2018/19

Proposed by …………………….…………… (signature) Seconded by ……………….……………………….. (signature)

I accept the nomination ……………………………..…………………………. (signature) Date ………………………..

(This form can be photocopied/scanned and used for nominations.)

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Thursday 16 August 2018

Business: Minutes of the AGM 2017

Activities Report

Financial Report

Appointment of Auditor

Election of Office-bearers and Committee

Any other business

Note: all office-bearer and committee positions

become vacant at the AGM.

Nominations for office-bearer and committee

postions for the coming year are welcome. Please

copy or scan the nomination form below.Dianne Thompson with her

Order of Australia medal.

Photo by Alice Thompson.


The NPA ACT has a proud history oflobbying on behalf of the naturalenvironment. From its very inception ithas worked for the protection of theACT’s and the local region’s naturalenvironment. The work of the NPAACT’s Environment Subcommitteecontinues this tradition and the past fewmonths have been very busy.

The NPA ACT has made submissionson the following four matters:• Protection of the Alpine National Park:

Feral Horse Strategic Action Plan2018–2020 – continuing the NPAACT’s advocacy for the protection ofAustralia’s fragile high countryecosystems from a significant feralanimal threat (28 January, 5 pages)

• Draft ACT Aquatic and RiparianConservation Strategy and ActionPlans – to recognise the importance ofthese areas in the ACT for water

Report from the Environment Subcommitteequality and paths of connectivitybetween natural habitats (11 March,1 page)

• Molonglo River Reserve DraftReserve Management Plan – toexpress concern over the vulnerabilityof the nature values of this reserve topressures from the urban environment(20 March, 13 pages)

• ACT Climate Strategy to a Zero NetEmissions Territory Discussion Paper – to emphasise the important rolethat natural ecosystems and reservesplay as carbon sinks and refugia asthe climate changes (8 April,3 pages).

Copies of all these submissions canbe found on the NPA ACT website,www.npaact.org.au

The NPA ACT’s campaign for anew grassy woodlands national parkhas seen the creation of a grassy

woodlands consultation group, of whichthe NPA ACT is a member. The ACT iscurrently revising its woodlandsstrategy and the group has theopportunity to provide valuable input tothis process.

The Environment Subcommitteemeets regularly to continue guiding theNPA ACT’s environmental policy andwelcomes new members. Contact RodGriffiths, 0410 875 731.

Rod Griffiths

NPA ACT Work Parties

update Work parties areconducted monthly,

apart fromDecember andJanuary, to helpwith themanagement ofnational parks in

the ACT and nearbyareas of New South

Wales. A summary ofwork party activities in the first

quarter of 2018 is presented in the table below.Work parties are integral to the objectives of the

NPA and the amount they can achieve is directlyproportional to the number of members prepared toparticipate. You can find out more about workparties by contacting Martin Chalk on 0411 161 056.

Martin Chalk.

News from the committee (continued)

Month Activity Agency Participants

February

March

Upper Cotter briar control. 439 briar cut/dabbed from Gallipoli Flats and 367 cut/

dabbed from both sides of Licking Hole Creek Fire Trail. Return November 2021.

Lower Cotter – poplar control on Blundells Flat. Two transects established each

approximately 150 sq m in area. Western transect cleared and eastern transect half

cleared.

PCS

PCS

8

4

April

April

Dananbilla Nature Reserve. Remaining tree guards removed in Windermere

Section. Four new kangaroo exclosures built in this section. Wattle silt traps

established on western side of the range.

Reedy Creek briar control. 849 briar, 4 willow, 3 apple and 1 hawthorn removed

from Reedy Creek 400 m up and downstream from Brandy Flat Fire Trail crossing.

Revisit the downstream section in November this year.

NPWS

PCS

10

6

Poplar removal at Blundells Flat. Photo by Martin Chalk.


You could see it was going to happen,but when it did the shock wasnonetheless palpable. We had come torely on her leadership, judgment andpolitical nous; five years as President,then another five as Immediate PastPresident, and when Rod Griffithresigned as President they shared therole until Esther stood up in 2017.

Christine Goonrey joined NPA ACTon retirement from the Public Serviceand within a year was elected President,in 2005. Not long after that she joinedthe Conservation Council Board andthen took on the presidency of theNational Parks Australia Council. In thatcapacity she presided over a memorablemeeting with the Hon. Peter Garrett,then Minister for the Environment, ameeting of equals as all could see. Noshrinking violet our Christine.

The environment was front andforemost on her agenda. We held threesymposia on her watch at her suggestion,published our beautiful coffee-table bookNamadgi – A National Park for theNational Capital (her idea) and, finally,she spearheaded another symposium, a

game changer, in 2017:Bushfire Management –Balancing the Risks. Thiswas the culmination ofseveral years on the ACTBushfire Council, no placefor mild men let alone awoman, dynamic, forcefuland educated as she was. Butshe turned them around –such a conquest – andbrought protection of theenvironment into theCouncil’s remit.

There was much more, theparliamentary committee presentations,field guide updates, the 50thanniversary, Art Week and these alltook a toll. We supported her as best wecould and wonderful calm Michael wasalways there to pick up the pieces andprovide solid, unswerving support. Inthe end she sought refuge in the bush,the very bush where she had grown upnear Bega. They built their dreamhouse and we sensed, feared, thatsometime she and Michael would leaveCanberra and make the bush house

their home, and that Christine wouldresign from the Committee.

Now that has come about. A timefor contemplation, reflection, art and towrite. But she has made lots of friendsin Canberra and in the NPA equivalentsin all states and in ACT Parks. We hopeto maintain that friendship to the endand wish them well.

Well done, Christine, and a bigthank you!

Kevin McCuefor the committee

Christine with then Environment Minisiter, 2009.

Photo by Kevin McCue.

Christine Goonrey – a great leader

News from the committee (continued)

During Art Week a few years ago,Adrienne Nicholson photographed in theGudgenby River an Australian nativewater-rat, Hydromys chrysogaster, nowcommonly known by its Indigenousname ‘Rakali’.

The sighting was a surprise.According to the Australian PlatypusConservancy (APC, Victoria) thepopulation of Rakali is recovering fromthe brink of extinction followingoverenthusiastic trapping for skins. Iturges that studies be made of populationdensity and distribution to inform plansfor management of the species. A recentstudy in Western Australia identifieddrowning in freshwater crayfish traps,predation by foxes and cats, habitatdegradation and changes in hydrology asimportant threats to Rakali.1

NPA ACT and the Field NaturalistsAssociation of the ACT have agreed toparticipate in a survey of Rakali in theACT with a number of other like-minded organisations.

Geoff Williams from APC will givea public talk about Rakali and thesurvey on 2 August 2018 at 7:30 pm inthe Robertson Building, ANU. We urgeas many NPA members as possible toget along to the meeting. The previousVictorian survey model will befollowed in the ACT region,particularly as the Canberra-basedfocus of the work will have the addedbenefit of bringing the species to theattention of Commonwealth agenciesand their staff.

The Norman Wettenhall Foundationhas supported the APC’s ACT projectwith a grant of $10,000 of theestimated $18,000 required, and theNPA committee has agreed in principleto donate $2,000 to the survey, andasks members to participate.

NPA tasks will include:a) encouraging members to become

involved in spotting and reportingRakali in the region. This would

make a morning or evening coffeeouting, or strolls by Canberra lakeseven more enjoyable.

b) promoting the project and any publiclectures and water-rat spottingsessions. Perhaps the GudgenbyBush Regeneration Group, Friendsof the Botanic Gardens and otherswould agree to get involved. If youhave contacts there, please use them.

This is an interesting proposal;please volunteer your time and ideas.We suggest all sightings with photos bereported to Canberra Nature Maphttp://canberra.naturemapr.org

Kevin McCue

1 See http://www.wwf.org.au/Article-Documents/353/pub-rakali-commu-nity-survey-2014-2015-08dec15.pdf.aspx?Embed=Y

Rakali recovering from near extinction

Water-rat or Rakali, in the Gudgenby River.

Photo by Adrienne Nicholson.


This article details information on theferal horse problem provided by guestspeakers Di Thompson and AnnetteSmith in a presentation at the March2018 meeting of the NPA ACT.

The presentation1 showed the increasinglevel of feral horse damage from thesource of the Murray River, and alongtributaries of the Murrumbidgee Riverin the Tantangara Valley of KosciuszkoNational Park (KNP).

NPA members used to walk a lot inthe Tantangara Valley in the 1980s and1990s, but rarely walk or camp therethese days because of both the numberof, and damage being done by, feralhorses and horseriders. On a single-dayvisit last year, Annette, Mike and Dicounted 170 feral horses in the LongPlain and Seventeen Flat areas.

Di has made several long pack-walking visits to Cowombat Flat, KNP,from the mid 1980s and again in 2012,2013 and 2018. In 2013, the NPA‘Magnificent Nine’ walked in the areafor 9 days, witnessing and recording theferal horse damage. This year, Esther,Gary and Di returned in February toundertake a Five Year Review over a4-day period.

Put bluntly, we were shocked at thespread and increase in the level ofdamage from feral horses. We did seeone deer on the Pilot Fire Trail,but otherwise, with confirmation fromEsther, who is an Emeritus Professor ofVeterinary Medicine, were readily ableto confirm the damage was from feralhorses.

In December 2015, NPWS, underpressure from the horse advocacies, hadthe National Cultural Heritage ValuesAssessment and Conflicting ValuesReport on Kosciuszko feral horsesprepared (see http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectsnowies/knp-assessment-conflicting-values-2804.pdf ). (continued next page)

Hammered by hooves

Culvert at fire trail junction, Seventeen Flat. Photo by Di Thompson..

That report concludes:… that the cultural heritagevalues identified should beaddressed, and that this impliesretaining a wild horsepopulation in an appropriatelocation or locations within theKNP as one of the attributes ofthe identified cultural heritagevalues. But equally, the impactof an expanding wild horsepopulation on both natural andcultural heritage values across awidening landscape must beaddressed to ensure that thesevalues are not put at risk.

Apart from the absurdity ofrecognising the heritage value of a feralanimal, one aim of the presentation wasto demonstrate that the price ofprotecting the ‘heritage’ horses is toohigh. The overwhelming increase in feralhorse impacts in Cowombat Flat, MurrayRiver headwaters, includes:- no frogs, excepting in the exclusion

plots- the grassland valley floor is so eaten

out that the horses are now pulling thegrass up by tufts

- because grass is too scarce, the horsesare now eating through the wire intothe exclusion plots

- there are no macropods present, thoughwe did see birds

- the number of horse wallows hasincreased, and the old wallows are nowmuch larger and knee deep

- hooves have further cut the banks andbroadened the creek and Murray Riverlines

- excepting for the scattered BlackSallees and Snow Gums, the flats andcreek-lines are a hakea monoculture.

Of the Tantangara area, the Friendsof Currango sum up the damagesuccinctly. They commenced visitingCurrango Creek and its valley, attractedby the trout fishing, in the early 1970s.

… that the entire wetlandssurrounding Gurrangorambla Creek... appear to have been destroyed.In many places the principal bed ofthe creek is now abandoned. On thewest side of what used to be theswamp is an eroded watercoursemany metres wide, with novegetation whatsoever.

Whereas the stream and adjoiningwetlands were permanent featuresof the landscape as recently asapproximately ten years ago, thesefeatures have now completelydisappeared.

The mobs of feral horses in theTantangara area and, in particular, atSeventeen Flat are many and large.There is not a wet area or creek leftuntouched. For those walking theAustralian Alpine Walking Trackthrough these regions, their health andsafety are issues. Annette and Di knowfrom meeting West Australian farmersdoing the AAWT, that Namadgi NationalPark was the highlight of their walk. It isour duty to support and praise ourrespective Namadgi land managers andthe ACT Government for keepingNamadgi free of feral horses.

Compounding the visual damage tothe environment and the loss of nativeanimals and plants is the lack of anyeffective action to control the cause,

The creek banks dry out, Seventeen Flat. Photo by Di Thompson.

Cowombat Flat looking north to exclusion plot,

February 2018. Photo by Di Thompson.



will result in much greater distress andpotential danger for the personnelinvolved in man-aging feral horses.Instead of remov-ing 2,000 horses in2003–04, the number is now likely to beover 10,000, and is growing rapidly.Feral horses cross-ing the border into theACT water catchment increas-inglyaffect the ACT.

Survey of public opinion

A 21st Century Town Hall Meeting wasconducted in Queanbeyan on29 November 2014 as part of the review

of the Wild HorseManagement Plan(WHMP). Three yearslater the WHMP hasnot been finalised. Atthe meeting, StraightTalk was engaged toascertain generalpublic opinion. Itsurveyed a rep-resentative sample of72 people, based onage, gender and rural/urban settings, who didnot hold particularviews on the issue of‘brumbies’ in KNP.

Based on this trend, a 17 per centincrease per year from 6,000 wouldresult in over 8,000 in 2016, and 11,000horses in 2018, less the adjusted numberremoved during this period. We waitwith interest to see the results of the nextsurvey, scheduled for 2019. It isdisappointing that with such a worseningsituation it will come at least 5 yearsafter the last survey.

The NSW Government policy ofdoing nothing effective is costing theenvironment, and also the budget, and

primarily feral horses. Remediation ofdamage seems far from consideration.

Feral horse range and numbers inKNP

The area identified as occupied by feralhorses across the Australian Alpsincreased dramatically over the period2010 to 2014.

The increased presence of feralhorses noted on these maps correspondswith the results from surveys of feralhorse numbers conducted every 2–3years over the period 2003 to 2014, andobservations from people who get awayfrom main roads in KNP.

The feral horse populationthroughout the Australian Alps,including KNP, was severely affected bythe 2003 fires. The estimatedpopulations of feral horses and recordsof the numbers removed from KNP sincethose fires is:

2003: population 1,500; 49 removed




2014: population 6,000; 1,558 removed.3

These estimates show a remarkablyconsistent trend – upwards, at analarming rate.

Hammered by hooves (continued)

Mapped wetlands across the alps landscape and wild horse distribution, based on interviews with protected area staff.2

20142010


Feral horse numbers in KNP, 2003 – 2014

For Sources and Other calculations, see Footnotes next page.


By summing the percentage of votesin the range 1–5 (Not acceptable) and6–10 (Acceptable) for each question agood indication of sentiment can begauged. The results recorded are shownin the table above.

Note the high acceptance of aerialshooting, still banned by the NSWGovernment even though it can be aneffective and humane method ofreducing horse and other feral animalnumbers. Note also the low approval ofbrumby running, still being consideredby the Victorian Government.

The KNP feral horse population isstill youthful, with most born since2003, in its full prime for peoplewishing to rehome captured feralhorses. Even so, rehomers acceptedonly 583 or about 18 per cent of the3,183 horses removed from KNPbetween 2002–03 and 2015–16,4

despite intensive publicity and liaisonwith NPWS staff. Attempts to rehomeeven 200 feral horses per year cannotkeep up with the annual increase of over1,500 and rising.

The situation in the Eastern Alpsregion of the Alpine National Park inVictoria is similar to KNP. Despite thedraft feral horse strategy releasedrecently for the Alpine National Park,where the text indicated a realisation ofthe damage and intent to substantiallyreduce the horse population, thenumbers used were years out of date,and the action required to bring horsenumbers down to their target is fargreater than that proposed in the draftstrategy.

The situation worsens asknowledgeable staff are laid off fromNPWS and Parks Vic, so fewer peoplehave to multitask across fields theyhave neither the time nor detailedexpertise to do justice to what is

needed. Feral horse management policyappears as little more than an ongoinglocal employment program at an extremeexpense to the taxpayer and theenvironment. Under current NSWGovernment policy, KNP could bereduced to a dustbowl within 50 years.

Di Thompson and Annette Smith

Footnotes

1 See https://www.flickr.com/photos/91914657@N08/sets/72157692770426751

2 Worboys, G.L., Good, R. B.,Freudenberger, D., Pulsford, I. andBanks, S. (2015) Our AustralianAlps Are Changing....For The Worse,Canberra, Available at: https://theaustralianalps.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/our-australian-alps-are-changing-for-the-worse-part-1.pdf

3 http://protectsnowies.environment.nsw.gov.au

4 Review of the 2008 Horse Manage-ment Program Plan and Wild HorseManagement Program, KNP.

Chart Sources and Other calculations

Sources:

The estimated number of horses from

surveys was from http://protectsnowies.environment.nsw.gov.au

The horse ‘numbers removed’ was taken

from the Review of the 2008 Horse

Management Plan and Wild Horse

Management Program, KNP.

Other calculations:

The removed horses adjusted for just 10

per cent natural increase in numbers had

they remained.

The estimated number of horses in KNP

had no horses been removed.

This is the water access for campers at Bill Jones Hut on the

internationally renowned AAWT. Photo by Di Thompson.

Horse wallows have spread and deepened to knee height,

February 2018. Photo by Di Thompson.

Hammered by hooves (continued)

Scores from meeting in Queanbeyan, November 2014

Ranked 1–5 Ranked 6–10 Management method

(Not acceptable) (Acceptable)

29 70 Trapping and euthanasia onsite

38 62 Aerial shooting

47 53 Trapping and removal and rehoming

or transporting

48 52 Aerial ground mustering

55 46 Fertility control

55 46 Ground shooting

76 24 Brumby running or roping

77 22 Fencing


regulate prey populations, therebytending to aid in the maintenance ofdiversity.

Adventures and excitement withtracked goannas

After spending 12 days within half akilometre of their release point, bothtracked goannas headed away during theChristmas break. We now know that onewent approximately 3.5 km into a hiddengully, where its radio signal was trappedbehind low ridges. The other travelled toa point 12 km distant, far beyond therange of the radio equipment used todownload the GPS data.

Movements of this magnitude were asevere threat to the success of theproject. We would lose the animals andtheir tracking equipment if theyremained out of radio contact until thebatteries were exhausted. Our projecthad been designed in the knowledge thatthe largest published home range for anymember of the Varanidae family was lessthan 2.5 square km: the movements werecorded were beyond even the mostspeculative possibilities suggested bygoanna researchers.

Hard work by many peopleeventually located both animals. Theywere still in Namadgi but in fairly steepgullies. Walking to their locations wenoticed several Nasutitermes mounds –the kind goannas lay eggs in. Was thiswhat the male goannas had come for – tobe in a place that would be visited byfemales with eggs to lay? However,another problem immediately becameapparent.

Goannas trump girls!

In the rough granite of Namadgi, ourharness design from Kangaroo Islandhad already worn through and was

In an article in the March 2018 issue ofthe NPA Bulletin, Kevin McCue reportedon the trapping of Rosenberg’s Monitorsby a team based at Horse Gully Hut inthe Naas Valley in December 2017.Central to this was the release of twomales fitted with radio-linked GPStracking packs. The two tracking packswere purchased by the National ParksAssociation of the Australian CapitalTerritory (NPA). That article alsointroduced some of the people and theresearch collaboration between NPA, theUniversity of Canberra (UC),Conservation Research in EPSDD(Australian Capital TerritoryGovernment), and unpaid helpersincluding Matthew Higgins and me(affiliated with the Fenner School at theAustralian National University).

Rosenberg’s Monitor has beenresearched more than any otherAustralian goanna species, mainly onKangaroo Island, and especially byBrian Green who is helping lead ourproject. However, there is much to learnso we can enhance the conservation ofthe species in the temperate part of itsrange. The species is listed as‘vulnerable’ to extinction in NSW,Victoria and South Australia.

There is little genetic differencebetween Rosenberg’s populations acrossthe range of the species, but Brian tellsus the local animals are notably largerand seem more docile, among otherpossible differences. Together with thelarger Inland Carpet Python and TreeGoanna (both virtually gone from theACT region), and the dingo,Rosenberg’s would have been one of thelargest terrestrial predators in the ACTregion over the last several thousandyears and is likely to have helped

Update on the ACT Rosenberg’s Monitorproject – the 2017–18 season

hanging by a thread! Firenzo Guarino(UC) quickly fashioned a new harnessfrom a piece of denim torn from the legof his wife’s jeans! (Thanks Jo! But whydidn’t he use his own pants?) The newharness design was not only stronger, butalso simpler and lighter.

Il Tunneler?

A new harness was made ready for theother goanna, but too late. On13 January, he, that is ‘Goanna 3’ (theidentification symbol painted on hisback), left his tracking pack and harnessdeep in a crack between boulders andtree roots half way up a mountain.

It was obvious the recovery attemptwas going to test us. Enzo (L'eccellentetunneler) had a small wrecking bar andhis Italian heritage to fall back on – thereare even small tunnels in his Canberraback yard – whereas I only had a highschool tour of the Snowy Scheme. Withall our expertise we managed to tunnelunder the boulders and recover it, only toboth confess back in the car that nightthat we had each almost completelygiven up at least once, only refraining

Naas Goanna 2, Right Face.Naas Goanna 3, Right Face.

The unique faces of Rosenberg’s. Photos by Don Fletcher.(continued next page)

Matthew Higgins with G5 after its trackerwas removed. Photo by Elesha Curran.


Raven. Other species may be present inphotos yet to be examined. Moreinteresting is the absence from photosinspected to date of any fox, cat or feralpig, and the presence of only twodingoes. The absences may be moremeaningful than the species recorded.

Volunteers and corporate support

At least 16 people provided voluntaryfield support for the project: JohnBrickhill, Isobel Crawford, EleshaCurran, Jan Gatenby, Philip Gatenby,Brian Green, Enzo Guarino, StephanieHaygarth, Matthew Higgins, SonjaLenz, Chris Malam, Steph Manson,Kevin McCue, Kerry Moir, Brian Sleeand Jamie Valdivia. I apologise toanyone I have inadvertently omitted.Between us all, more than 1,000volunteer hours were worked with keyindividuals spending more than 150hours in the ‘Kingdom of Bursaria’ (notincluding the time spent extractingthorns over ensuing days).

Needless to say, the project wouldnot even have commenced without thisinspiring input of expertise, commonsense and time.

Employees of Conservation Research(Mel Snape, Kat Jenkins, ClaireWimpenny and Chris Malam) and Parksand Conservation (Mark Eldridge andDeklyn Townsend) also providedessential support, especially Kat Jenkinswho was in the right place with a 4WDvehicle on quite a few occasions.

Plans

In the spring we will be able to look forhatchlings emerging from the moundsthat Goanna H led us to. It will be agreat thing to see, so if it works out ashoped I will be happy to take thereanyone who supported the project. Fornow, the trackers have been removedfrom both goannas and we are inpreparation mode for their next

be revealed by the trail camerasborrowed from Conservation Research.

How many goannas are there?

While the tracking project was playingout, another 4-week-long investigationwas carried out with even greaterinvolvement of NPA members. Thisentailed the installation of 60 trailcameras at 20 locations 500 m apart, ateach of which a smelly meat bait hadbeen left, then relocation of all 20 sites,and removal of all the equipmentafterwards.

The aim was to attempt, by mark andresight, an estimate of the Naas goannapopulation, or at least to obtain an indexof abundance for comparison with othergoanna sites. Although some goannasmarked in the December trappingsession were recorded by the cameras,the main intent was to identifyindividuals by facial recognition. In ourcase the ‘mark’ in the name of themethod could be misleading. It meansonly the allocation of an identity (a‘name code’) to each face recognised inthe photos. Rosenberg’s Goannas seemto have unique faces. The reason forplacing three cameras at each bait sitewas to capture both sides of eachgoanna’s face in as much detail aspossible. However, the first step is toplough through the 400,000 photos tofind those containing goannas.

And what other species were detected(or absent) along the Naas Valley FireTrail?

I have quickly inspected some of theimages. As well as RGs, the survey alsorecorded Common Blue-tongue Lizards,Brush-tailed Possums, four species ofmacropods, Agile Antechinus, dingo,and Sambar and Fallow Deer. Birdsattracted to the bait or the associatedinsects included Collared Sparrowhawk,Eastern Yellow Robin, White-throatedTreecreeper, Grey Fantail and Australian

from starting to pack up because at thatmoment the other seemed so keen tokeep trying.

Migrating monitors

Both goannas were then returned to theplace where they had been caught andreleased! Kevin photographed Goanna 3crossing the fire trail back at his releasepoint and the GPS fixes for Goanna 5(still wearing Jo’s jeans) traced a 38 kmround trip. There are importantconservation implications if thisbehaviour is normal, rather than aberrantbehaviour by one odd individual.

Social animal, Casanova, good dad;or all of these?

Having tried unsuccessfully for afortnight to catch Goanna 3 to re-attachhis dislodged tracking pack, we fixed itto the next goanna we saw. Goanna Hbecame the hero of the project, leadingus to four other goannas, including hismain mate Goanna M, whose nest in anearby termite mound he was helping toguard. Over the weeks that the pairremained near this termite mound wetook several photos of honm and evensome of monh (H on M and M on H).

By leaving trail cameras on thenearby burrows and mounds, three moreindividual goannas were revealed withina few hundred metres, including apresumed female driving a largergoanna away from ‘John’s termitemound’. We couldn’t help noticing thisgroup of goannas was only about 1 kmfrom the place Goanna 5 had travelledto on his 38 km excursion.

A trail camera showed that a ‘not M’female frequently visited the nightburrow of Goanna H. But unfortunatelyhe had always left for the day before shearrived. Some days she waited aroundon his front porch, sunbathing without abikini. Like a teenager watching a soapopera, I could hardly wait for each newepisode of ‘Goanna Home and Away’ to

Update on the ACT Rosenberg’s Monitor project – the 2017–18 season (continued)

Below. Termite mound with repaired damage.

Right. Goannas H and M on guard duty (the mound is to the

left of the tree). Photos by Don Fletcher.



organising committee to developthese strategies

ooo

o getting sponsorships and localswith a high profile to publiciseNPA and its anniversary

ooo

o building better links with teachersooo

o organising competitions forprimary and high school kids anduniversity students, with anemphasis on photos, essays, an appfor nature spotting in the ACT andso on.

Any members who want to beinvolved in arranging 60th Anniversarycelebrations or with ideas onrecognising this milestone are asked tocontact a committee member or sendtheir ideas to [email protected]

Sonja Lenz and Philip Gatenby

• preparing an anniversary issue of theBulletin to continue the historicaltimelines in the previous specialissues – such an issue would alsocontain art work and poetry bymembers

• having a party in the bush• displaying Nicolas Day’s original bird

paintings – possible venues includethe Canberra Museum and Gallery orthe Tuggeranong and Belconnen artcentres – selling printed cards and/orcalendars from the existing scannedcopies of the paintings was alsosuggested

• convening a conference on ‘Nature inCanberra’ and how it has changed inthe past 60 years

• revitalising the NPA by activelyrecruiting new and younger members,using a variety of strategies,including:

Ooooo

o social mediaooo

o recruiting a professional fromoutside the Association onto the

Members are invited to submit theirideas on how best the Association cancelebrate its 60th Anniversary in 2020.At the April general meeting, ideas werecanvassed in a members’ forum. Ideasaired at the forum included:• making some of the Association’s past

endeavours more widely known andaccessible, such as by republishing thenature notes (written by NancyBurbidge and other early membersand published in The Canberra Times)from the 60s and 70s; organising anexhibition at the Heritage Librarywhere NPA’s papers are being kept; orcommissioning a history of the NPA

• using photographs taken by membersover the years, together with inputfrom researchers, to provide evidence,for instance, of climate-inducedchanges in the Alps, or in otherspecific areas

• replicating in the Outings Programsfor 2020 some of the outingsconducted in the 60s and 70s

The Publications Subcommittee hasbeen very busy over the last year: InDecember 2017 the third edition of thetree book was published; in early Aprilour most popular publication, the birdbook, was reprinted with minorchanges; and in May our updated fieldguide on butterflies of the ACT wasalso reprinted.

If you have previously received afaulty copy of the Field Guide to theButterflies of the Australian CapitalTerritory it will be replaced. Please

What’s happening with NPA publications?

Thanks to the injection of experienceby Brian and Enzo, at the end of the2017–18 season we already have viablemethods ready for future investigationsin the local region, including capturemethods, camera trapping and trackingsystems that can cope with localcircumstances, such as challenging siteslike the Clear Range and Booth Range.This progress has come about onlybecause of the vision of key NPAindividuals that led to the purchase oftwo tracking packs, and the generousinput of time and bush experience fromthe volunteers who capably assisted theresearch. Thank you all.

Don Fletcher

approximately $1,300 needed torefurbish the two existing trackers. Newtrackers cost several times as much.

Conclusion

At present there is an unusual abundanceof Rosenberg’s Monitor in the easternpart of Namadgi. While it lasts, thisevent provides an uncommonopportunity to research the species in apart of its range where abundance isgenerally low, as indicated by itsthreatened status. In particular, recentdecisions about potential environmentalimpact showed researchers the value oflocally based movement studies. Theresults of our pilot research to date havefurther emphasised the need for thatresearch.

deployment, which requiresrefurbishment by Telemetry Solutions inthe USA. We also need to start theanalysis and reporting of the results.

We should try to see how prevalentthese migratory moves are because oftheir potential conservation significance,so more animals need to be tracked oversummer. The first step is to securefunds. That can be another task for thiswinter.

Donations

The NPA web page now providesspecifically for donations to the goannaresearch project and already we havehad two generous gifts, taking ourbudget for further research to $1,000.The first priority is to secure the

Update on the ACT Rosenberg’s Monitor project – the 2017–18 season (continued)

return the faulty copy to the office orleave a phone message on (02) 62293201 to arrange for a replacement. Youcan also exchange your faulty copy for acopy of the updated reprint at a generalmeeting.

One of our eagle-eyed members,Rupert Barnett, noticed that there weresome errors in the eucalypt key in theField Guide to the Native Trees of theACT – one line of the key was missingand one eucalypt species had the wrongnumber. The Publications Subcommittee

had errata labels printed which are beinginserted into the book. If you havealready bought a copy of this newedition (without the erratum slip at thefoot of page 58) please pick up a label atthe general meeting or notify the officeon (02) 6229 3201 or by [email protected] and a sticker willbe sent to you by post.

Sonja Lenz

How should we celebrate NPA’s 60th?

1,000 m. Recently I returned to raft theriver from Virginia Falls to thesettlement of Nahanni Butte (195 km)for the second time. It is a trip wellworth repeating and one member of thegroup of 11 was on her third trip.

The torrent over Virginia Falls was asomewhat unsettling sight as our TwinOtter float plane circled to landupstream on the river. Winds were sostrong that a smaller Cessna had to turnback and try again the next day. Theriver was in flood, so our large, inflatedrafts sped along with no need forpaddling – only a bit of steering wasrequired of the three young guides.

We spent two nights in the relativelyluxurious Parks Canada campgroundabove the falls. There were picnic tables,tent platforms, duckboard walkways andactual dunnies with walls and doors.During our time there everything wascarried from the float plane dock to thelaunch point below the falls. Single-wheeled carts with hand brakes wereused for heavier items. The rest went onhuman backs – all who were ableparticipating. There was the opportunityfor interested hardy souls to climbSunblood Mountain which rises abovethe falls. Four of us paddled across theriver and completed the 990 m, 8 hour,16 km trek to the summit. The views upand down the river and across thesurrounding mountain ranges wereexhilarating. Following is mycontribution to the group journaldescribing the day.

Sunblood Ascent

Swift water crossing, paddles flashingBoggy spruce track, puddle jumping

Steep pine trail, poles essentialLong scree slope, scary track

Yellow Cinquefoil, White Camas LiliesButterflies clinging in strong wind

Distant views of looping riversSunny skies, approaching showers

Rocky summit, restful lunchHappy chatter on descent

Hugging trees to slow the paceDinner waiting, adventurers feted.

In comparison to the Sunblood hike, therest of the trip was rather sedate butnever boring: watching the magnificentscenery go by, loading and unloadingthe rafts every day, keeping watch forwildlife. A few days later most of us

was last glaciated over 200,000 yearsago. Since then the river has beengradually carving through the ever-rising rocks. Ancient rocks form thecanyon walls and fossils abound on theriver banks. The canyon is noted for itsgeology and on my previous trip aCanadian geologist could not contain hisdelight in the fossils and 5 million-year-old rocks.

The park is home to many species ofnative mammals, birds and fish as wellas the dramatic 117 m Virginia Falls andCanada’s deepest canyon at over

The recently enlarged Nahanni NationalPark in southern Northwest Territoriesof Canada now includes the entirecatchment of the Nahanni River – NahaDehe to the indigenous Dene. It was oneof the first seven designated UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites and the first inCanada. It is also designated a CanadianHeritage River to ensure its long-termprotection.

The park includes a section of theice-free corridor during the last majorglaciation (Wisconsinian) that extendsinto Alaska. Much of the river valley


River rafting in Canada: chasing butter-flies down the Nahanni

Virginia Falls (117 m) with Sunblood Mountain

1,000 m above. Photo by Esther Gallant.

Floating down the Nahanni River on a lovely sunny day. Photo by Esther Gallant.



climbed the 490 m Nahanni Gates cliffto look down on a narrow constriction ofthe canyon and the winding riverbeyond.

Wildlife: Along the way we saw ayoung male moose on the bank watchingwith apparent curiosity as the strange redobjects floated by. It tried to follow usdownstream, but the rugged river banksoon brought his progress to a halt.There was lots of beaver-chewed woodalong the way. A beaver passed within afew metres of our dinner circle splashingdown a shallow rivulet to attend tobeaver business in the big river. Therewere numerous Dall Sheep appearing as

moving white dots on the mountain sidesabout a thousand metres above us. Asmall Black Bear rushed through onecamp on a mission that didn’t involvehumans.

Then there were the butterflies! Iphotographed two clinging to vegetationin a gale on top of Sunblood. There weremany Red-spotted Admirals and Pink-edged Sulphurs plus several other lessnumerous species all along the river.Others in the group noticed my interestand started paying attention as well andpointing out butterflies. There also weremany small bumble bees, some with redbums, in riverside willow shrubs. There

seemed to be something they wantedon the under surface of the leaves.

On day 10 we deflated rafts andpacked gear for the 1-hour trip toNahanni Butte. First Nations boatmencarried us through about 20 km ofsluggish braided river to the landingstrip in their village. On this final daywe saw several large Wood Bisonresting along the banks. Then a lastsmall-plane trip (with wheels this time)back to a lovely B&B for hot showersand a final group dinner.

Esther Gallant

River rafting in Canada: chasing butterflies down the Nahanni (continued)

Nights Out

Nights in the swag, waking from time to time as the sky moves around. The clarity of stars, the fuzziness ofbrain, trying to work out which is which. Is the moon in Scorpio tonight? Deep down I want to go back tothe desert. Or do I really? By day it’s so desolate and remote. But by night I’m part of that great turning.

I’ve never owned a swag. Doing field work it was always the firm’s. And on private walking and climbingtrips it was too heavy and bulky so I just used a sleeping bag. Must have been hundreds of nights out there.Some tense moments … mmm … it’s clouding over ... doesn’t often rain in the arid zone. Feeling the firstraindrops on my face – will it, won’t it? Go back to sleep Gerry! Sometimes it’s OK, sometimes not. Somenights I wake up soaked and need to do something about it though sleepy, bedraggled and wishing formorning light.

I did try a bivvy bag for a year or two. Then it rained in the ‘always dry’ Nullarbor. I lay in the spinifex forthree nights in an orange plastic coffin, wet from condensation. But oh, the wonder of that undergroundlake, swimming with a head torch, marble walls agleam.

just beforethe frosty dawn

Orionrises in the east

summer will surely come again

Gerry Jacobson

Photos by Esther Gallant. Pink-edged Sulphur Butterfly. Anise Swallowtail near Sunblood Summit.


What do you know about the nativeforest logging crisis prevailing in EastGippsland? If you have an answer otherthan ‘not much’, you’d be heads andshoulders above the two environmentalscience students from the University ofCanberra writing this report. But Easterchanged all that for us.

If you were to have ventured north ofOrbost around Easter time each year forthe past 35 years, you’d find a gatheringof people as diverse as the forests theybriefly inhabit. A type of people all toorare in this day and age, but one that isimmeasurably important. This year wasno exception, with engineers,photographers, four-wheel-driveenthusiasts, tree surgeons and nomads allconverging on the forests aroundGoongerah in East Gippsland. TheForests Forever Ecology Camp, hostedby Environment East Gippsland, theVictorian National Parks Association andGoongerah Environment Centre, seeks tobring forest and nature enthusiaststogether to raise awareness and funds,and discuss and learn about the variousforest types in East Gippsland and theissues that surround them.

Through guided tours in some of theremaining stands of old-growth forestsand presentations from some forestecology experts, we learnt about thedamage being done and themisconceptions surrounding forestmanagement in East Gippsland. Welearnt that as forests are removed byclear-fell logging and subsequentburning, they are transformed fromincredibly biodiverse ecosystems tostands of monoculture trees with littleecological importance. To the generalpublic, this burning is portrayed as aregeneration technique, when in reality ithas great detrimental impacts.

Once this ‘regeneration’ techniquehas been performed, the remainingstands of trees are more susceptible tobushfires, unlike the old-growth foreststhat stood before them. Old-growthforests, with their thick canopies andunderstories that cast a year-roundshadow, can maintain a moist forest flooreven at the driest of times. This presenceof moisture encourages decomposition ofleaf litter, significantly reducing theamount of fuel available for fires. Thismeans that they are naturally fire-deterring. Clear-felling and burning hasbeen conducted in a scattered manner inthe forests of East Gippsland, meaningthe margins of remaining old-growthforests have increased in length, in turnincreasing the amount of light and heatpenetration into the forests, subsequentlydrying them out. Thus, not only are wereducing the amount of old growthforests existing, but also we are causingthe remaining stands to become moresusceptible to fire.

The reason these forests are allowedto be logged in the first place is due tothe Victorian Regional Forest Agreement(RFA), which allocates certain areas ofthe forests as either areas to be logged orareas to be protected, depending on thetype of forest that area is described as.This means that the accurate descriptionof forests plays a very important role intheir conservation. If a rare MountainAsh stand were to be incorrectlydescribed and designated as a mixedforest, then regardless of its actualcomposition, that forest may becomeopen to logging. The RFA is currently upfor renewal, and there is a push fromenvironmental groups to have itreviewed and changed, away from theold scientific understanding it iscurrently based on.

During the evenings we were treatedto presentations by speakers from thesupporting environmental groups of thecamp. One such presentation looked atthe important survey work beingconducted in the forests aroundGoongerah, such as a camera trappingsurvey conducted in the QueensboroughRiver forests that identified protectedGreater Gliders. This detection wasenough to enact legal protection of theforest and stop prescribed logging fromoccurring. This was just one example ofthe plethora of important fauna speciesthat can be found in the region.

How can you measure the success ofsuch an event? Is it a monetary value orthe count of participants? We’d beinclined to argue for the number of eyesthat are opened and priceless value insharing information and stories, and thevery essence of standing underneath atowering Errinundra Shining Gum.There isn’t a dollar amount that willbring about the change so desperatelyneeded in the currently insatiableAustralian forestry industry, but perhapsafter chucking a couple of keenenvironmental students out there in thefresh forest air, they’ll come back andtell their friends and family.

Max Mallett and Erin Fischer

2018 Forests Forever Ecology Camp

Mature wattle monoculture regrowth. Photo by Di Thompson.Young wattle monoculture regrowth. Photo by Di Thompson.

Points to notePlease help keep our outings program alive by volunteering to lead outings. New leaders are welcome. The Outings Convener ishappy to suggest locations suitable for a walk if you do not have something in mind. Feel free to send in suggestions for outingswith a suggested date to the Outings Convener by email to [email protected]

All persons joining an outing of the National Parks Association of the ACT do so as volunteers in all respects and as suchaccept responsibility for any injury howsoever incurred and the National Parks Association of the ACT, its office bearers andappointed leaders, are absolved from any liability in respect of injury or damage suffered whilst engaged in any such outing.

In voluntarily participating in these activities conducted by the NPA ACT, participants should be aware that they could beexposed to risks that could lead to injury, illness or death or to loss of or damage to property. These risks could include but are notlimited to slippery and/or uneven surfaces, rocks being dislodged, falling at edges of cliffs or drops or elsewhere, risks associatedwith crossing creeks, hypothermia, heat exhaustion and the risks associated with any of the Special Hazards listed on the Atten-dance Record and Risk Waiver Form provided by the leader at the activity.

To minimise these risks participants should endeavour to ensure that the activity is within their capabilities and that they arecarrying food, water, equipment, clothing and footwear appropriate to the activity. Participants should advise the leader if they aretaking any medication or have any physical or other limitation that might affect their participation in the activity. Participantsshould make every effort to remain with the rest of the party during the activity and accept the instructions of the leader. By sign-ing the Attendance Record and Risk Waiver Form participants agree that they understand these requirements and have consideredthe risks before choosing to sign the form and waiver any claim for damages arising from the activity that they might have againstthe association, the leader or any other participants in tort or contract.

Children under 18 years of age are welcome to come on NPA ACT activities provided they are accompanied by a parent,guardian or close relative. Parents or Guardians will be required to sign a specific Risk Waiver for a Child form.

Leaders to note. Please send copies of completed Attendance Record and Risk Waiver Formsto Brian Slee, contact 6281 0719 or [email protected] has a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) available to leaders. The PLB can be obtainedfrom Steven Forst, contact 0428 195 236 or [email protected]

NPA outings programJ u n e – S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8

Bushwalk Grading Guide

Distance grading (per day) Terrain grading1 up to 10 km A Road, fire trail or track E Rock scrambling

2 10 km to 15 km B Open forest F Exploratory

3 15 km to 20 km C Light scrub

4 above 20 km D Patches of thick scrub, regrowth

Day walks Carry lunch and snacks, drinks, protective clothing, a first aid kit and any required medication.

Pack walks Two or more days. Carry all food and camping requirements. CONTACT LEADER EARLY.

Car camps Facilities often limited. Vehicles taken to site can be used for camping. CONTACT LEADER EARLY.

Work parties Carry items as for day walks plus work gloves and any tools required. Work party details and location sometimes

change, check NPA website, www.npaact.org.au, for any last minute changes.

Other activities include ski trips, canoe trips, nature rambles and environment or field guide studies.Wednesday walks (WW). Medium or somewhat harder walks arranged on a joint NPA, BBC (Brindabella Bushwalking Club)

and CBC (Canberra Bushwalking Club) basis for fit and experienced club walkers. Notification and details areonly emailed to members registered for WW. Only NPA-hosted WW are shown in this program. For WW emailregistration, contact the Outings Convener.

Transport The NPA suggests a passenger contribution to transport costs of 40 cents per kilometre for the distance drivendivided by the number of occupants of the car including the driver, rounded to the nearest dollar. The amountmay be varied at the discretion of the leader. Drive and walk distances shown in the program are approximate forreturn journeys.

NPA ACT members undertaking walks or other activities in this program are advised they should have PRIVATE HEALTH

INSURANCE or, at least, AMBULANCE COVER in case of an accident requiring evacuation by ambulance or helicopter.


Main Range from The Paralyser, Kosciuszko National Park. Photo by Brian Slee.


9 June Saturday Work PartyGudgenby Bush Regeneration GroupMeet at the Namadgi Visitor Centre,Tharwa at 9:15 am and car pool toGudgenby Valley. Some will collect andremove piles of barbed wire and starpickets and bring to Frank and Jacks Hut,assisted by a Ranger using the park’squad bike. Others will chip weeds aroundthe hut. Tools provided.Leader: Kevin McCueContact: 6251 1291 [email protected]

9–11 June Pack WalkThe VinesA walk in Morton National Park mainlyon fire trail from the Nerriga entrance. Atwo-night camp in the forest clearing atthe former site of Piercys Cabin in TheVines area between Quiltys Mountain andGalbraith Plateau. The second day wewill visit the Bora Ground on QuiltysMountain and Hidden Valley beforereturning to the camp site. Walk out onthe third day. Contact leader early fordetails.Drive: 256 km, $102 per car.Map: CMW The Northern BudawangRange, Endrick 1:25,000Grading: 2 A/B/ELeader: Steven ForstContact: 0428 195 236 [email protected]

17 June Sunday WalkLake Burley Griffin – EasternCircuitMeet at National Carillon car park at9:30 am. Follow path east under KingsAvenue Bridge and proceed via ACTHospice and Molonglo River toJerrabomberra Wetlands. Sit-down lunchat Kingston Foreshore. Return to Carillonvia Kings Avenue Bridge. There will betime to linger at the wetlands and the newdevelopments in the foreshore area.Map: Canberra street directory; Barrow'sWalking Canberra, Walks 60–63.Grading: 1 ALeader: Brian SleeContact: 6281 0719 (h) [email protected]

1 July Sunday WalkSettlers TrackA walk along a formed walking track insouthern Namadgi of about 10 kmvisiting Brayshaws, Waterhole andWestermans huts, as well as the Tin DishSchool site, historic fence, sheep dip andyard remains, plus the Westerman graves.Meet Kambah Village Shops fordeparture at 8:30 am.Drive: 160 km, $60 per car.Maps: Yaouk and Shannons Flat 1:25,000Grading: 2 A/BLeader: Mike SContact: 0412 179 907

8 July Sunday WalkNursery Swamp andRendezvous Creek from OrroralValleyMeet at Kambah Village Shops at 8:30am. Our walk will take us from OrroralValley over into Nursery Swamp formorning tea overlooking wetland. Thenback up the track and over to RendezvousCreek to a little clearing for lunch. Afterlunch we will climb back to the top ofNursery Creek and then back down to theOrroral Valley.Drive: 90 km, $36 per car.Maps: Rendezvous Creek 1:25,000Grading: 2 A/C/ELeader: Steven ForstContact: 0428 195 236 [email protected]

15 July Sunday Snowshoe WalkTate West RidgeDepart 6:15 am. Drive to Guthega carpark. Climb Guthega Ridge and crossConsett Stephen Pass to Tate West Ridge.Great views to Watsons Crags fromwestern side of ridge. Return via GuthegaRiver valley (or via ridge if too difficult).Some steep climbs. Afternoon teaJindabyne. Participants hiring snowshoesshould be in possession of them prior todeparture. Book with leader by Saturdaymorning for weather check, departurepoint and car arrangements (chains maybe required).

23 June Saturday Work PartyFence removal – Gudgenby ValleyThis will be the first fence removal NPAwork party at Gudgenby this year. We willconcentrate on the fence line to the north-west of the valley that ran towards the siteof Rowleys Hut. All tools will beprovided. Meet at Kambah Village Shopsat 8:00 am.Drive: 80 km, $32 per car.Leader: Martin ChalkContact: 0411 161 056

24 June Sunday CycleMilo Trig, Monga NP by bikeWe will transport bikes by car to PenanceGrove in Monga National Park, pastBraidwood. We will then push and ridethe bikes uphill along unsealed fire trails,up Milo Road, past the junction withSaddleback Road to Macquarie Road.From the high point on the road, it is ashort walk through the bush to Milo Trig(1,050 m). Lunch on the summit. Moredownhill on the return. A uniquerainforest experience. Contact the leaderby Thursday 21 June to express interest.Drive: 190 km (from Queanbeyan),$76 per car.Maps: Monga and Araluen 1:25,000Grading: 3 A/CLeader: David DedenczukContact: 0417 222 154 or [email protected]

27 June Wednesday WalkJoint NPA / BBC / CBC activityDetails are emailed to those on theWednesday walks email list. Otherwisecontact the leader.Leader: Mike SContact: 0412 179 907

NPA outings program June – September 2018 (page 2 of 4)

Tree ferns, Monga National Park.

Nursery Swamp.

Regeneration blocks, Gudgenby Valley.


Note: If traffic holdups are likely inJindabyne, the walk may be delayed untilMonday.Drive: 420 km, $168 per car + Park entryfee.Maps: Perisher Valley and Geehi Dam1:25,000Grading: 2 B (on snow)Leader: Brian SleeContact: 6281 0719 [email protected]

21 July Saturday Work PartyplusGBRG 20th Anniversary Lunch

Gudgenby Bush Regeneration GroupWe are celebrating the 20th Anniversaryof the first Gudgenby Bush RegenerationGroup Work Party in July 1998. We willhave a work party in the morningchipping weeds west of Frank and JacksHut towards Bogong Creek. We will thenhave a “pot luck” lunch at 12:30 pm atFrank and Jacks Hut. Past and presentPark Service staff and GBRG membersare invited to join us for lunch. For thosejoining us for the morning work party wewill meet at the Namadgi Visitor Centre,Tharwa at 9:15 am and car pool to Frankand Jacks Hut. For visitors joining us forlunch, meet at the Yankee Hat car park at12:15 pm (locked gate).Leader: Michael GoonreyContact: 0419 494 142 [email protected]

25 July Wednesday WalkJoint NPA / BBC / CBC activityDetails are emailed to those on theWednesday walks email list. Otherwisecontact the leader.Leader: Mike SContact: 0412 179 907

28 July Saturday Work PartyStoney Creek Nature Reserve –Pine ControlThis is the fourth formal NPA work partyin this area. The activity will be acontinuation of the work conducted inJuly 2017. Bring loppers and bush saw.Replacement saw blades and gloves willbe provided. Meet at Cooleman Court(behind McDonald’s) at 8:30 am.Drive: 35 km, $14 per car.Leader: Martin ChalkContact: 6292 3502 or 0411 161 056

4 August Saturday WalkWave CaveWave Cave is a spectacular sandstoneformation in the headwaters of BainbriggCreek in the Budawangs. The walk issouth of the Nowra–Braidwood Road,getting into and out of the headwaters of

the creek via breaks in the cliff line andinvolves rock scrambling and negotiatingthick scrub. Total climb of about 400 m.Car shuffle maybe needed. Contact leaderby Thursday 2 August, preferably byemail, for start time and transportarrangements.Drive: 280 km, $112 per car.Map: Nerriga 1:25,000Grading: 2 A/D/E/FLeader: Philip GatenbyContact: 0401 415 446 [email protected]

11 August Saturday Work PartyGudgenby Bush Regeneration GroupMeet at the Namadgi Visitor Centre,Tharwa at 9:15 am. Car pool to GudgenbyValley. Barbed wire fence removal westof Peppermint Hill. Tools provided.Leader: Simon BuckpittContact: 6154 1403 [email protected]

12 August Sunday WalkLower Orroral LoopA gentle walk from the Orroral CampingGround up the Orroral Valley withmorning tea at Orroral Homestead beforecontinuing through the old trackingstation site to an interesting split rock forlunch. We will then wander back down

the valley to complete our loop. Meet atKambah Village Shops for an 8:30amdeparture.Drive: 94km, $37 per car.Map: Corin Dam and Rendezvous Creek1:25,000Grading: 2 ALeader: Steven ForstContact: 0428 195 236 [email protected]

15 August Wednesday WalkJoint NPA / BBC / CBC activityDetails are emailed to those on theWednesday walks email list. Otherwisecontact the leader.Leader: Philip GatenbyContact: 0401 415 446 [email protected]

19 August Sunday SnowshoeWalkRamsheadDeparting at 6:30 am. Drive past Thredboto Dead Horse Gap (park at upper level).Climb ridge west of Bogong Creek thenNW to Ramshead. Lunch on summit withgreat views of Main Range. Return viaridge on other side of Bogong Creek.Steep climbs. Afternoon tea at Jindabyne.Participants hiring snowshoes should bein possession of them prior to departure.Book with leader by Saturday morningfor weather check, departure point andcar arrangements (chains may berequired).Drive: 420 km, $168 per car + Park entryfee.Map: Perisher Valley and ChimneysRidge 1:25,000Grading: 1 B (on snow)Leader: Brian SleeContact: 6281 0719 or [email protected]

25 August Saturday WorkPartyMoores Hill – Woody WeedControlThis is the first time the NPA has visitedthis site. The activity will involve theremoval of woody weeds. Bring loppersand bush saw. Replacement saw bladesand gloves will be provided, as willherbicide. Meet at Cooleman Court(behind McDonald’s) at 8:45 am.Drive: 32 km, $14 per car.Leader: Martin ChalkContact: 6292 3502 or 0411 161 056


Orroral Homestead.

Wave Cave.

29 August Wednesday WalkJoint NPA / BBC / CBC activityDetails are emailed to those on theWednesday walks email list. Otherwisecontact the leader.Leader: Steven ForstContact: 0428 195 236 [email protected]

2 September Sunday WalkBushfold FlatsWalk from Honeysuckle Campground toBooroomba Rocks for morning tea.Anyone not wanting to make the climbup Booroomba Rocks is welcome the jointhe walk and have their morning tea inthe Booromba Rocks Campground andwait for the group to return. Continue onthe Australian Alps Walking Track toBushfold Flats for lunch. In the afternoonproceed via Reads Hut (aka BushfoldHut) to the fire trail and continue toApollo Road. Car shuffle involved. Meetat Kambah Village Shops at 8:30 am.Drive: 60 km, $24 per car.Map: Williamsdale 1:25,000Grading: 3ALeader: MargaretContact: 0448 924 357 [email protected]

8 September Saturday Work PartyGudgenby Bush Regeneration GroupMeet at Namadgi Visitor Centre, Tharwaat 9:15am and car pool to GudgenbyValley. Weeding and spraying atPeppermint Hill. Tools provided.Leader: Doug BrownContact: 6288 2805 [email protected]


$50 per person, plus travel costs. Thisreserve of 115,604 ha has semi-aridwoodlands, mallee and rocky hills.Activities over 3 days will include slowwalks with birdwatching, plantidentification, searching for orchids,inspection of historic buildings andAboriginal objects and sites. Also quickvisits to a few nature reserves whiletravelling between Canberra andYathong. Numbers limited. Contactleader early.Maps: Mt Allen 1:100,000 and Coombie1:100,000Grading: 2 A/B/C/D/E/FLeader: John BrickhillContact: 0427 668 112 [email protected]

22 September Saturday WorkPartyOrroral Valley (Rabbity Hill)Weed ControlThis is the first time the NPA has visitedthis site. The activity will involve theremoval of weeds (horehound and thelike) from the rocky knoll that bears SSWabout 450 m from Orroral Homestead.Bring leather gloves. Nitrile gloves andherbicide will be provided. Meet atKambah Village Shops at 8:00 am.Drive: 87 km, $35 per car.Leader: Martin ChalkContact: 6292 3502 or 0411 161 056

26 September Wednesday WalkJoint NPA / BBC / CBC activityDetails are emailed to those on theWednesday walks email list. Otherwisecontact the leader.Leader: BarrieContact: 0412 179 907

16 September Sunday MorningDrive/WalkGlenburn PrecinctWe will visit most historic sites to seewhat has been achieved over the pastdecade by the Parks Service and theFriends of Glenburn. We will also talkabout work in progress and what stillneeds to be done at some sites. Meet atCanberra Railway Station, Kingston at9:00 am for car pooling.Leader: Col McAlisterContact: 6288 4171 [email protected]

16 September Sunday SnowshoeKiandra AreaDepart 6:30 am. Drive via Adaminaby toKiandra area. Destination will be decidedhaving regard to snow coverage andgeneral conditions. Participants hiringsnowshoes should be in possession ofthem prior to departure. Book with leaderby Saturday morning for weather check,departure point and car arrangements(chains may be required).Drive: 280 km, $112 per car.Map: Rooftop’s Kiandra–TumutGrading: 2 B (on snow)Leader: Brian SleeContact: 6281 0719 [email protected]

17–21 September Car Campwith AccommodationYathong Nature ReserveYathong is about 500 km to the north-west of Canberra, in central NSW.Accommodation in shearers quarters,with twin beds in each room, kitchen andablutions block. Cost (donation) about

Locals on the road at Yathong Nature

Reserve. Photo by Jan Gatenby.



Ministers Rattenbury and Gentleman, atfamily reunions and work parties.Provide me with a memory stick/CD orsimply e-mail them [email protected]

The future

Staff and students of the ANU Centre forHeritage and Museum Studies will visitthe Precinct over several days in June2018.

With the winding up of the Friends,protection and conservation tasks in thePrecinct now largely rest with theGoogong depot of the Parks Service.There is a possibility that KosciuszkoHuts Association (KHA) will be able toassist. In mid-February, Simon Buckpittof KHA met with Nadia Rhodes of theGoogong Depot to discuss possible helpfrom their members, many of who areskilled in restoring old buildings.

Col McAlister

Minister gave noassurances aboutfuture funding forthe Precinct.

Staff of theGoogong Depothave recentlyerected signs onthe KingsHighway andmowed/slashedsome sites andthe heritage trails.While these trailsare still open,some sites haverestricted access,particularly thepisé home of Glenburn Homestead andthe Shearing Shed Complex, wherestudies are underway on what can andcannot be removed and what should bedone about the contaminated sheep dip(that is temporarily fenced off). In thenear future, a new, protective, rabbit-proof fence will be erected around theShearing Shed Complex, and the steelcattle yards owned by the lessee will berelocated.

Collection of Glenburn photosand other material

Max Lawrence has taken many photoson outings to Glenburn over the past 15years and collected photos and materialfrom other sources including thedescendants of early settlers, theNational Library, newspapers andvisitors to the Precinct. Copies will beprovided to the Parks Service and ACTHeritage Library. Other NPA membersmay wish to provide me with a smallselection of their best photos,particularly those taken at visits by

Friends of Glenburn

In February and March, five morebenches were erected and painted with amix of linseed oil and mineral turps.Three of the benches, costing some$1,800, were donated by the Friends.

The Friends held its final work partyand wake on 8 May. ‘New’ post and railfences at Glenburn Homestead and theColverwell graves were painted. Formerand current volunteers and somemembers of the Parks Service thencelebrated the work of the past decadeby the Friends and the Parks Service inthe Precinct over lunch. At the end ofthe lunch I proposed the following toast:

Thanks all past and presentvolunteers of the Friends ofGlenburn and all cash and in kinddonors to the cause. Long live theParks Service’s commitment to theGlenburn Precinct. May you get allthe resources you need to do thejob.

Vale Friends of Glenburn.

Other developments

On 8 February 2018, the ACT HeritageCouncil made changes to the heritageregistration details for the GlenburnPrecinct. The main change was toinclude Atkinson Trig.

On 16 February 2018, I wrote toMinister Gentleman asking him toaddress the tardiness of ACT Heritage inclearing the Conservation ManagementPlan (CMP) for the Precinct and toensure that the Parks Service issufficiently resourced to make GlenburnHomestead and the shearing shedcomplex structurally safe. A reply fromthe Minister on 23 May inferred theCMP will be finalised shortly. The

Col with the PCL team – Anthony Hart, Colin Schofield and

Lois Padgham. Photo by Max Lawrence.

Glenburn Precinct

Friends at work on the fence surrounding Glenburn

Homestead, May 2018. Photo by Max Lawrence.

Newly treated fence, and Glenburn Homestead, May 2018.

Photo by Max Lawrence.

destination for the day, progress slowedin thick scrub and lawyer vine (Smilaxaustralis). We eventually found a placeto camp on the creek, close to itsjunction with Hollands Creek, about11 hours since setting out in themorning.

Walking upstream along HollandsCreek the next morning involvednumerous crossings that were notdifficult. The banks were fairly open ifwe kept close to the creek. We stoppedbriefly at an attractive campsite at thejunction of Angel Creek and HollandsCreek before climbing steeply west thensouth-west out of Hollands Gorge on theridge west of Angel Creek. The bush onthe ridge was open and once it levelledoff walking was easy. Lunch was on aknoll with a view. Where the ridge meetsthe lower cliff line is a large cairn. Wetook this to indicate it was time tocontour below the cliffs and drop intothe rainforest of Angel Creek, aboveCrooked Falls. Progress up the creeksteadily became more difficult as largemoss-covered boulders clogged its bedand the sides got steeper and closed in.About a kilometre upstream of the falls,pink tape marked a possible exit fromthe creek to the western side of MountDonjon. It was getting late so wedecided not to attempt an exit here butcontinued another 800 m upstream to acampsite recommended by Linda Groomof the Canberra Bushwalking Club. It’s abeautiful spot in a stand of coachwood atthe junction of two branches of thecreek. Darkness fell and glow worms‘turned on’ in the rocks across the creekfrom our tents. We’d taken 10 hours tocover 5.5 km and were well and trulyready for a rest.

Going further up the creek’s righthand branch didn’t look inviting soabout 100 m from our campsite weclimbed to the east out of the creek. Itwas steep and scrubby and a stop-goaffair negotiating minor cliffs but

Hollands Gorge

About 3 km east of Camp Rock, justafter Newhaven Gap, a rock cairn besidethe Endrick River Trail marks the startof a foot track to Folly Point andbeyond. The quality of the track to thepoint varied from easy going to ‘in needof maintenance’. Mitchell Lookout, withviews to the south and east, was theideal spot for a break. The lookout isnamed after Graeme Mitchell whoexplored and mapped the area in 1957(Watson 1982). Soon after the lookoutthere were views into Hollands Gorgeand of the Castle and other sandstonemassifs to the south. We admired theview as we lunched at Folly Point thenfound the top of Watsons Pass, ouraccess to the gorge. The rope I’d broughtwasn’t needed but we had to pass packsin a number of places to get through thetop cliff line. Near the top, spikes driveninto the rock and a small chain helpedthe descent. In 1961, Colin Watson1 ofthe Coast and Mountain Walkers foundthe pass which goes from Folly Point toHollands Gorge and now bears his name(Hilder 1982). It’s a drop of more than600 m through two cliff lines. The passused to be graced by a track which hasnow mostly disappeared but there arestill cairns and relatively recent pinktape marking some sections. Wefollowed these markers to the cavebelow the second cliff line then, soonafter, lost them or they disappeared.Near Camping Rock Creek, our

Date: 7–12 November 2017.Participants: Philip Gatenby (leader),

Jan Gatenby, Judy Kelly, DaveKelly.

Weather: Cool, fine, mostly sunny.

In the weeks before the walk,unseasonably warm and dry weatherraised our concerns about fire dangerand a lack of water in the Budawangs.All this changed on the day before thewalk when heavy rain eased the mini-drought and ensured there would be anadequate supply of water. Fortuitously,the day of rain coincided with a meetingDave had to attend, so the start of thewalk had already been delayed by a day.

We travelled to the Nerriga entranceof Morton National Park at the end ofMeangora Road and from here walkedon the now designated track to theEndrick River. It was flowing well.Once across, we continued on theRedgrounds Track to Teatree Creek formorning tea. Wildflowers either side ofthe track were abundant – isopogon,teatree, hibbertia and boronia. Cicadaswere in full voice in the morning sun.

Our lunch stop was soon after crossingthe Endrick again. We then headed southon the Endrick River Trail, passing anisolated stand of flowering waratah(Telopea mongaensis) on Vines Creek,through the rainforest of The Vines,where Dave saw an echidna, and on toCamp Rock. It’s named as such,apparently, after being used as a camp inthe mid 1880s by a cattle grazier, DavidStrang, who was possibly the first lesseein the Budawangs (Watson 1982). Onour arrival at camp we were greeted by acool, sluggish Tiger Snake which slowlyslithered into the undergrowth. Cloudrolled in from the east as the sun set, butby the time the expected drizzleeventuated we were well ensconced inour tents for the night.



Bushwalk reportsSix days in the Budawangs

Negotiating Watsons Pass.

Photo by Jan Gatenby.

Hollands Gorge from Folly Point. Photo by Jan Gatenby.

Isopogon. Photo by Philip Gatenby.


Redgrounds Track we finished bylunchtime. I think all of us felt quite asense of achievement having walked86 km and climbed over 2,300 m insome remarkable country.

Philip GatenbyFootnotes:

1 Colin Watson played a key role ingetting the Budawangs included in anational park. He received an OAMfor his work in conservation andbushwalking and died on 30 April2017 aged 93.

2 Sturgiss J. H. 1986, The Man fromthe Misty Mountains, The BudawangCommittee, Eastwood.

References:

Hilder, Wilf 1982, Bushwalkers – TheLatter Day Explorers, TheBudawang Committee, PigeonHouse and Beyond, Eastwood, pp.96–140.

Rigby, Frank 1985, S.B.W. PlaceNames in the Budawangs, TheSydney Bushwalker, May, http://sbw.ozultimate.com/wiki/198505

Watson, Colin 1982, Dictionary ofPlace Names, The BudawangCommittee, Pigeon House andBeyond, Eastwood, pp. 181–190.

Watson, Colin 1985, Place Names inthe Budawangs, The SydneyBushwalker, July, http://sbw.ozultimate.com/wiki/198507

Earlier government maps give each ofthese mountains a different name. ThusOwen was called Mount Renwick, Colewas Roswaine, Donjon was Fletcher,Nibelung was Irambang and ShroudedGods was Pataird. These alternativenames first appeared on a sketch mapcalled Mount Pigeon House – TheCastle, which was prepared by KenAngel in 1951. They were mostly basedon the names of his friends (Rigby1985). It was not until The BudawangCommittee made a submission in 1967to the Geographical Names Board ofNSW on nomenclature in theBudawangs, which was largelyaccepted, that the names currently in usewere officially recognised (Watson1985).

Next morning (day 5) we crossedMount Tarn (Tairn on some older maps),taking advantage of recent track work toclear the more scrubby sections. Wethen skirted the southern and easternflanks of Mount Haughton (named aftera local grazier from early last century),where the track in places is obscured byregrowth, and continued to the StylesCreek crossing for lunch. From thecrossing we went north to The Vines onan old forestry road. Jan and I detouredbriefly to Hidden Valley. The track northof the Kilpatrick Creek crossing,through a section of rainforest and about2 km from its junction with the EndrickRiver Trail at The Vines has beenrecently cleared of many of the fallenlogs which on previous trips hadsignificantly impeded progress. Wemade for Piercys Clearing for the night,just to the north of the junction.

On the last day our route repeatedmost of the walk’s first day. Apart fromheading in the opposite direction, themain difference from day one was thatthe volume of water at all the creekcrossings had reduced significantly.Making good progress along the

eventually we cleared the cliff line andthe gradient lessened. We were now ‘outof the frying pan’ so to speak. As theslope levelled, the scrub thickened andsoon became almost impenetrable. I’dalways thought getting through head-high coral fern was hard going. It hasnothing on head-high Dog Rose(Bauera rubioides) – patches of CoralFern (Gleichenia dicarpa) werewelcomed as they provided some relieffrom the Bauera. After 2 hours wereached the morning’s target, the foottrack along the western side of MountCole, 600 m from and 200 m above lastnight’s campsite. Leaving packs in anearby camping cave, three of uscompleted a clockwise circuit aroundMount Cole, passing Donjon Mountain,Seven Gods Pinnacles near ShroudedGods, through the green and dampMonolith Valley then along the side ofMount Owen. Beyond Monolith Valleythere wasn’t a track but a negotiableroute marked with cairns and tape, somelooking quite fresh. We had lunch onMount Owen and admired the views ofThe Castle, nearby Mount Nibelung,Yadboro Forest and the distant sparklingsea. Tonight’s campsite was to the westof the overhang where we’d left ourpacks, 2 km along the track which bynow we’d rejoined, at the headwaters ofthe Corang River, between BibbenlukeWalls and Mount Tarn.

Names change

I was interested in the names of themountains around us. Owen and Coleare named after local bushwalkers whoexplored the area in the 1930s (Hilder1982). Major Sturgiss (of The Man fromthe Misty Mountains fame2) suggestedthe name Nibelung, after a visit to themountain in 1941 when he was engulfedby a storm of ‘Wagnerian’ proportions,as well as Shrouded Gods and SevenGods Pinnacles (Watson 1982). Donjonis obvious if you know what a donjon is.

Six days in the Budawangs (continued)

Sluggish Tiger Snake. Photo by Philip Gatenby.

Telopea mongaensis. Photo by Jan Gatenby.

Teatree with a Jewel beetle. Photo by Philip Gatenby.

Bushwalk reports (continued)


substantial remains, but Faraway was themost attractive with an elevated positionsurrounded by eucalypts. Nice peakyviews along the way.

By noon we were seated for lunchbeneath shady conifers at the ruins of(New) Jounama (1,140 m). The doublered brick house of multiple roomsappears to have been a tastefulestablishment. A circular drive enteredbetween dry stone walls and along ashort avenue. After resumption byNational Parks in 1957, Jounama fellinto disrepair and was burnt out.However, it and remnants of the Englishgarden are cared for by volunteers. Yousense that they share the intense feelingsfor the place experienced by all thoseevicted from the Park. With the first


River is crossed at Ravine, the roadcontinues north, back to the SnowyMountains Highway. We wouldapproach it from that end.

We left Calwell in Peter’s Forester at7:20 am, puzzled by Margaret’s non-appearance. After egg-and-bacon rolls atPD Murphy in Cooma, we proceeded onSnowy Mountains Highway throughKiandra, turning left onto Lobs HoleRavine Road 10 km past Yarrangobilly.The country here is more open and levelthan might be expected.

The aforesaid walk began 2 kmdown the road. It connects the remainsof Old Jounama, Glendella and Farawayhomesteads. An orchard dominates thefirst site, small (damson?) plums readyto eat. Glendella had tall pines and

Date: 10 April 2018.

Participants: Brian Slee (leader), PeterAnderson-Smith, Kathy Saw.

Weather: Cloudy on the plains,breaking up in the high country;warm.

Map: Rooftop’s Kiandra–Tumut.

Walk report? Just 3.2 km on a mostlylevel track, mown 2 metres wide. Wewere saved from a second walk, as BlueCreek Trail was unlocked as far as(New) Jounama. However, the drive wasalways going to be the point of the day.On 4 March we had gazed into thedepths of Wallaces Creek from thelookout on Lobs Hole Ravine Road andit was inevitable that we would return todescend the whole way. The unexpectedbonus was that once the Yarrangobilly

Date: 4 March 2018.Participants: Brian Slee (leader), Peter

Anderson-Smith, StephenMarchant, Margaret Power,Margaret Strong.

Weather: Sunny, mild.

‘Wildflowers?’ ‘Nuh, all finished - wemay see a few gentians’, said dearleader. In reality the slopes around ThreeMile Dam were replete with daisies,helichrysums and other hang-aboutsfrom summer, all brighter and moreyouthful than might have been expected.No gentians.

Last September’s NPA walk (BulletinDecember 2017, p. 20) took in themiddle section of Wallaces Creek FireTrail, Shaw Hill to Marica Trig. MikeBremers followed up on 16 January witha Canberra Bushwalking Club bicycleride along its full length, Three MileDam to Coppermine Fire Trail (14 km,all on the Great Divide). This walk wasto be on the first section, to Shaw Hill,and new to us all.

Having leftCalwell at 7 am,we reached thedam via Coomaand Kiandra at9:15. The dam wasbuilt in the 1880s,the water beingused at New ChumHill to wash goldinto sluice boxes,destroying wholehillsides in theprocess. Theimpounded wateris now popularwith campers(plenty about); weparked on thenorthern bank.

Once across thedam wall, a NPWS sign lured us south toa purported viewpoint but findingnothing, we returned to the start ofWallaces. After gently climbing it for akilometre we stopped for morning teaamong Podolepsis (tall golden asters),adjacent to a remarkably intact trigmarooned in a sea of trees (1 km west ofReeds Hill – not marked on maps).

We were seeing plenty of skinks butno snakes. The fire trail has a nice grassysurface but is surprisingly miserly whenit comes to lookouts, considering itsproximity to a deep gorge. We rambledalong, like Steven in the Brindabellas. Abrief diversion west led only to a(Snowy Hydro?) communicationsdevice. We turned short of Shaw Hilland headed east then south. Feral horsesin the distance, shrubby going in parts,after a few kilometres we stopped in a

grove of trees overlooking a plain andRacecourse Trail. March flies joined usfor lunch in this beautiful place.

Now that we were away fromWallaces, there were views aplenty,back along the powerline which towersabove Racecourse Trail, and then overthe dark blue lake when the trail toppedthe rise. Back at the cars at 2 pm, wetook a quick trip along Ravine Road toWallace Creek Lookout and its 700-metre view down the creek and to thedistant Bogong Peaks. Spectacular.

After a stop at Cooma Cafe on theway home, we were back in Calwell at5.45 pm. A good 14 km walk in an areawell worth further exploring.

Brian Slee

Three Mile Dam

Jounama and Ravine – a follow-up

Helichrysums. Photo by Brian Slee.

Three Mile Dam. Photo by Brian Slee.



Spotlighting at Mulligans FlatDate: 20 October 2017.Participants: 20 participants from

NPA ACT, and the Canberra andBrindabella bushwalking clubs.

Woodland and Wetlands Trust ranger/guide, Shoshana Rapley, led the groupon a spotlighting walk in the MulligansFlat Nature Reserve.

It was a beautiful night, chosenbecause the moon was down. It rainedgently for much of the walk, and thatwas a blessing as it produced one of themost fascinating sights of the evening:the emergence of winged forms of oneof the common local termites,Nasutitermes exitiosus. Michael Lenzidentified the species and explained thatthis alate flight occurs (at the right timeof year) when it is raining or shortlyafter, as rain makes it easier for the pairsto dig/disappear into the soil.

Other arthropod sightings included amore or less well-camouflaged WolfSpider Tasmanicosa godeffroyi, andmany Golden Orb Weaver spiders(Nephila plumipes).

We saw two of the threatenedmammal species which have beenreintroduced to Mulligans Flat: nineEastern Bettongs (Bettongia gaimardii)and one Eastern Quoll (Dasyurusviverrinus), and heard the hauntinglyeerie call of the Bush Stone-curlew(Burhinus grallarius), also reintroduced.

We also saw numerous CommonBrushtail Possums (Trichosurusvulpecula), Eastern Grey Kangaroos(Macropus giganteus) and Red-neckedWallabies (Wallabia rufogriseus), a nestof White-winged Choughs (Corcoraxmelanorhamphos), roosting CrestedPigeons (Ocyphaps lophotes), and heard

six species of frogs: Common EasternFroglet (Crinia signifera), PlainsFroglet (C. parinsignifera), Peron's TreeFrog (Littoria peronii), Whistling TreeFrog (L. verreauxii), Brown-striped (orStriped Marsh) Frog (Limnodynastesperonii) and Spotted Grass Frog(L. tasmaniensis).

Isobel Crawford

autumn tints, under the best sun of theday, the whole site was immaculate andspectacularly beautiful.

Beyond this point the road,accompanied by a powerline,unceasingly descends a ridge through talltrees to Ravine (560 m). Sheer mountain

faces add drama to the scene untilTalbingo Reservoir comes into view.Shown on maps as 4WD, the road couldbe handled in 2WD, provided theYarrangobilly is low – it was 30 cm andflowing solidly when we crossed (duringa dry spell). It is narrow and could floodquickly.

Several campers were in the area.After inspecting the bulky pisé ruins ofWashington Hotel on the southern bank,we were on our way back to thehighway. After a break at AdaminabyBakery we returned via Cooma, arriving

6 pm. Good news was that Margaretwas not in hospital but had beendetained at home by a defiant garage,which had locked in the Mazda. Timefor a carport!

Brian Slee


Jounama and Ravine – a follow-up (continued)

Left. Washington Hotel ruins, Ravine.

Below left. Termites Nasutitermes exitiosus

tending their mound following a

dispersal flight of winged adults.

Below. Wolf Spider Tasmanicosa godeffroyi

at Mulligans Flat.

Photos by Sabine Friedrich.

Right. Peter Anderson-Smith gauging theYarrangobilly River crossing.

Photos by Brian Slee.


Bullen Range South

Date: 25 April 2018.Participants: Many; led by Bob Dewar,

Canberra Bushwalking Club.Weather: Coolish early, then sunny and

warm.

Thirty-one of us crossed the river toinvade the heights of the Bullen Range,in what was billed as follows: ‘AnzacDay special: wade onto a far shore andscale the heights – Kambah Pool toCalvary ruins’. This was one of theWednesday walks that are jointlyorganised by the Canberra andBrindabella bushwalking clubs and theNPA. Details of how to join them are inthe outings program in the NPA Bulletin.

The river was, of course, theMurrumbidgee. We walked to it viapaddock and track from a gate not farfrom where the Kambah Pool Roadstarts to make its descent to the river.The river is currently flowing quitelethargically and we made for a pointwhere it was possible to wade across inwater no deeper than a little above theknees. Hard to imagine that it’s a part ofAustralia’s greatest river system.

After a bit of rock scrambling up thewestern bank, we located and began ourascent up the Bullen Powerlines FireTrail, the poles and lines carrying energyto consumers in the Tidbinbilla Valley.This is a steep and slippery climb thatseems to get more acute the higher onegets, but that may be just an illusion offailing energy. There is a modicum ofcompensation in the fine and extensiveviews to the north, east and south,spoiled a little one has to say by thepower lines.

Once at the top of the range, wewalked southwards for a time, along afire trail through low, open forest withno understorey and showing signs ofprescribed burning in relatively recenttimes. Not long after the forest had givenway to shrubbery, and we had scaled yetanother gate, it was off into the lightscrub to find the ruins of the CalvaryHomestead, the planned lunch stop.They were located with little trouble, anexotic tree in autumn livery serving as abeacon.

The ruins really are ruins: there islittle left of the rammed-earth (pisé)

building. Within the remains of its wallsand in the surrounding scrub there ismuch domestic litter, such as brokencrockery and pots, but apparently thereis nothing here deemed of heritage valueby those devoted to such matters.

After lunch in the warm sunshine,the enjoyment of which was furtherenhanced by authentic, home-bakedAnzac biscuits provided by our leader(nice thought, Bob), a short cross-country stroll took us to a fire trailrunning south and east. As we walkedthis trail, Fallow Deer stags boundedacross the path ahead on two separateoccasions. The glimpses were fleeting,but the two animals appeared to me tobe markedly different in colour, onequite light, the other very dark.

The track took us to the ridge nearthe southern end of the Bullen Range.The views in all directions from here arestunning, but especially that of the fullextent of the Tidbinbilla Valley.

We then descended into the opencountry to the west of theMurrumbidgee, travelling north along amade road roughly paralleling the high-tension power lines that run fromSnowy Hydro 1.0 to avid consumersnorth. Along the way, we passed athoroughbred horse establishment, theequine residents taking an uncommoninterest in our passage. Perhaps they’dnever before seen so many humans soclose to home.

A short, cross-country diversion tookus to the river at Red Rock Gorge,where we discovered a few familiescavorting in the deep pool there, takingadvantage of the ongoing Indiansummer. From there, it was but ahundred metres or so to our crossingpoint and the track back to the cars.

A most enjoyable walk of 15 km or so.

Ed Highley


Tidbinbilla Valley from near the southern end of the Bullen Range. Photo by Ed Highley.

The Bullen Powerlines Fire Trail, from the

western edge of Kambah. Photo by Ed Highley.


As reported in the September 2013 and2016 issues of the Bulletin, NPA has heldwork parties at Dananbilla NatureReserve since 2013, under the watchfuleyes of rangers Andrew Moore andSusan Jackson. Consistent with thevision of rehabilitating and preservingthe largest protected area of WhiteBox–Yellow Box–Blakely’s Red GumGrassy Woodland in New South Wales,the emphasis of NPA’s work has shiftedover time. There was originally a focuson clearing fences, then tree planting,erosion control using cut saplings (anapplication of the leaky-weir approach),weeding, building kangaroo exclosuresand removing tree guards.

One of the tree plantings involved aninteresting experiment in genetics and

now almost 3 years later hundreds ofacacias are growing in a previously bare,former farm paddock on the south-western corner of the nature reserve. Theaim of this planting is to ensure amixture of locally native Acacia deaneigenes is available for future trees.Farming had separated the otherwisecontinuous gene range into separatesmall groves of nearly identical genes –an unhealthy outcome for any species.Rangers Andrew and Susan collectedseparate batches of seeds from isolatedpopulations throughout the reserve andelsewhere in the broader area. The seedswere germinated by a regional nurseryand, when ready in June 2015, healthyseedlings were planted out in rows bythe NPA work party led by Martin

Chalk. The results are amazing, as youcan see in the before and afterphotographs below. Nature will nurture.Andrew estimates that it will soon bepossible to collect seeds from some ofthe trees. It remains to be seen whichbatches produce the most profuse andsturdy trees and if there is anythingunique about the locations where theseeds were collected.

An earlier attempt to grow acaciasfrom seed sprinkled by Martin’sregulars in separate rows at regularintervals across an acre of otherwisesparse grassland had yielded onlymeagre results. It was dry in 2013 andonly one or two plants had managed topoke above the ground.

Kevin McCue and Philip Gatenby

Dananbilla acacia trial

Acacia planting and results: June 2015 (left) and April 2018 (right). Photos by Jan Gatenby.

Another successful and productive Art Weekwas enjoyed in May 2018. So let’s have anotherone, tentatively in the second half of October.

Contacts: Adrienne Nicholson 6281 6381 orHazel Rath 4845 1021.

NPA Art Week at

Gudgenby Cottage


Charlie Carter:Hermit, Healer and High

Country Legendby Klaus Hueneke

Tabletop Press, Palmerston ACT, 2017.

147 pp.

Klaus Hueneke has been capturingstories of the people and places aroundsouth-eastern Australia forever it seems.I was living in Melbourne when in 1990his book Where the Ice Trees Burninspired me: I had to get back to theMain Range.

Hueneke had published four titlesbefore Ice Trees and two more since.One of the latter, People of theAustralian High Country, describessome eighty of the men and women ofthe region. From them he selects one togive us a rich picture of an intriguing butoften lone figure.

Charlie Carter is a name that mostwho have ventured south from DeadHorse Gap will remember, as someonethey ‘met’ at the Tin Min Huts. The hutshave been a haven for walkers and cross-country skiers for decades but had beenbuilt in 1936 to service a miningoperation on the upper Tin Mine Creek.However, it was soon abandoned andCharlie moved in. He survived byrunning a few cattle and horses, andcatching brumbies. But most passers-bywould find him digging, always assuringthem that the lode was ‘only another twofeet down’.

The austere circumstances of this lifewere illustrated by his death in 1952,aged 81, when he was found dead besidehis hut. The calendar inside had beencrossed off to a few days earlier, butthere was no food and it is assumed he’d

died intending to catch a horse to go out.An autopsy concluded the death wascaused by a heart attack.

Charlie was described by onebushwalker as ‘a quietly spoken tragicold philosopher of the mountains’. It hadnot always been that way though. He’dbeen born near Melbourne in 1871,written a novel, found his way to thesouthern Monaro and later Snowy Plainswhere he farmed and trapped possumsand feral horses. In between, a fall-outwith the neighbours ended up in court.

He moved briefly to Brisbane thenSydney (and stood for the NSWparliament – 36 votes) before moving to

Tin Mines Huts. However, likemany of his time he’d maintainedan interest in the issues andactivities of the outside world andwould share his views withvisitors on a range of subjects thatincluded finance, politics, cancercures and communism. Hueneke also enjoys telling usthe stories of his experiences as hecollected this account, of themany people who had met Carter,and of the subsequent care of thehuts. Nor is he unmindful of theIndigenous people that had rangedover the area, though it seemsnone interacted with Carter. Those that know the area arelikely to enjoy the book’s wealthof unexpected detail. Forexample, I found that the 1936huts and the walled diggings akilometre west were not from thefirst serious mining effort; in 1889facilities had been built on theridge another kilometre west –and that reminded me that the bestview of the gorge below Tin Mine

Falls is from the north end of that ridge.For those that do not know the

country around Tin Mine Creek, ThePilot or the Indi, this book offers aninvitation to walk a little down theCascade Trail towards Charlie’scountry.

The book is available atwww.tabletoppressbooks.com for$30.00, postage $5.00.

Rupert Barnett

Book reviews

Tin Mine Huts. Photo by Rupert Barnett.

Carter in his late 40s, reproduced

by the author from Carter’s own

publication The Principle of Life.


Bold HorizonHigh-country Place, People and

Storyby Matthew Higgins

Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd,

Dural, 2018.

176 pp.

A man with stories ‘hived in him like oldhoney’. This is how Matthew starts thechapter about Hughie Read, who wasborn in the Naas Valley in 1907 and isone of the many characters talked aboutin the book. It is a quote from JudithWright’s poem South of My Days but notonly could it apply to Hughie Read, itcould equally apply to the whole book!

Matthew is well known to NPAmembers as a historian and greatstoryteller. Over many years he hasgiven talks to our meetings, led outingsand written a number of books related tothe history of the ACT and SnowyMountains. Matthew has hiked and skiedextensively through these areas, so therewould be no better person to write abook about the High Country and itspeople. In this book Matthew bringstogether the stories of many of theinteresting characters of the mountains.Many of the stories are based on oral-history interviews that Matthewconducted during the 1990s, of old-timers many of whom have now passedaway. These interviews extract thereality of what life was like in the HighCountry in the early twentieth century. Itis easy to think that life in the old days inthe mountains must have been idyllic butwhen Matthew asked if they were the‘good old days’, a common reply wasno, they were ‘rough old days’ or‘shocking cruel days’.

The first part of the book, called ‘MyPlace’, covers Matthew’s experiences inthe mountains from when he first visitedthem as a seven-year-old child to laterskiing and hiking experiences overseveral decades. These recollectionsinclude those of places such as huts thatmany of us are familiar with, of peoplewho shared his experiences with himincluding veteran skiers and walkers andof outings that he has led for variousinstitutions. And there is a chapterextolling the rewards of solo journeys inthe bush.

The second part of the book, called‘Their Place’, profiles eleven characterswho have worked, lived or played in themountains. They include Indigenousrangers, stockmen, authors, foresters,tourism operators, hikers and skiers. Notonly does the book tell us about thesecharacters, it also connects them to the

places that many of us arefamiliar with. Forexample, author ElyneMitchell enjoyedstockmen’s huts such asWhites River Hut andPretty Plain Hut, so thisknowledge will enrich mynext visit to these places.

Bold Horizon is abook that will appeal toanyone interested in theHigh Country or itshistory. It is attractivelypresented and includesmany beautiful images bythe author, as well ashistoric photos of peopleand places. The bookincludes a detailed index,and could be read in onego from start to finish ordipped into at leisure,then kept as a reference.

Mike Bremers

Book reviews (continued)


News from state-based associationsand agencies.

Park’s chance to healParks Victoria is about to take action onthe thousands of feral horses tramplingwetlands and eating out other areas ofVictoria’s magnificent Alpine NationalPark. It’s been a long journey to get tothis stage, involving two exhaustiveseries of stakeholder consultations andnumerous expert reports over the last sixyears. The length of that process isremarkable, given that a seeminglyendless list of obligations underinternational treaty, and national andstate law, actually compel thegovernment to act on feral animals.

However, it seemed the commonperception of the ‘pure-bred brumby’galloping through alpine wildflowers,might be able to override decades ofevidence and unambiguous law. Thetruth is a little different, however: thehorses up there are a bit of a hotchpotchof breeds, and they don’t always have agood time. They suffer and die in drovesin bushfires, drought and heavy wintersnows. Many are in a condition that, iffound on a farm, would lead to actionagainst their owner.

In 1946, long before the BogongHigh Plains were included in a nationalpark, action was taken to remove horsesand sheep from the area and limit cattlegrazing. It was found back then thathard-hooved grazers were causing soilerosion and affecting the quality andrelease of water at the headwaters of somany of Victoria’s rivers. Scienceinformed that action then, and the‘outstanding’ nature of the many HighCountry scientific studies have now beenrecognised in the National Heritagelisting for the Australian Alps NationalParks.

Victoria’s Alpine National Parkprotects some 575 rare and threatenedplants and animals, many of which havebeen slowly recovering from decades ofgrazing. The cattle are gone, but horses,deer, pigs and goats now increasinglyreign over what should be one of theland’s most important protectedconservation reserves. The High Countryshouldn’t be a paddock, it’s a nationalpark. Parks Victoria has recentlyincreased action on pigs in the easternAlps and Victoria’s environmentdepartment is developing a strategy todeal with the so-far intractable problemof feral deer. By removing all horsesfrom the Bogong High Plains, and taking400 a year from the eastern Alpine

Victoria should dump the ‘icon walk’idea as an expensive and damagingwaste of resources. We should beplaying to our advantage, and promotethe state as somewhere where you cantravel regional Victoria, staying atwonderful wineries, B&Bs and charminghotels, and experience any of the manyhundreds of great short walks our naturalareas offer. That would be better fortourism, better for the health ofVictorians, and better for our remarkablebut very vulnerable national parks.

Parkwatch VNPAMarch 2018 no 272

Australia needs a strategy fornature 2018–2030

The Federal Government’s new draftStrategy for Nature has been describedas a ‘global embarrassment’. If adopted,it would replace a currently unfundedpolicy of substance with airy statements.Headings like – ‘We must work togetherto care for nature’ is followed with‘Caring for nature is essential if we wantit to persist, to provide services forpresent and future generations and toremain integral to our national identity’.

No data, funding plans or projects toprotect the natural environment back upthese remarks. Yet ‘Strategy for Nature’is designed to replace the previousBiodiversity Conservation Strategy thathas measurable outcomes and was oncefunded. Under the previous and currentFederal Coalition Governments thefunding and the public serviceadministration of the projects went, butnow strategy is to be gutted.

While the Coalition governmentallocated $1.4 billion to environmentalfunding in the 2013–14 Budget, therewas a 30 per cent drop in the 2016–17Budget down to $980 m. It fell again inthe 2017–18 Budget to $945 m (AdamMorton, The Guardian, 13 Dec 2017).The Federal Department of Environmentand Energy is almost a shell. Programslike Landcare, Indigenous ProtectedAreas and the National Water Initiativeshould be well funded. Identification andprotection of World and NationalHeritage values must be accelerated. TheNational Reserve System needs to bestrengthened and managed. Theextraction limits established under themultibillion dollar Murray–DarlingBasin Plan must be enforced andadequate environmental flows securedusing Federal constitutional powers. TheRegional Forest Agreements must bescientifically reviewed and replaced by anew deal that protects our remaining

National Park, Parks Victoria is starting aprocess to restore this remarkable park tohealth.

This action must be done ashumanely as possible, but doing nothingwon’t help the park or the horses.

Parkwatch VNPAMarch 2018 no 272

The Falls to Hotham fantasy

Some time ago, Tourism Victoria got thenotion that Victoria needed four ‘iconwalks’ to challenge the great adventurewalks of our neighbours: Tasmania andNew Zealand. Ignoring several long-distance walks Victoria already had (suchas the Great South West walk and theAlpine Walking Track), they came upwith four new ones, all featuring servicedaccommodation along the way.

Parks Victoria swallowed the schemewhole, and set about planning:• The Great Ocean Walk• The Grampian Peaks Trail• The Falls to Hotham Alpine Crossing• A Croajingolong coastal walk

The Great Ocean Walk, from ApolloBay to the Twelve Apostles, is up andrunning, but it soon proved far better foreveryone if existing B&B operators onnearby private land picked up peoplewho wanted a bit of luxury. Unnecessarydevelopment impacts to Great OtwayNational Park were avoided.

The second walk, the GrampiansPeaks Trail, is partly constructed, butplans for private serviced cabins alongthe way have been abandoned – noprivate investors showed interest.

The third ‘icon’ walk is the Falls toHotham Crossing, in development forseveral years now. This time the powersthat be seem determined to fulfil theirdream of serviced in-park luxuryaccommodation at each stop, to lookafter the ‘comfort seeker’. At theinsistence of Tourism Victoria, one set ofluxury huts will be positioned on a steepand hard to access spur off MountFeathertop, where servicing of freshbedding and gourmet food willnecessitate intrusive daily helicoptertrips. And fire regulations now mandateclearing native vegetation for somedistance around all new accommodation.

But this enthusiasm for servicedmulti-day walks to boost tourism inVictoria is founded on a fantasy. Whilethere is a level of interest in Victoria’slong walks, the proportion of people thatactually do them is very small. The greatmajority of people visiting our parks doshort walks, even if they stay in the parkfor a number of days.

PARKWATCH



publicly owned native forests. Thecurtailment of land clearing whichunderpinned Australia’s carbonconcessions in the Kyoto protocol in1997 must be reinstated. This minimallist of unsupported environmental policyreveals that our national environmentprogram is now a shambles. On allfronts, Federal environmentalmanagement is being swept away.

Colong Bulletin March 2018 #270

Regional Forest Agreementsextended

[On March 26] we called on theAndrews Government to publicly ruleout logging of national parks. Today ourstate and federal governmentsannounced a two-year extension ofRegional Forest Agreements (RFAs) inVictoria. While this is much better thanrolling over the previous failed and outof date 20-year RFAs, it will still leavelarge areas of high-conservation forestopen to continued logging, and many ofour most threatened wildlife, such asLeadbeater’s Possum and Greater Glider,at further risk as their habitat continuesto be destroyed.

The RFAs provide special treatmentto the logging industry, allowing forlogging of our public native forests thatdoes not require approval under nationalenvironmental protection laws. They willnow remain exempt from this protectionfor a further two years. None of theVictorian RFAs have met theirobjectives. Numbers of forest-dependentspecies listed as threatened continue torise, and forest health is declining andwill only get worse under climate changeand the cumulative impacts of successivebushfires. Even the native forest industryis stagnating and in decline as their mainresource runs out.

Moves announced today to protectsmall parts of the Kuark Forest in EastGippsland are welcome, but theyurgently need to be formally added toErrinundra National Park in this term ofgovernment. Any review of the RFAsneeds to be rigorous, independent andopen; and consider all aspects includingforests in the west of our state and othernon-wood forest values such as water,ecosystem services, recreation andtourism that are contributing significantsums to the state’s economy, and couldcontribute further.

The Regional Forest Agreementsshould be abandoned and replaced withimproved, modern and transparentarrangements for management ofVictoria’s publicly owned native forests – based on current science, and oncommunity views about how our state

national parks and reserves were out-of-bounds for development. There was noneed for a rigorous, legally definedprocess for the assessment ofdevelopments in national parks and westill do not have such legislation eventhough times have changed! In the caseof the TWWHA we have even gonebackwards; the 1999 management planprovided the authority to require acomprehensive assessment but this hasgone from the 2016 plan.

This is alarming because a major roleof national parks is a place for visitors toexperience nature. There are plenty ofplaces around the world with morespectacular scenery than can be found inTasmania but very few that offer betteropportunities to experience wildernessand wild nature. Preservation of theseopportunities is vital to all whoappreciate our parks and also forTasmania’s tourism industry. Surveysconsistently identify wilderness, natureand heritage among visitor’s toppriorities – we cannot afford to let a fewill-conceived tourism developmentsdetract from these qualities.

The World Heritage Conventionprovides an additional layer ofprotection for the World Heritage Areabut this does not necessarily mean thatthe Commonwealth Government can orwill intervene to save the Tasmanianwilderness from excessive tourismdevelopment. World Heritage status mayresult in additional scrutiny but will notnecessarily lead to any additionalprotection of natural and culturalheritage or visitor experience.

TNPA NewsNewsletter no 26 Autumn 2018

Compiled by Hazel Rath

forests should be valued, used andmanaged. The Victorian National ParksAssociation will continue pushing forimproved protection and management ofour native forests across the state,including creating a Great ForestNational Park in the Central Highlands.

https://vnpa.org.au/regional-forest-agreements-extended/

NEWS 27 March 2018

Development proposals onreserved land in Tasmania

Tasmania is facing unprecedentedpressure for tourism developmentswithin our national parks and otherreserved land driven by the government’spolicy to ‘unlock’ our reserves. Whenconcerns are raised about the assessmentof such proposals, the public aregenerally assured that there will becomprehensive scrutiny of the proposaland opportunity for public input. Thereality is not quite so simple.Environmental impact assessment isoften assumed to be a holistic process inwhich all issues receive full and balancedconsideration. In practice it is part of astatutory process of developmentassessment. It does not necessarilyconsider all values, only values asdefined in legislation or subordinatedocuments (in the case of national parks,management plans).

National parks are proclaimedprimarily for the conservation of naturaland cultural heritage. A major resourcedevelopment (forestry or mining) in anational park would be unlikely toreceive approval, but the footprint of atourism development, even a large one, isorders of magnitude smaller; it is likelyargued that it is an appropriate use andthat its impacts on natural and culturalheritage are not significant.

The wilderness qualities of the moreremote parts of the TasmanianWilderness World Heritage Area(TWWHA) are highly valued by visitors.Sightseeing helicopter flights areproliferating. Some of the proposedtourism developments will requireadditional helicopter flights to transportsupplies to huts. It is hard to think of anymore intrusive reminder of one’s lack ofremoteness from the environmentaldisturbance of contemporary people thana nearby helicopter, yet there is littleexplicit requirement to assess this impacton the experience of visitors.

Concerns about the visitor experienceare unlikely to feature prominently in theassessment because the relevantlegislation is weak. Decades ago, whenour current planning legislation was firstimplemented, there was a consensus that

PARKWATCH (continued)


The NPA welcomes

Don Fletcher as a new member

and

Brian Palm who has rejoined the

association.

We look forward to seeing youat NPA activities.

NPA notices

Cover photographs

Front cover

Main photo. Seven Gods Pinnacles, Morton National

Park (article page 20). Photo by Jan Gatenby.

Insets. Left. Goanna threat display (article page 9). Photo by Don Fletcher.

Centre. Young male moose watching passers-by

(article page 12). Photo by Esther Gallant.

Right. Col McAlister thanks his loyal team for 14 years

of work at Glenburn (article page 19). Photo by Max Lawrence.

Back cover

Top. (New) Jounama ruins (article page 22). Photo by Brian Slee.

Bottom. Dananbilla Nature Reserve (article page 25). Photo by Philip Gatenby.

National Parks Association Calendar

Public holidays

General meetings

Committee meetings

Gudgengy Bush Regeneration 1

June

Mon 11

Thurs 21

Tues 5

Sat 9

July

—

August

—

September

—

Thurs 19

Tues 3

Thurs 16

AGM

Tues 7

Sat 21 2 Sat 11

Thurs 20

Tues 4

Sat 8

Further details: 1 GBRG. Meet at Namadgi Visitor Centre 9.15 am.

2 20th anniversary of first GBRG work party.

Call for volunteersAt NPA general meetingsvolunteer members set up the halland the supper. We need morevolunteers for 2018 as the rosteris by no means full. Pleasecontact Quentin Moran if you canhelp. [email protected]

Thank you.

NPA books available from some bookshops (eg ANBG), or contact the association office.

Contributions for the

NPA Bulletin

Contributions of articles, letters, poems,

drawings and photographs are always

welcome. If possible keep contributions to no

more than 1,000 words. Items accepted for

publication will be subject to editing and may

also be published on the NPA website. Send all

items to the Bulletin Team, email

[email protected], or to the NPA ACT

postal address (see page 31).

Deadline for the September 2018 issue:

31 July 2018.

This Bulletin was prepared by:

Editor, Philip Gatenby

Copyeditor, Ed Highley

Presentation, Adrienne Nicholson.

Membership fees are now due.It’s that time of year again! You will be receiving your letter for

membership renewal and donations later in June, either as a digital document(if we have your email address) or as a printed copy through Australia Post.

The letter contains the data we store confidentially on our membershipdatabase about you. We are asking members to check that the information wehave (name/s, address, phone number/s, your interests in supporting the NPAACT, email address etc.) is still correct.

Please take the time to check, and amend your details if necessary, and sendthe whole form with your membership dues (and donation) back to the officeby post with cheques or money orders. The completed form can also bescanned and sent to [email protected] by email.

For payment by Mastercard or Visa credit card please use the on-linefacility on ‘Trybooking’, or you can pay by on-line bank transfer. Detailedinstructions are in the letter. We ask you to please still send the completed formback to the office with an indication of payment method after paying on-line.

Thank you all for your cooperation.Sonja Lenz, Secretary


General MeetingsThird Thursday of the month, (not December or January)

8.00 pm, Uniting Church hall, 56 Scrivener Street, O’Connor

Thursday 16 August

Annual GeneralMeeting

Earthquakes in PNG

Kevin McCue

NPA committee member, KevinMcCue, will give a short talk aboutthe Papua New Guinea earthquakes.Kevin travelled to PNG’s SouthernHighlands to install seismographs torecord aftershocks and to collect datafor design and building codepurposes.

National Parks Association of the ACT Incorporated

Inaugurated 1960

Aims and objectives of the Association

• Promotion of national parks and of measures for the protection offauna and flora, scenery, natural features and cultural heritage in theAustralian Capital Territory and elsewhere, and the reservation ofspecific areas.

• Interest in the provision of appropriate outdoor recreation areas.

• Stimulation of interest in, and appreciation and enjoyment of, suchnatural phenomena and cultural heritage by organised field outings,meetings or any other means.

• Cooperation with organisations and persons having similar interestsand objectives.

• Promotion of, and education for, conservation, and the planning oflanduse to achieve conservation.

Office bearers

President Esther Gallant 6161 4514 (h)[email protected]

Vice President Quentin Moran 6288 9840 (h)[email protected]

Secretary Sonja Lenz 6251 1291 (h)[email protected]

Treasurer Chris Emery 6249 7604 (h)[email protected]

Committee members

Cynthia Burton 0488 071 [email protected]

Steven Forst 0428 195 [email protected]

Rod Griffiths (Immediate Past President) 6288 6988 (h)[email protected]

George Heinsohn 6278 6655 (h) [email protected]

Julie May 0418 240 [email protected]

Kevin McCue 6251 1291 (h)[email protected]

Conveners

Bulletin Working Group Kevin McCue 6251 1291 (h)[email protected]

Cultural Subcommittee Quentin Moran 6288 9840 [email protected]

Environment Subcommittee Rod Griffiths 6288 6988 (h)[email protected]

Outings Subcommittee Steven Forst 0428 195 [email protected]

Promotion and Engagement Vacant Subcommittee

Publications Subcommittee Kevin McCue 6251 1291 (h)[email protected]

Work Party Co-ordinator Martin Chalk 6292 3502 (h)[email protected]

The NPA ACT office is in Unit 14 / 26 Lena Karmel Lodge, Barry

Drive, Acton, together with the Conservation Council. It is staffed by

volunteers on an irregular basis. Callers may leave phone or email

messages at any time.

Phone: (02) 6229 3201 or 0429 356 212 (if urgent)

Website: www.npaact.org.au

Email: [email protected]

Address: GPO Box 544, Canberra ACT 2601

Facebook:www.facebook.com/NationalParksAssociationOfTheAct

Membership subscription rates (1 July to 30 June)

The subscription rate is $22, which includes a digital copy only of ourBulletin.

If you want to receive a printed copy of the Bulletin, the subscriptionrates are:

Household membership $44 Single members $38.50Corporate membership $33 Full-time student/Pensioner $22

Note: All the above subscription categories reduce to $11 if a

donation of $100 or more is made.

Advertising

The NPA Bulletin accepts advertisements and inserts. Contact

the NPA office for information and rates.

Printed by Instant Colour Press, Belconnen, ACT.

ISSN 0727-8837

Thursday 21 JuneWhat a high! Over threedecades of exploring our

mountain country

Matthew Higgins

Matthew has skied andbushwalked in the Australian HighCountry since he first visitedKiandra as a kid. He is an award-winning historian and short-film-maker who during the past thirtyyears has worked with many ofAustralia’s leading nationalcultural institutions in Canberra.

Thursday 19 JulyButterflies of Namadgi National Park.

Special stories andconservation issues

Suzi Bond

Since the Field Guide to the Butterflies of theACT was published by NPA last December,Dr Suzi Bond and her colleagues have hadanother productive season of butterflyobservations. Her talk will concentrate onNamadgi species and conservation issues,especially the problem of fire. We will hearabout the species, their habitats and also somespecial stories about Silky Hairstreaks, Banks’Brown and others. The recent reprint of thefield guide will be available at the meeting atthe members’ price of $25.

NPA books are available from some bookshops (eg ANBG), or contact the association office.

For information on NPA ACT activities, please visit our website http://www.npaact.org.au

and follow us at www.facebook.com/NationalParksAssociationOfTheAct