Hello everyone,
I hope this finds you in fine fettle and enjoying the beginning of the Dja Dja Wurrung season Wararak and Gurruk.
A wee message from the Revegetation Working Group – they are scheduling another tree planting on Derngatuk Garingilang , Saturday 26 July. kick off planting at midday. and go till about 5pm.
Aim will be to get a few trees and shrubs planted in the SW corner of the block.
Please contact Sid Larwill for more details.
Kaz
Our annual Autumn working bee
was a great success
May 3rd-4th saw over twenty volunteers across the two days. We focused our work on the Northwestern corner of the block. Although natural regeneration is clothing the north-facing slopes in this quarter of the property with shrubby vegetation, the species mix is poor with Golden Wattle and Coffee Bush dominating. Eucalypts are thriving in small planted nodes from past plantings but not regenerating more widely. There is extensive erosion still and some open areas next to the western boundary have suffered from past concentrated sheep camps with high levels of Cape Weed in particular. We planted over 160 shrubs and trees over the two days.
The conditions then and since have been extremely tough. Drought conditions – we’ve never before seen the dam completely dry! Paul O’Connor has been back twice for follow up watering and our success rate is lower than our usual high standard. Unfortunately, we estimate we have lost more than half the seedlings planted – some to the dry, but most to grazing by kangaroos. The roos are in high numbers and are struggling in the very dry conditions. Many of the plants have been pulled completely out of the ground with only root balls left. WE have noticed that many of those that have survived are planted in amongst the Coffee Bush or close to other shrubs – perhaps less visible to the passing roos.
We’ll keep monitoring how the surviving plants go. There is something here for us to wrestle with – our standard tree guards not being proof against the main threat – at least in these super dry conditions.
We still have 150 seedlings to go in this season. We’ve been waiting on winter to break with some decent rain – which may just have arrived this second weekend of June. Stay tuned to the WhatsApp Group and the email notifications for a scheduled date soon. We’ll give some thought to roo-proofing at least the Eucalypts.”
Sid
“The Reveg Working group will be visiting Derngatuk Garingilang on Sunday 11th August. We’ll be taking on a few tasks: Horehound weed control, some seed collection, some seed dispersal, and maybe a few seedlings to plant.
All welcome. We’ll be working from mid-late morning onwards. Call Sid on 0422 169 406 if you have any questions.”
Sid Larwill
We are very proud to announce that we have collaborated with the Djaara nation and discussed with them about a Dja Dja Wurrung language name for the hill and land encompassing the project in the vicinity of Moonambel. They have bestowed the name Derngatuk Garingilang for our hill and project which translates as “new growth” which seems wonderfully appropriate. We understand the importance of recognising, valuing language and culture in the journey of Indigenous self determination. We feel honoured to have gone through a formal process with the Djaara in requesting a name from them. Thank you so much to the Djaara Peoples.
PhilM
In the evening we held a fun little ceremony, presenting very cool ReSource Rica beanies to a handful of young new members of our group. Although many of the young crew are familiar with the project and have been participating at Moonambel for years we thought it would be a cool way to induct them as formal members and a nod to possible exciting future directions for our project.
PhilM
Blessed with fine weather and clear skies we had a very pleasant and productive gathering at Moonambel this past May. Thanks to everyone that visited and contributed. We were joined by a few first time attendees whose interest was spurned by our recent publicity. We want to thank them for their interest and enthusiasm and invite them to visit again. We managed to plant a quite a few saplings and plants on the “far side of the hill” which was made easier by a decent attendance. Later a pleasant evening and the usual delicious fare was enjoyed by all. Reminding all that the next official gathering will be on the weekend of the 12/13 of October. We look forward to seeing you there.
PhilM
“Our Year-old plantings from Autumn 2023 are poking their heads up above the tree guards. So far success from last year sits at around 60% despite the howling winds stripping away the guards in lots of cases, and despite heavy grazing pressure from roos.
The ground this year remains hard after a dry autumn so far. Pray for lots of rain next week and a sunny weekend for our May planting.
This year we have 160-odd shrubs and trees, and 130-odd rarer herbs to plant in the ground as seedlings. We also have bags of seeds for direct seeding. If you BYO your own heavy tool to break the ground for the direct seeding work. See you at the property – come any time Friday through to Saturday but we’ll be organised with seedlings and so on from 11 am Saturday.”
Sid Larwill.
The article featured some excellent drone footage of the hill which I will add here soon.
PhilM
Hello Resource Ricans,
We are having a special weekend at the hill at Moonambel to celebrate or 21st anniversary since starting our wonderful project. It will be held on the weekend of 19th/20th of this month, November. We want to welcome any and all of those that have participated over these many years and invite you to share a lovely, hopefully outdoor lunch in the sun below the hill. Also feel free to bring along any friends that may be interested.
Half a dozen of our members will be coming up with lovely food and drink. But we encourage anyone to bring along some food if they feel like it. It will mostly be BYO drinks. We are planning to set up some trestle tables to sit around and enjoy our feast. Perhaps it is advised to bring a chair if you can. and we welcome any photos of the last 21 years that we can all have a look at and reminisce!
We might come up with some activities but in the main it will be very casual. Definitely no work required. And feel free of course to pitch a tent and stay the night.
We look forward to seeing many of you Ricans there. Obviously the more the merrier.
If you haven’t been there for a while you can call me on 0490751901 for directions. We will have a sign on both the turn off on Warrenmang rd and at our front gate.
Regards
Philip Meldrum and the ReSource RICA Commitee.
We are looking forward to a good turnout for our usual October gathering. This year it is on the 1st & 2nd of the month. We will be holding our AGM on the Sunday morning.
See you on the hill.
PhilM
ReSource RICA 