The Friends of
Shenton Bushland
Inc.
How will we find our wild hearts inside this city;
How will we find the deep peace?
A. Stevens
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Newsletter #58 November 2005
A surprise find
A Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii) found in Shenton Bushland recently
In 12 years we have not seen a Kangaroo Paw in Shenton Bushland. This year we came across this one right in the middle of the bushland. How did it get there?
More surprises
The Friends of Shenton Bushland have been successful in applying for a Swan Alcoa Landcare Project (SALP) grant to work in collaboration with the Education Department and the Health Department to look after the entire bushland area of the site for the next 12 months.
We hope to use this time to remove the woody weeds around Grace Vaughan House (especially Flinders Ranges Wattles, and Geraldton Wax) and replace them with local species.
We will be doing some seed collecting in coming months and giving the seeds to Trevor Whittle (at Shenton College) who works with his students to germinate the plants and plant them out around Grace Vaughan House in winter.
We also hope to work with students and teachers at Shenton College to develop a management plan for the bushland near the Middle School (corner of Selby and Lemnos St).
At present we are removing Geraldton Carnation Weed adjacent to Selby Lodge, and identifying other weeds for removal by the Health Department grounds staff.
This year's activities in review
This year we had funding for a mound removal project. We held a couple of workdays to try to remove the mounds by hand, but this proved to be quite a lot of work!
In the end we decided that a more mechanised approach would be more successful (council is currently removing the mounds with a bob-cat).
John, Rupert and Steve moving a mound, May 2005
We hope that by removing these mounds, we can reduce the sources of weed infestation into the bushland - especially bulbous weeds such as freesias and blackflag.
Our weeding activities have continued through the winter, and we now feel confident that the Watsonia infestation is under control. It will still take a few years of monitoring and removing the odd Watsonia that pops up, but the vast bulk of the infestation has disappeared.
Similarly, we have worked very hard to control Geraldton Carnation Weed, which is consequently much less visible than it has been. We had help in this task from Steve McCabe and his team. Again, we will still have to monitor those patches for a few years, but the work load is much reduced.
Freesias and Lachenaliias will be our main focus next winter - especially in the good bushland around the edge of a large bare area in the central part of the bushland.
We welcome your help to continue this work! We meet every Sunday morning from 8 to 10am.
If you would prefer to work during the week, we are keen to set up a mid-week group, but need volunteers to help co-ordinate it. Contact Dani (08 9381 3470) if you are interested.
Next Meeting
CHANGE OF TIME! Our next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, 27th November (9 - 11 am). We will be reviewing our activities, and planning for next year.
CHANGE OF VENUE! We plan to meet over a coffee - or maybe breakfast - still not sure where - most likely the Matilda Bay Tearooms.
You are welcome to join us!
Contact Dani (9381 3470 for details.
This newsletter is produced by the Friends of Shenton Bushland Inc. Contributions by Daniel Boase-Jelinek . Edited by Daniel Boase-Jelinek, 117 Derby Road, Shenton Park WA 6008.