The newsletter of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland Fraser Coast Branch SPRING 2017 Wambaliman since 1967 In the language of the Butchulla people, who are custodians of land that includes the Fraser Coast, ‘wambaliman’ means ‘to carry’, and refers to the messages that the Newsletter is communicating. Editor's Note One of the things that took up some precious time in the preparation period of this issue of Wambaliman was a trip to Mt Larcom for the WILDLIFE PRESERVATION Central Branches Get-together. It was an in- SOCIETY OF QUEENSLAND spiring weekend of discussion and sociability with intelligent and motivated people with wild- known informally as life conservation in their blood. WILDLIFE QUEENSLAND One of the items on the program was Branch Reports, from which it was clear that we all FRASER COAST BRANCH face similar challenges in wildlife conservation. PO Box 7396 Urangan, 4655 One distinct difference between the other Branches and Fraser Coast Branch was that we President: are positively active. Audrey Sorensen This issue of the newsletter doesn’t really do 4125 6891 [email protected] justice to all the positive activities that our Vice President: Branch is involved in, or the efforts of all the people that are driving those activities. Rodney Jones 0423 812 881 A read through our parting President Peter Secretary: Duck’s report and the Branch Activity report Vanessa Elwell-Gavins only skims the surface of all the action. Many 0428 624 366 of our members are fully engaged in the list of Assistant Secretary: activities mentioned in the CEP report. I am inspired by the positive participation of mem- Bruce Dick bers of the Environmental Advisory Group Treasurer: meetings that I attend. Jenni Watts 0400 656 325 Then there are the fantastic Nature Walks Assistant Treasurer: that have become amazingly popular, and the Bruce Dick often full-house attendance at our Nature in the Library talks. And more … the popularity of Newsletter WAMBALIMAN the Wildlife Friendly Gardens workshops and, Publisher: WPSQ Fraser Coast for the third year running, the Schools Program getting the conservation message across to Editor: Rodney Jones children. 0423 812 881 [email protected] Yet further inspiration comes from the couple Production: Rodney Jones of articles about John Sinclair at the end of Proofreading: Andrea van Kampen the newsletter. All these success stories of the Branch are not possible without the involvement of dedi- cated and motivated people. Get involved! ● Rodney [email protected] Wambaliman SPRING 2017 2 NOTICE BOARD Contents SPRING 2017 Social gathering for members and friends Past President’s Report ························ 4–6 Diane 4128 3992 Wildlife Fraser Coast Activity Report ······ 7–9 Monthly talks on community radio Community Environment Program ······· 10–12 Audrey 4125 6891 Environmental Advisory Group Report ·· 12, 13 Branch meetings held each month Nature Walks ···································· 13, 14 Venue alternates between Maryborough Wildlife Friendly Gardens Workshops ········ 15 and Hervey Bay. Bukkulla Regional Park ····················· 16, 17 Vanessa 0428 624 366 Herbarium Record – Crotalaria ················· 17 Central Branches Get-together ················ 18 Discussion anybody? ······························ 18 Nature in the Library talks Mary River Month info ····························· 19 Third Friday of the month at Hervey Wildlife Matters column in the Indy ············ 19 Bay library. Students say NO to plastic bags ··············· 20 Sara 4129 5789 or the library 4197 4220 Some more Wambaliman history ········· 21, 22 20 October USC award to John Sinclair ····················· 23 David Flack Branch Christmas Party flyer ···················· 23 All about Frogs 17 November Your newsletter … Jim Johnson your voice. Fascinating talk by Jim, who spent many years in Laos saving the wildlife there. Contribute! Next Library Talk Contributions will be in February We welcome contributions from WPSQ members and supporters. Articles can take the form of reports, observations of Nature Walks nature, anecdotes, quotes, humour etc. Last walk for 2017! Send contributions to: [email protected] Saturday 4 November OR Vernon State Forest The Editor, Wambaliman Vanessa 0428 624 366 PO Box 7396 URANGAN 4655 Submissions for the next issue [email protected] are due by Friday 12 January 2018 Next Nature Walk Opinions expressed in Wambaliman are not neces- sarily those endorsed by the Wildlife Preservation will be in March! Society Queensland, Fraser Coast Branch unless specifically attributed to them. 3 President’s Report – Annual General Meeting 2017 Our Branch has had a busy and productive 12 months. The membership is strong, with many new members joining the Branch attracted by our vari- ous regular activities. Nature Walks and Library Talks Now into its fourth year, we continued our pro- gram of monthly Nature Walks. These have proved very popular, with many booked out weeks in ad- vance. We took 40 walkers up Mount Bauple, but another 30 missed out. Six new walks were added to our schedule this year to help sustain the inter- est. Each month we also held Library Talks in the Peter recruiting a Hervey Bay Library, with both members and invited new member speakers presenting to sizeable audiences. With the promotion of these activities through the local press and community radio, our public profile has been very much to the fore. Workshops We continued to run the popular Wildlife Friendly Gardens workshops in conjunc- tion with the Council’s Community Environment Program (CEP). Three have been conducted in Hervey Bay, two in Maryborough and one in Howard over the past 12 months. They have been well received, and serve to promote wildlife conservation and our public profile. Congratulations to those involved for their commitment. I am also happy to announce that our Wildlife Friendly Garden Workshops program won the annual state award for ongoing projects at the recent Wildlife Queensland AGM. John Williams has continued to monitor Indian Myna trapping programs that were initiated through the workshops he coordinated this year, and he has fielded inquiries from far flung groups and individuals. Education Members of the Branch organised school presentations through the schools sub- committee, with visits to Tinana (2), Kawangun, and Pialba State Schools. We ran stalls at markets, selling our merchandise at special events such as Australia Day and National Tree Day, but more importantly distributing wildlife information and the Peter (in van) and Jenni (seated) in their element at the Central Branches Get-together Wambaliman SPRING 2017 4 President’s Report – Annual General Meeting 2017 cont. conservation message. We presented a four-week static display in the foyer of the Hervey Bay Library on Australian mammals that went over the June school holidays. Communication We continued to produce our 24-page quarterly newsletter Wambaliman, which is distributed to members, and also posted on our webpage and our Facebook page. We have a regular monthly slot on the local community radio station where mem- bers present issues and discuss our activities. We maintain our webpage on the Wildlife Queensland website, and launched a Facebook page that has been attract- ing a lot of attention and commentary, and will hopefully reach an untargeted demo- graphic. We produced two new brochures that promote our Branch and activities. Campaigning/Advocacy As a Branch, we participated in the Water 4 Life Rally, marching through Maryborough to demonstrate our opposition to unconventional gasfields and frack- ing. We have made submissions that advocate for wildlife conservation to local Council, State and Federal Governments. In particular, these have addressed: the Queensland Government’s Climate Action Plan; the framework for the management of protected wildlife in Queensland; the Draft Protected Area Strategy; and the Col- ton Coal Mine (Federal Government). We currently have four subcommittees operating, and have members represent- ing our Branch on both the Fraser Coast Regional Council’s Environmental Advisory Group and the Animal Management Committee. Bundaberg-based members contin- ue to represent Wildlife Queensland on Bundaberg Regional Council advisory com- mittees. Fundraising We have raised almost $1,000 at Sausage Sizzles for the Branch, and $300 for Wildlife Rescue Fraser Coast from a major raffle, as well as funds raised by raffles in conjunction with the Wildlife Friendly Garden workshops. Tree Planting/Weeding We followed up our Woocoo Park Project from the previous year with watering and weeding, and some additional plantings. The ongoing maintenance has now been taken up by a newly formed Community Environment Program group. Celebrations Thirty people attended a celebration to commemorate 50 years of the produc- tion and publication of our newsletter Wambaliman, which was first published in July 1967. Ownership of the newsletter has shifted over that period as wildlife and conservation groups have come and gone in the region. The celebration was attend- ed by four of the five editors from the last 50 years, John Sinclair, Pam Soper, Jenni Watts, and Rodney Jones; Fay Smith passed away in 1993. A number of the regular contributors to the newsletter were also in attendance. The evening also celebrated 5 President’s Report – Annual General Meeting 2017 cont. the release of a booklet called This Wambaliman Life, which details the history of Wambaliman from its early days right up to this