'The best view on the planet' Exotic plants invasion NPA BULLETIN Volume 30 number 1 March 1993 CONTENTS Letters 4 'The best view on the planet' 8 Exotic plants invasion 11 Aboriginal or European? 12 Travellers' Tales (part III) 14 Parkwatch 17 Cover Legal protection for Namadgi 20 Photo: Fiona McDonald Brand Mount Morgan (see story on page 19) National Parks Association (ACT) Subscription rates (1 July to 30 June; Incorporated Household members $20 Single members $15 Inaugurated 1960 Corporate members $10 Bulletin only $10 Concession: half above rates For new subscriptions joining between: Aims and objects of the Association 1 January and 31 March—half specified rate • Promotion of national parks and of measures for the*pro- 1 April and 30 June—annual subscription tection of fauna and flora, scenery and natural features in the Australian Capital Territory and elsewhere, and the Membership enquiries welcome reservation of specific areas. Please phone Laraine Frawley at the NPA office. • Interest m the provision of appropriate outdoor recreation is located in Maclaurin Cres, areas. The NPA (ACT) office Chifley. Office hours are: • Stimulation of interest in, and appreciation and enjoyment 10am to 2pm Mondays of, such natural phenomena by organised field outings, 9am to 2pm Tuesdays and Thursdavs meetings or any other means. Telephone: (06) 282 5813 • Co-operation with organisations and persons having simi­ Address: PO Box 40 Chifley ACT 2606. lar interests and objectives. • Promotion ol", and education for, nature conservation, and Contribute to your Bulletin the planning of land-use to achieve conservation. Contributions of articles (news, description or fiction), black-and-white photographs and line drawings ar& Office-bearers and committee keenly sought for the Bulletin. Please label photc^ President Beverley Hammond 288 6577(h) graphs with the name of the subject, the name of the Vice-President Dianne Thompson 288 6084(h); photographer and the date. Leave contributions at the 244 7549(w) office or phone the editor, Roger Green, on (06) 247 0059. The editorial fax is (06) 249 7373. Immediate Past President Les Pyke 281 2982(h) Articles by contributors may not necessarily reflect Secretary Len Haskew 281 4268(h) Association opinion or objectives. Treasurer Mike Smith 286 2984(hj; 248 3624(w) Deadline for June issue: 1 May, 1993. Subcommittee conveners NPA Bulletin is produced by Green Words for the Environment Tim Walsh 285 1112(h); 274 1465(w) National Parks Association (ACT) Incorporated. It is Outings Michael Kelly 241 2330(h) produced with the assistance of an ACT Heritage grant. Namadgi Syd Comfort 286 2578(h) Printed on recycled paper bv Union Offset Co Ptv Ltd. Other committee members Fyshwick, ACT. Neville Esau 286 4176(hj; 249 9500(w) ISSN 0727-8837 Clive Hurlstone 288 7592(h); 246 5516(w) Doreen Wilson 288 5215(h) Graham Guttridge 231 4330(h) President's foreword NPA has The National Parks Association office is moving! moved It is with some regret that the committee, with the endorsement From Monday 1 February of members at NPA's November 1993, the NPA office will meeting, has decided to move to be situated in the old alternative accommodation. We have had an office with minimal baby health clinic, costs in the old university build­ Maclaurin Crescent, ings since 1984. Prior to this time, Chifley. all business was conducted from members' homes and our library Our new postal address is: was held in a mobile cupboard in our meeting room at the Griffin PO Box 40 Centre. The opening of the office |woincided with the appointment of The president in Austria Chifley, ACT, 2606. ^ ^n office secretary, made possible Photo by Judith Webster by grants from the Community Telephone number is Development Fund. There will be room for a table and (06) 282 5813. The community groups in the chair in the old waiting room for area, many concerned with envi­ the use of members and others Our office hours will ronmental issues, formed an asso­ who request access to some of our remain the same: ciation for the Redevelopment of materials for study purposes. Childers and Kingsley Streets Unfortunately, we do anticipate Mondays 10 am to 2 pm, CROCKS) which NPA joined. a small rise in membership fees to In 1992 the area became cover the rent. Tuesdays and Thursdays Territory property and is zoned as The NPA committee invites all 9am to 2pm. a community facility. A ROCKS members to join us for an official management committee meets opening ceremony on 21 April at monthly and has recently been 5.30pm in the new NPA office, active in developing plans for rede­ Maclaurin Crescent, Chifley. veloping the site. We hope to main­ Please note our new postal address tain our association with this and telephone number in your committee and to be part of the address books. future project. Beverley Hammond In the meantime, squatters in {•the Childers Street hall and the "^room adjacent to our own office have caused some concern. A maintenance issue continues as Guidelines for ageing services and deteriorating buildings have been further dam­ aged by vandals. Archival mate­ contributors rial stored in our office is at risk, Here are some suggestions for con­ • non-technical articles-on although our archives group is tributions to the Bulletin: research into relevant botany, zoology and wildlife proposing to seek storage for some • reports on activities of the management of this at the National Library. If Association (submissions to gov­ you have called at the office ernments, walks, special events) • reviews of books on any of the recently you must have been above topics aware of the cramped conditions • newsy articles about parks, plan­ • short poems and need for additional space. ning or conservation in the ACT and south-eastern New South • black and white photographs So we are moving. Wales illustrating any of the above Our new office, in the former • short reports on travels to (well-lit colour prints are usually baby health clinic at Chifley, is acceptable). brighter, larger, more accessible, national parks or other natural Anyone thinking of contributing to in pleasant surroundings and areas in other parts of Australia NPA Bulletin is welcome to discuss lighter at night. The preschool is or overseas, highlighting man­ ideas with the editor, Roger Green, behind us, so it will be busy at agement issues that could be of telephone (06) 247 0059. times, but there is parking on the relevance to parks near street and in a small parking area. Canberra Willows have their place Dear Sir, I am writing in response to two items on willows published in the two previous issues of the NPA Bulletin. Fiona MacDonald Brand asked the question, 'Should they [the willows! stay or should they go?' (September 1992); Timothy Crosbie Walsh stated that 'from a conservation point, the willow must go!' (December 1992). So, how? And when? As well as, why? Do we introduce a disease to kill them, and risk its getting out of control? Do we leave the dead wil­ lows standing or drag them down? Once the willows are removed, what stops the banks from eroding away? Do we plant native trees to replace them? Do we wait until the root systems of these replace­ ment trees are mature before the willows are removed? Indeed, will they grow with the willows still in place? I've asked questions all over the place and no-one seems to have the answers. Yet conserva­ tionists say that willows must go—an easy instant answer and one that sounds a little like an environmental version of 'ethnic cleansing* to me. Will it stop with willows? Why not include the pop­ lars and the cypresses too, indeed Rowley's Hut—one site of the willow controversy. everything the pioneers planted in Photo by Reg Alder their landscapes to make them­ replaced much of our native vege­ selves feel comfortable in what drought crop. Governments tation along watercourses, but it must have been, to them, an alien encouraged landholders to plant! is equally true that they have and often hostile land? There them to stabilise banks. The easy- must be a more thoughtful replaced the native trees as homes to-grow willow was valued at £1, answer, one sensitive to all the for birds and animals. Where will while a mile of new fencing was a issues. the birds nest once all the willows mere £30. have gone? It has been suggested Attitudes, of course, change with It is true that in some places the to me that, because native trees time, but we don't have to be willow growth has become so thick take so long to grow, it would be extreme. Some of those willows that it is stopping the flow of the preferable to pull out the willows now have historical value. In any water. These trees will have to be and replace them with quick- case, why does the environment removed, and soon. It will be inter­ growing native understorey always have to win at the expense esting to see how it's done and plants. This, apparently, would of cultural heritage? In an area how much damage is caused to stop the banks from eroding. But grazed for generations but now a surrounding areas. We've already where are the safe nesting places? national park, surely both natural seen what damage moving rocks And does not replacing overseas and cultural values are integral to from one spot to another can do! exotics with Australian natives the whole, and both should be con­ When Timothy said, 'the willows that are just as exotic to the area served.