Article by Jim Seager

Photo above: Indigenous plantings from 2012 linking habitat from the top of the Barrabool Hills to the Barwon river

On 10th September we met at Geoff Anson’s property in the Barrabool Hills.

Here we looked at some biodiversity and farm forestry plantings completed several years ago, observing how they have changed the environment on the site. Increased wildlife habitat, reducing windspeed and better weed control, just some of the many benefits.

The Bus tour headed west along Barrabool Road looking at many of the indigenous plantings along the way. Anthony & Sally Jones described how their property has been transformed from a bare hill top, with native trees and shrubs providing stock shelter, wildlife habitat and aesthetic value to their farm. Jim Riordan and Peter McCann’s properties across the road demonstrated how linking revegetation along drainage lines can have a positive wider impact.

In Haines Road Barrabool, we took in the incredible views across the north face of the Barrabool hills and looked at the 10 year old indigenous plantings at McAdam Park. Over 8000 trees and shrubs were planted to create linked wildlife habitat to the Barwon River, slow the wind speed and reduce the spread of Serrated Tussock through this landscape.

Along the way we also looked at the options of direct seeding of native plants at the property of Ian Kelly and Heather Wellington and restoring the Waurn Ponds Creek at Barry and Glenys Harvey’s.

Our next stop was at Hamish & Leah Carr’s in Nobles Road Gnarwarre where we discussed the benefits of applying compost from both animal manure and coffee grounds to sandy loam soils. This applies a balance of nutrients resulting in a productive improved pasture. We also looked at summer fodder crops for finishing livestock and the benefits of old paddock trees for wildlife habitat before heading to ‘Barwon Leigh’ at Inverleigh for our lunch stop.

Lunch was enjoyed at the ‘Barwon Leigh’ shearers quarters, catered by the Ladies from the Barrabool CWA. We listened to Maxine & Duncan Campbell recount the incredible journey they have taken to completely change the way they ran the farm, while trying to manage the very invasive Serrated Tussock across a very rocky volcanic plain. This change of management has had a positive impact on the broader catchment.

Next stop was to the ‘Hermitage’ along the Hamilton Highway towards Geelong.

Sandy Cameron has demonstrated the benefits of landscape change by starting with a bold vision to return much of this farm to indigenous native vegetation. The property has significant escarpments along approx. 4 km of the Barwon River. The paddocks had large areas of rocky ground and infestations of serrated tussock and Chilean needle grass. There were also large areas of gorse & boxthorns along the river banks
Sandy has planted over 125,000 trees, shrubs and ground covers over the past 10 years, providing significant wildlife habitat, protecting the river and out competing the weeds.

It is worth noting that the large number of Eastern grey kangaroos have been a challenge when establishing guarded trees and maintaining fencing.

This year has seen the establishment of large enclosures for paddock trees to improve the aesthetic values and provide stock shelter no matter what the wind direction.

The property is also run totally off grid providing all it power needs from solar and batterie storage.

The future includes continuing with habitat restoration, improving the aesthetic and asset value of the property with the potential for eco-tourism and carbon credits trading to generate income.

The final stop before heading back was at Spence Wines, south of Bannockburn. This property has large areas of native kangaroo and wallaby grass-based pastures.

The challenges have been to control rabbits and serrated tussock infestations from on farm and adjoining neighbours which negatively impact on the native grasslands.

Spence’s have gained funding assistance from the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority to help restore and protect this valuable native grassland, currently through the Stewardship program.

Some of the other management includes, plant surveys to identify indigenous plants and weeds, harvesting grass seed on farm and redistributing to eroded sites and controlling weeds with selective herbicides where available.

The final drive back to Geoff Anson’s heading east along the Hamilton Highway giving participants a look at the Barrabool Hills as a whole, noting its unique landscape as it rises up from the volcanic plains.

Some afternoon tea at Geoff’s finished off a great day!