Contents
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Welcome
Welcome to the March 2008 edition of "The Eco", the newsletter for Friends of the Port Phillip EcoCentre.
Our aim is to provide an informative and entertaining snapshot of the activities, achievements and interests of all the wonderful people who contribute towards the goals of the EcoCentre, inspiring us to take
'local action for a global future'.
Do you have some news for The Eco? Contributions are always welcome.
Email info@ecocentre.com with your contribution and contact details.
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Student designed and built garden at
the Victorian College for the Deaf
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Students have recently built a rainwater tank stand and are currently enjoying a bumper crop of tomatoes and eggplants. The plan is to build a herb garden and espaliered orchard this year to supply the school kitchen.
During a water research project excursion to the EcoCentre in 2007, Jo Tilley, VCD teacher, and year 9/10
students, inspired by Caroline, decided to build a garden. The aim was to develop a curriculum program, incorporating project based learning, to establish a productive
garden at VCD. All was made possible when the Jack Brockhoff foundation gave the project a grant of $15,000 and Mitre 10 Richmond donated $500 towards supplies and equipment.
EcoCentre’s Caroline Packham worked closely with the students through the design and construction phases to create the raised beds, using Cypress Macro-carpa, a
salvaged timber; seven beds in all - five rectangular ones, a pentagonal one and an octagonal one, and; a garden shed built from reclaimed materials and radially sawn weatherboards.
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The garden beds employ the captive medium technique, they are lined with geo-fabric to help retain the nutrients in the 11 cubic metres of soil.
Ben, a local carpenter, led the construction and co-ordinated the student team with wonderful EcoCentre volunteers John, Matt, Miro and Mike made the project happen on the ground. The development of this garden has been a real community collaboration of creativity, skills, support and hard work!
Students build the shed they designed
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@EcoCentre in April—Melbourne Social Forum presents
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| Eating, moving, living: pathways to sustainable urban planning, transport and food production.
Starting at 11.00 am, the event will open with an indigenous welcome and some words from Julian Donlen (CoPP, Community Pulse). Neil Blake will also lead a guided tour of the EcoCentre.
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Three panels of speakers will discuss the themes of food, transport and urban planning. Speakers include Ben Neil (Cultivating Community), Frank Fisher (Undertandascope) a speaker from ‘Lentil as Anything’.
Before a hearty Mexican lunch, the event will coincide with the launch of the ‘Wildlife Portraits’ photographic exhibition by Ian Levy and the local launch of the new book ‘Climate Code Red’ by David Spratt and Phillip Sutton. This very timely publication is an initiative of Greenleap,
CarbonEquity and Friends of the Earth.
In the late afternoon and early evening there will be a film screening with documentary films from EngageMedia.org and also Plug-in TV.
We hope to see you on April 5th with your family and friends. For further program details closer to the event please see the website:
www.melbournesocialforum.org
Date : April 5 Time: 11.00 start Cost: Free
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St Kilda Indigenous heritage:
walking the talk
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| The St. Kilda Indigenous Heritage Trail walk, held on Friday evening 1st of February, launched the 2008 Yalukit Wilam Ngargee Festival.
The EcoCentre coordinated walk started at St Kilda Junction by the ancient River Redgum Ngargee tree the oldest living thing in the City of Port Phillip, in Boon Wurrung country.
Boon Wurrung Elder, Carolyn Briggs shared her knowledge of indigenous culture with the 45 people participating. The event also featured two dance performances by ‘One Fire’, the first as a welcome at the Ngargee Tree and the second at West Beach where walk participants were invited to join in the dance and treated to delicious bushfood snacks.
The location at West Beach, sheltered from the sea breeze by a grove of Coast Tea-tree, provided an intimate setting for Carolyn and Dave Curby (an Arrente man from Alice Springs) to reflect on indigenous culture in modern Australia. All participated in a smoking ceremony and were welcomed into an inclusive ‘new dreamtime now’.
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The trail walkers move into the sunset together - photo coutesy of Bindi Cole
All walkers left the event with a richer appreciation of indigenous culture and lifestyle.
The walk was conducted as part of the EcoCentre’s ‘Love the Bay’ program with support from the Reichstein Foundation and Melbourne Community Trust.
More walks are planned in the future.
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Beach Buddies Blooms
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The Beach Buddies summer program of family activities has been fun and well attended. People have been surprised and delighted to meet buddies on West Beach and beyond.
The program, focusing on the ecology on the St. Kilda foreshore; wildlife, habitats and food web, has participants surveying seaweeds, shells, starfish, birds and penguins. They learn how species become threatened and how each person can help to protect biodiversity.
Oldies and young people alike appreciated getting to know the foreshore better. The Beach Buddy program will run on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month.
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Tosia australis - one of the St. Kilda beach buddies
More details at:
www.ecocentre.com/bb_BeachBuddies.html
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Eco Art set to travel
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An Art exhibition was launched in conjunction with the Climate change forum, held at the EcoCentre on Saturday March 1.
Ron Eden’s images show how environmental conditions can influence different medium over time. Eden says of the exhibition, “It’s great that the EcoCentre is encouraging the local arts community to take up the topic of climate change. Artists are ideas pioneers and can play a key role in how we adapt to the changing world”.
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The climate change forum provided a valuable meeting point for linking some diverse aspects of the climate change challenge - and will spring board into further actions in the future.
Ron Eden’s spectacular images are on display and for sale at the EcoCentre until the end of March. The exhibition will then tour municipalities around Port Phillip Bay.
.To view Ron Eden’s work visit: www.edendewpics.com
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Penguins in Peril
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Port of Melbourne Corporation ignores the effects of the Channel Deepening Project (CDP) on Melbourne’s precious little penguin colony.
The recently released Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the CDP does not specify any monitoring of the St Kilda little penguin colony. This is despite recommendations from both an independent panel and the state Minister for Planning Justin Madden to monitor this colony of penguins both during and post-dredging.
Concerns about the effect of the dredging on St Kilda penguins were raised at the inquiry into the supplementary environmental effects statement for the CDP by several community groups, including
Earthcare St Kilda Inc.
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Monash University PhD candidate and penguin researcher Tiana Preston said that “some areas where the penguins normally forage are going to be effected by the dredging plume. As the penguins from St Kilda spend most, if not all, of their lives within the bay they are at risk of bio-accumulating heavy metals and toxins that are going to be dredged up only a short distance from their colony.”
The EMP only provides for monitoring a sub-population of penguins at Phillip Island. This research is insubstantial and does not indicate whether the penguins have entered Port Phillip Bay, and will have little relevance in relation to effects of the CDP on penguins.
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REPTILE RAMBLES
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GARDEN SKINKS: Article & photo by Ian R Levy
When we think of reptiles we usually imagine snakes, large lizards, crocodiles, turtles, etc. However in our own residential lots in suburban Melbourne there are usually one or two species of miniature reptiles happily adapted to our garden environments.
These very small skink lizards actively hunt insects amongst the leaf litter,. Although most gardens are favorable habitats for these tiny lizards, they may be absent from yards that use toxic pesticides or areas where domestic cats roam.
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The lovely little lizards help to control insect pests naturally, and add a lively presence to the undergrowth.
There are several small skink species native to metropolitan Melbourne, and the most common in the suburbs are the Garden Skink and the Weasel Skink.
The Garden Skink is actually represented by two very similar species; the Light- flecked Garden Skink [Lampropholis guichenoti] and the Dark-flecked Garden Skink. [Lampropholis delicata]. Both forms grow to about 9cm, including tail, although the light flecked may be found in more open dryer habitats.
The Weasel Skink [Saproscincus mustelinus] grows up to about 15 cm. including a long tail is a russet brown colour and it is described as a shade skink which prefers moist habitats in the eastern and southern suburbs of Melbourne. It retreats during very hot weather but may be observed in the late afternoon when the solar radiation decreases.
To encourage skinks in your garden provide some areas of natural undergrowth and bark and leaf litter. Rocks and small hollow logs are perfect sunning and hiding places.
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A Swan Song
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Albert Park Swan Study
By James Brincat, Parks Victoria
Albert Park Lake hosts a population of about 300 Black Swans, Cygnus atratus. One-third to one-half of these birds are breeding residents, creating around 60-70 nests each season. In 2007, the breeding pairs were almost identical to the breeding pairs of 2006. The non-breeding birds, unpaired 'floaters', move on and off the lake. Birds from the Albert Park population have been tracked to Williamstown, the Mornington Peninsula, and as far as Ballarat.
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The swans at Albert Park are comparatively larger than those previously studied in Ballarat. An 8kg male would be unusually large in Ballarat, but at Albert Park many males have weighed in at and over 9kg (real brutes!).
Some interesting incubation patterns have been discovered during the course of this study - males incubate during the day, females during
the night. This is very unusual in birds and we're trying to discover why. It may have to do with
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patterns of predation, thermoregulation or foraging.
Cygnet survival rate varies from year to year, though each year between 150 and 200 cygnets hatch out. In 2007 only a handful (about 10) survived to adulthood. The remainder fell prey to a variety of predators which probably include rakali,
swamphens, cats and dogs, to name a few.
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Old Phones Wanted…
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| Old mobile phones, and now spectacles and hearing aides, can be donated for recycling at the EcoCentre collection point.
The EcoCentre is a participant in affiliate JECO’s (Jewish Ecological Coalition) mobile phone recycling collection program, and has contributed to the several hundred phones collected by program participants to date.
The phones collected by JECO are sent to Aussie
Recycling Program (ARP) www.arp.net.au who selects phones that can be refurbished for export to developing countries. These phones provide affordable, first-time modern communications for many people in areas that currently have little modern telecommunications
infrastructure.
Phones that cannot be re-used are cannibalized for parts or the materials recovered and recycled. This helps save our planet’s precious resources as well as keeping
potentially toxic ingredients out of landfill.
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ARP will also recycle any phone accessories you send in.
In Australia an estimated 12.5 million defunct or unused mobile phones lie idle at work or at home. By donating these phones you can help the world – and help JECO!
Currently every phone returns $1.50 to the JECO, and if over 100 phones are collected this year, the return goes up to $2 for every phone in the next financial year.
Recycle your old mobiles them and help preserve the environment.
Bring your old phones and ask everyone you know for theirs.
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Friends of Port Melbourne's
Foreshore (FPMF)
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| FPMF are always looking for new members to help maintain the environment at Perce White Reserve in Port Melbourne. This is one of the few patches around Port Phillip Bay that remains as it was on European occupation. They have a working bee each month, alternately on the first Sunday or Saturday morning, wherein they remove 'foreign' weeds (and cigarette butts) and enhance the indigenous environment with plantings.
This includes morning tea and sometimes a guest lecturer on the ecology of that environment.
Activities are easy with no heavy lifting but may involve some bending such as weeding or planting. Come along even if you can only put in a fraction of the time.
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It's a great opportunity to meet others in the community. If you have any questions about working bees call:
Contact: Nick or Carol
Phone: 9646 0506
Location: Perce White Reserve, Melways 56 G3 (except for the March date, meet at the Sandridge Surf Life Saving Club for Clean Up Aust Day.)
Time: 9.30 a.m. (2 to 3 hours depending on the tasks), Saturdays or Sundays
Dates (2008):
Feb Sat 2nd, Mar Sun 2nd - Clean up Australia Day, Apr Sat 12th, May Sun 4th, Jun Sat 14th, Jul Sun 6th, Aug Sat 2nd, Sep Sun 7th, Oct Sat 4th (TBC), Oct Sat 18th (TBC), Nov Sun 9th, Dec Sat 7th
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St. Kilda Organic Food Cooperative
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SKOF ltd operates from the EcoCentre on Saturdays from 10.30 til noon. Come join, and receive a weekly box of organic fruit and veg for $25/week.
SKOF’s saturday activities on the EcoCentre’s deck has attracted many wonderful new members over the last few months. We are now averaging 15 to 20 boxes a week, which means 20 households are eating yummy organic food each week.
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Summer is a great time to start SKOF-ing – experience the full abundance of summer fruit and vegetables filling our boxes to overflowing.
In 2007 SKOF members gallivanted afar for fun foody field trips.
In recent months we packed into the City of Port Phillip mini bus and headed for lunch at ‘Captains Creek Winery’ and Farm, we walked with the goats at Holy Goat Farm and we’ve also ventured out and had our fill of cherries at the Mount Alexander Fruit Farm.
For more info, drop in on Saturday.
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WaterWatch Volunteer Wanted
at Westgate Park
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Friends of Westgate Park is an enthusiastic community- based volunteer organization actively improving Westgate Park in Port Melbourne (right under the Westgate Bridge)
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The park has two lakes, a dam and several lagoons that attract many different species of birds.
The group is looking for a volunteer to conduct monthly surveys of these water bodies.
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Estimated time: three to four hours per month on any day of the month that suits you!
The volunteer would be required to undergo a one day training programme. All materials supplied.
Anyone interested please contact Tony Flude on
0400 770 254 or email
tonyflude@alphalink.com.au
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QUESTION:
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Like to become an EcoCentre member?
Please call 9534 0670 to join now!
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Individual membership $16.50 per year.
Household membership $22.00 per year.
Affiliate membership $22.00 + $1.10 for each member (ceiling of $200.00) per year.
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Donate to the EcoCentre
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Ahhh yes! We do need donations. While our core running costs are proudly sponsored by the City of Port Phillip, our programs and activities are funded via grants, partnerships and an increasing amount of fee for service. Your
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donation will help keep the costs low for the community, and keep us on the map! Tax deductable donations via traditional means welcome, we now also have a donate button on our website!!!
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Be the news!
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The newsletter is emailed to EcoCentre members and is on our website. Keep up to date with Eco happenings, or post a message from your group. Please send news articles for
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inclusion in the next newsletter by the 15th of the month.
Email Contributions to info@ecocentre.com
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