Menai Wildflowers Group Newsletter 2012 October

A/President's Report Menai Wildflower Group have had a spectacular couple of months with the 25th anniversary celebrations a shining light of success, with Angus Stewart sharing his insights into native propagation and cultivation. The birthday cake was cut by three generations – heather, Julie and Sarah – representing all members. We lauded our distinguished members Henny & Heather, who are much appreciated by all our group with their ongoing support, participation and knowledge of native plant gardening. It’s great to see the longevity of our group with great participation from everyone.

Our group had a Spring Wildflower Spectacular night at our last meeting and thanks to those who showed off their gardens’ spring displays.

Diosma intergrown with hardenbergia

With the absence of Mary & Lloyd we still managed to hold events together by selling many plants at the September Menai markets and informing locals about our group’s activities. A big thankyou to all those who volunteered their time and energy.

Jason Cockayne

Coming Local Events (See Special Interest for others) 10 Oct Working Bee at IRFS 9a.m. start 10 Oct Menai Wildflower Group Meeting Guest Speaker – Wendy Kinsella “Native Rats” 13 Oct Lithgow Garden of Stones 2-day

tour 14 Nov Working Bee at IRFS 9am start 14 Nov Menai Wildflower Group Meeting Guest Speaker – Phil Keane “Spring Wildflower Spectacular” 14 Nov AGM Contents A/President's Report ...................................... 1 Coming Local Events ..................................... 1 From the Treasurer ........................................ 2 Special Interest ............................................... 2 Our Birthday Bash 2012 ................................ 2 August Guest Speaker .................................... 7 Spring Wildflower Spectacular ...................... 8 Menai Community Market ............................. 9 Travellers’ Report .......................................... 9 Fire Station Open Day ................................... 9 Tip Nursery Report ....................................... 10 Group Meetings ............................................ 10

Newsletter of Menai Wildflower Group October 2012

Menai Wildflower

Group


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From the Treasurer Your membership card shows when renewal is due. When paying your renewal fees it would be a great help if you could request a renewal form and have it filled in for me on the night. Please note there is a new membership form which requires your CCV/CSV number to be given if paying by credit card. The new membership form is available on our website. Many thanks in anticipation.

Sharon Pearson

Special Interest Deadline for contributions to next newsletter will be Wednesday 28 Nov ’12. Any items suitable for inclusion in the newsletter may be sent to the Editor (Post to Secretary or e-mail [email protected]) before the deadline. Working Bees at IRFS start at 9am and include weeding, mulching and lunching.

Nursery group held at the Tip Nursery, Lucas Heights Waste Management site most Monday mornings from 9.30am to 1pm. Please contact Lloyd Hedges if you wish to start attending.

The Group’s Website Home Page can be easily accessed by doing a Google search using the phrase “Menai Wildflower Group” and selecting what should be the first option offered.

Trip to Lithgow 13-14 October 2012 This is your chance to look at the area around the Gardens of Stone NP. Anyone interested in this trip contact Jason Cockayne on 9570 8559.

Our Birthday Bash 2012 It’s over! What do I remember? We came in on time and within budget, for starters, but I think we had a lot of fun and even achieved our objectives of celebrating the work of members past and present whilst encouraging the younger generation to notice Australian native plants.

Your committee had many generous offers of help along the way. The editors of The Leader and Native Plants for New South Wales were most supportive, with reports and photos published often.

The photo competition for local school children was a great lead in to our big day and resulted in a great display of some 30 images in the Menai Library for three weeks. Ann Pitkeathly did a great job of arranging the images for display and her experience in mounting exhibitions like this saved us a lot of time and anguish. The library staff were happy to lead clients to see the great photos taken by the students. The winners were published in The Leader, as promised.

Luckily the sun did shine through on Saturday 25 August and many of our “oldies” managed to come along for at least part of the day and seemed to enjoy catching up with former members. The talks by Angus Stewart left standing room only; some clever souls used the fire engine to get a better view! The “firies” certainly cooked up a storm of sausages and onions, whilst current MWG members did their usual fabulous job when supplying scrumptious desserts for all.

One of our Group commented on how nice it was to see so many people doing the jobs they enjoy and are so good at doing: Ann was ladling out bubbles and juices (instead of “worm tea”), Mary was making jewellery, Marion and Jennifer were rounding up the toy animals and explaining the paintings on show, whilst Helen and Marg were busy turning flowers into bouquets. We even had Cris selling native plants, but only after she had delivered the best birthday cake ever! Jean and Kevin couldn’t be there, so they sent along major decorations. Our Mr Ed provided certificates of merit in advance of the day and Treasurer Sharon kept track of the money. My very favourite people, however, just had to be those efficient souls who seized on the most unloved tasks, such as cleaning and packing away, and performed them with smiles intact.

The garden tours were a great success and we are hoping that the edited version of the filming by Robert Patience will be of interest to many of you.


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We had great support from our neighbouring APS Groups too, so it was fitting that they took away a raffle prize or two. Our sponsors were great, so I hope they felt they benefitted from supporting us in our efforts to bring Menai Wildflower Group to the notice of the community whilst enjoying a great week-end of activities.

When is our next party? Pam Pitkeathly

My, What A Swell Big Birthday We Had The following photo gallery was supplied by Erden Sizgek, Anne Burns and Lloyd Hedges.

We listened to Angus Stewart,


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sold plants,

saw crafts corner,


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had presentations,

Lloyd gives Pam a beaut bouquet of natives 25 August

Cake decoration

Cutting the cake made by Cris Breitenbach

enjoyed a barbecue lunch cooked by the members of Illawong Rural Fire Service


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congratulated a photo competition winner,

Had a garden tour at Illawong Rural fire station,


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and dined with Angus at a Thai restaurant.

Our treasurer with Angus Stewart

Two happy plant gurus

On Sunday we had breakfast at the boatshed,

And visited Joseph Banks Native Gardens

The Editor August Guest Speaker We were fortunate to have Les Bursill speak to our group again; his talk was diverse covering topics such as Astro Archaeology, Aboriginal Nations across the land, rock engravings in the Royal National Park and the current Barden Ridge Development.

Les summarised colleague Duane Hamacher’s [research associate in the Nura Gili Indigenous Centre at the University of New South Wales]


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presentation on astronomy in Aboriginal cultures. He pointed out how the Aboriginal people of Australia have a detailed knowledge of the night sky and have incorporated this into their culture and traditions, stretching back for thousands of years. The knowledge is recorded in oral tradition and rock art sites related to the sky-deity Balame who lives in the Milky Way.

The Map of Australia presented showed the concentration of the many different Aboriginal Nations in the top end, through the centre and across to the east coast regions [Sydney was the most populous]. The oldest generic link in Australia is between 50 – 60 thousand years, with the original migrants comprising 40% Caucasian, 2% African and 58% South East Asian. These people walked over, what then were land bridges, from other regions prior to the separation of the Continental Plates and brought new cultures into the land. The majority of these people spoke the Parma language, as indicated by the results of DNA tests and language traditions.

Les pointed out that the Aboriginal people in the Sydney district were clans of larger groups sharing a common language. Three language groups have been identified in the Sydney Region – the Kuringgai [or Guringai], the Dharug [or Dharruk/Dharuk/Darug], and the Dharawal [or Tharawal]. The Wallumedegal, whose territory was from Sydney Cove to Parramatta, on the northern side of the Parramatta River, was thought to have been within the Dharug speaking area. Aboriginal people were acutely aware, with their knowledge of the environment, how and when to find particular foods or plants at any time of the year.

Les showed a series of photos from Vincent Bicego [PhD candidate Wollongong University] on Aboriginal Astro Archaeology and the importance in the preservation of known sites. The enhancement of rock art with a variety of photographic modes showed just how these valuable sites have deteriorated over time. One site in particular is in Barden Ridge, right beside existing and new housing but not considered significant enough to preserve from a developer’s point of view, however, once enhanced by the photographic technique,

beautiful hand prints and other images appeared.

The ravages of time have destroyed or caused deterioration of a number of historical rock carvings in the Royal National Park. We were shown slides and heard the story of the Dreamings when two of the seven Wawalag/Djurwali sisters [Boaliri and Garangal] came down to earth and met with the Lightening Brothers. Their union resulted in the birth of one child to Boaliri prior to their journey to the North and Garangal bearing her child by the water en route. Rock carvings displayed both sisters, the second birth and Yulunggul, the great rock python, who had smelled the scent of the women and become so incensed that he swallowed them all, later to regurgitate the sisters alive but retaining the children. The carvings are still visible with the assistance of water smeared over the rock surface; unfortunately one rock face displaying six men dancing has deteriorated beyond redemption.

Les has taken our Group to view some of these rock carvings over recent years, something we are extremely grateful for. It is saddening to know that these significant artworks, sometimes thousands of years old, have become so increasingly eroded due to the environment and lack of protection that future generations will be deprived of our experience.

Marion Payne

Spring Wildflower Spectacular For our September meeting we had a Spring Wildflower Spectacular! Instead of having a guest speaker at our meeting we thought we would involve our members directly. We requested that members bring a bunch of native flowers from their own garden and to speak about them. This was very experimental, but we were delighted that members brought so many different types of flowers - it goes to show what wonderful native gardens some of our members have and the interest they have for the native plants they grow. Without Lloyd (as he was on holiday) we thought we might struggle to identify some


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of the plants, but with a group effort we did very well – Lloyd would be proud. Thanks to all those members who participated.

Philotheca myoporoides – long leaf wax flower from Sharon & Jay’s garden

Grevillea speciosa – red spider flower from Sharon & Jay’s garden

Sharon Pearson

Menai Community Market

Setting up

Sorry, our garden gnomes are not for sale.

Plant sales customer

Ron Fraser

Travellers’ Report Mary and Lloyd Hedges have been very good about reporting on their travels. Mary has phoned in from Boulia, on the way to Alice Springs, then from Bunbury, W.A.

The ute was performing well, the weather was cool and they should be back as Lloyd had scheduled.

Pam Pitkeathly

Fire Station Open Day Saturday 22 September was IRFS’s Open Day. I managed to re-arrange a few photos and hand-outs to make a display, and a bucket of colourful Aussie flowers (thanks Helen) drew people over to talk about MWG. Several visitors took one of our program folders.

The kids’ colouring competition and the “put out a blaze” demos were popular.

Pam Pitkeathly


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Tip Nursery Report

With Lloyd away I have been looking after the nursery. I’m no expert but with our regular helpers I don’t have to be. There are plenty of seeds popping up in the greenhouse ready for potting on, the regulars are bringing lots of cutting material from their own gardens and there is lots of potting up to be done as the weather is warming up. Many plants, including some in flower, were taken to the September Menai markets where we sold most of them.

Ozothamnus diosmifolium

If there are any particular plants that you wish us to propagate please let me know (or Lloyd when he returns). It would be good to have a variety of plants available to our members and it is always interesting to propagate different plants.

Thanks to the volunteers at the nursery for all their hard work, especially Anne, Brian, Karen, Kate & Pam. Without them we would not be able to supply the quantity and variety of plants to our members and at the markets.

Sharon Pearson

Group Meetings Meetings of the Menai Wildflower Group are held at 7:30pm on the second Wednesday each month (except January) at the Illawong Rural Fire Service Headquarters. New members and friends are welcome.

Please address all correspondence to the Secretary, PO Box 3104 Bangor NSW 2234

Website is www.menaiwildflower.austplants.com.au

E-mail is [email protected] President Vacant Vice President Jason Cockayne 9570-8559 Lloyd Hedges 9543 - 1216

Secretary Margaret Olde 9543-2242 Treasurer Sharon Pearson 9570-8559 Editor Alan Ferguson 9543-8216 APS-NSW Delegate Mary Hedges 9543-1216 General Committee Cris Breitenbach 9520-3813 Ron Fraser 9528-3141 Katrina Hure 9774-4746 Marion Payne 9543-1040 Pam Pitkeathly 9543-0243

http://www.menaiwildflower.austplants.com.au/�

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Menai Wildflowers Group Newsletter 2012 October