Indigenotes - Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association

Forgotten flora
How government has
turned its back on
threatened species
PAGE 4
INDIGENOTES VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2
July 2012 Volume 23 two

Dianella being planted at Laverton Grasslands to provide food for the bee that
pollinates Diuris fragrantissima. Photo: Alex Smart.
Orchids pictured on this and the following page are currently grown at the Horsham
DSE Lab. All are threatened at national and state levels and listed under the
Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.
IFFA OUTING Bush Heritage
Nardoo Hills Reserve
19 August 2012 10.30am-3pm
Non-members welcome
Come and join Bush Heritage’s Victorian Reserves Manager
Jeroen van Veen for an exclusive visit to Nardoo Hills Reserve.
This 817 ha reserve supports a large diversity of vegetation
communities including grey box grassy woodland, boxironbark
and mallee, providing vital habitats for a range of
wildlife. Since Bush Heritage acquired the first property in
2004 and actively managed it for conservation outcomes,
the transformation has been remarkable.
After an initial introduction over a cup of tea we will set off
on foot to explore more of this wonderful property; taking in
some of the key features and management practices. The
terrain is rather rocky and hilly but the pace will be gentle
to allow for plenty of looking and talking. We are likely to
cover around 3-5km. Don’t forget to bring your cameras and
binoculars.
Visit details: 10.30am – 3pm at reserve,
reachable by 2WD, ~210km NW of
Melbourne (allow 3hrs driving time),
nearest town is Wedderburn 12km.
We’ll organise a carpool for people who
are without transport. Composting
toilet on site. The cost of the tour will
be a voluntary donation to the Bush
Heritage Reserve.
You will need: BYO all food and
drinks, reasonable level of fitness/
mobility, arrange own transport to and
from the reserve (or carpool), wear
comfortable clothing and sturdy foot
wear for off-track walking.
For bookings call Fam Charko
04 02519124 or email:
bookings@iffa.org.au.
Please state your name, phone number, number of people
attending and if you need a spot in the carpool. Some
members may be staying overnight nearby; you may be
interested too.
5
President’s letter
1
1 Diuris fragrantissima, Sunshine Diuris,
intended for grasslands on the edge of
Melbourne. Photo: Alex Smart.
In early May IFFA took part in a deputation to the
Shadow Minister for the Environment, Lisa Neville.
We joined concerned members of the public to express
concern at the dismissal of Threatened Species Officers by the
State Government under Ted Baillieu.
In recent months IFFA has made a number of submissions
to the State Government advising our objection to changes
being made in land management and species conservation.
We are aware of further troubling proposals in the near future.
There are many dedicated environmental advocacy groups;
why should IFFA engage in political process?
To put it simply, flora and fauna doesn’t have a vote, our
members do.
What will be the result of the dismissal of DSE and DPI
officers?
Loss of experienced officers contributes to
scientific amnesia
Results of long-term monitoring are crucial to virtually
all threatened species conservation programs. Effective
monitoring programs combine scientific rigour,
meticulous record keeping and effective sharing of results
in recognised forums. It is a skill-set that takes years to
develop and will need to be redeveloped under a
future government that recognizes the state’s
moral and legal obligations to biodiversity
conservation. What a waste.
Lost support for volunteers
The expertise and consistency of these officers
supported and orchestrated volunteers who give massively
of their time and energy. This ‘multiplier effect’ is apparently
unrecognised by the recent cuts.
CONTINUED PAGE 3
Cover image
The Candy Spider-orchid, Caladenia versicolor.
Photo David Pitts.
2
INDIGENOUS FLORA AND FAUNA ASSOCIATION INC

2 3 4
2 Caladenia hastata, Mellblom’s Spiderorchid.
Photo: Len Carrigan.
3 Caladenia xanthochila, Yellow-lip Spiderorchidwhich.
Photo: Len Carrigan.
What if flora and fauna had a vote?
We have been repeatedly assured these cuts will not affect
‘front-line workers’
For Victoria’s flora and fauna, the threatened species officers
are the ‘front line’ workers. Job losses are tragic for individuals
but for endangered flora and fauna, such chopping and
changing can be terminal. Many species now rely on consistent
effort to maintain and recover their habitats.
Threatened species projects inspire hope
and care for our environment’s future
The genuine gains these projects achieve energise the public
in the face of seemingly endless news of ecological decline.
IFFA members are intensely concerned about these changes
and related ones such as the starvation of our reserve system.
The impact of neglected weed control programs on public land
is a perennial issue of particular concern to rural landholders
conservationists alike. Cuts at DSE and DPI will starve weed
programs. Timely and consistent treatment is essential in weed
programs. Delay can lead to vastly increased expenditure a few
years down the track. This is summed up in the old adage that
‘one years seeds equals seven years weeds’ and these shortsighted
cuts are sowing the seeds for years of ‘catch up’.
If you disagree with the direction this government is taking,
what can you do? Here are a few suggestions.
• Identify and record the impact of these cuts on your local
environment, local parks and volunteer groups.
• Tell your local member of Parliament that you are unhappy
with this direction and demand a response. Is the case
‘newsworthy’? Ring up or write to your favourite newspaper.
• Support and become active in groups addressing this issue.
• Where these programs impact Nationally listed species and
communities, make sure your Federal member hears about
it as well as the Federal Minister for the Environment, Tony
Burke.
• If you have worked with any staff that have been let go,
ensure they know that their contribution has been valued.
• Identify your allies, they may be found in unexpected
4 Pterostylis xerophila, Desert Rustyhood.
Photo: Len Carrigan.
5 Thelymitra mackibbinii, Brilliant
Sun-orchid. Photo: Len Carrigan.
places. Many businesses involved in land management will
suffer from the lost support for their industry these cuts
represent.
Finally, remember to ‘nourish the soul’. Find time to be in
nature and with friends. Strengthen yourself for your sake and
for the sake of the environment you are working to protect.
Brian Bainbridge
Further information: http://www.iffa.org.au/backwardsspiral-continues-baillieu-government-axes-threatenedspecies-officers
6
6 Caladenia fulva, Tawny Spider-orchid.
Photo: Len Carrigan.
INDIGENOTES VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2
3

The forgotten flora
How the Baillieu Government has
turned its back on threatened species
We pulled off the dusty track and parked the car
under a gnarly young stringybark tree. Before us was
a diverse heathy woodland, alive with the colour of
wildflowers in full spring bloom. In the distance I could see
rugged sandstone escarpments, lined with dark stunted trees
and ancient boulders.
I was on a day trip in the Black Ranges, a westerly extension
of the Grampians near Cherrypool. My travelling companions
were David Pitts, a biodiversity officer for the DSE and Roger,
one of DSE’s natural resource managers. Dave and I had spent
the week searching and monitoring threatened plant species
as part of Dave’s role with the DSE. Today we had headed
out from our base at Horsham to meet Roger, an expert in
the local country and its environment. Roger had seen some
orchids out this way that he thought might interest us.
‘This is the spot’, said Roger, and we headed into
the bush. We immediately came across a large patch
of beautiful white spider-orchids. These were the
Large White Spider-orchid (Caladenia venusta),
a species listed as vulnerable in Victoria. At most
places this species has declined substantially, but
here they seemed to be thriving. We found over a
hundred, all in slightly different shades of colours
and scattered throughout the bush. But then we
saw an orchid that looked very different. We stooped down
low to have a closer look, and became increasingly excited as
we compared it to the Large White’s nearby. It was certainly
different and looked suspiciously like the Candy Spider-orchid
(Caladenia versicolor) a species only known from one other site
in the world over at Lake Fyans. We stayed at the site for well
over an hour, taking an abundance of photos and checking
out other wildflowers and birds in the area, before heading
for another site. Later in the day we were to discover several
new populations of the nationally rare Elegant Spider-orchid
(Caladenia formosa) before heading back to camp.
The photos of our unusual orchid were sent to several
experts and quickly confirmed as the Candy Spider-orchid,
which is listed as threatened under the Victorian Flora and
Fauna Guarantee Act, and considered endangered by DSE.
It is listed as vulnerable under the Australian Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. This population
was the second disjunct population of only two. Over the
next twelve months Dave worked busily on this population
and managed to collect enough seed to send to the DSE
laboratory in Horsham. There, Dr Noushka Reiter and her
team managed to successfully propagate the species, a huge
break-through in the recovery work. A back-up population
of the plants was now available and the species could be reintroduced
into another suitable site if considered appropriate
by the orchid advisory committee.
Sounds inspiring doesn’t it? Well this is where the Baillieu
Government steps in. Several months ago David Pitts,
Noushka Reiter and nine other DSE biodiversity officers in
the south-west Victoria region were told to get ready to pack
their bags, as their contracts would not be renewed. The
recovery programs that these dedicated and highly trained
staff had been working on for years would now grind to a
halt. What of the seven thousand rare orchids sitting in the
Horsham laboratory waiting to be re-introduced to the wild?
‘Who cares?’ seems to be the Baillieu government’s response.
Orchids weren’t the only plants the DSE officers had been
working on either. A large assemblage of nationally endangered
plants had been under their close management, from salt
lake shrubs, wetland herbs to annual grasses. No one is now
available to look after these species in the south-west region,
other than the already over-worked remaining staff.
The Victorian Government has strong legal obligations
to manage our threatened species under global agreements
(the United Nations ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’,
of which Australia is a signatory), National legislation (the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act)
What of the seven thousand rare orchids
sitting in the Horsham laboratory waiting
to be re-introduced to the wild?
‘Who cares?’ seems to be the Baillieu
government’s response.
and State legislation (the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act). Just
like the cattle grazing in the alpine national parks, which was
effectively a breach of several acts of parliament, the Baillieu
Government seems to have no worries disregarding the law
when pursuing its hollow agenda.
IFFA has been actively campaigning against this issue, with
letters written to the Liberals and visits to the Shadow Minister
for the Environment. The response to our letter was shamefully
inadequate, and failed to answer any of our concerns.
Predicted global climate change is going to create a tough
time for our natural ecosystems to say the least. It is imperative
that now more than ever our leaders should be assisting land
managers to build the ecological resilience of our landscapes,
so that they are as able as possible to adapt to the coming
changes. The failure of leadership shown by the Baillieu
Government is shameful, with over $130 million cut from the
environment department in the recent budget. I can only hope
that more voices will continue to join in the fight against such
irresponsible government, and help to protect our precious
and highly stressed environment.
Karl Just
Editors Note: Since this article was written, and partly due to
community pressure, the Wimmera Catchment Management
Authority (CMA) has stepped in to save the orchid lab and to take
over many of the orchid recovery plans. With union help a handful
of DSE staff have managed to save their jobs. However things are
still looking grim. Many front-line workers in DSE, the CMA and
the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) across Victoria have
lost their jobs in the cost-cutting blitz, and many budgets cut. This
will have massive implications for environmental management.
DSE has announced that it will be moving to rely on volunteers
for much of their work, a ridiculous scenario considering the huge
level of time and experience required.
4
INDIGENOUS FLORA AND FAUNA ASSOCIATION INC

Think local, act www
http://natureshare.org.au
NatureShare is a new website which stores information
about indigenous species in Victoria. Anyone can
upload observations to share with the world.
It also provides for ‘collections’ of information relating to a
specific area.
All species known in Victoria to be remnant or selfsustaining
(i.e. plants, weeds, animals and introduced animals,
but not plants in revegetation sites, garden plants, pets, etc)
will be included. This currently includes plants, mammals,
birds, frogs, snakes and lizards, butterflies, dragonflies and
grasshoppers; other groups are being added over time.
Once a species is listed, users can add observations and
create their own ‘collections’. A collection is essentially a
species list, usually with observations, for a specific area.
Observations can be accompanied by a photograph, but need
not be. Tags such as ‘flower’, ‘leaf’, ‘juvenile’ etc are important
elements which allow for searching for particular observations
of a species.
New users need to register and login, set up their username
and profile, ‘join’ a collection, or create their own collection
and then observations can be uploaded.
How does the sharing part of NatureShare work?
Photos are shared across collections; if a species list is
added to a new collection, photos from other collections
are automatically shared with the new collection, instantly
generating the beginnings of a photo-based e-book. Then,
as new photos are collected at the site and added to the
collection, those new photos take precedence over shared
photos. At the moment about 50% of the species have photos
attached.
Once you enter ‘biological attributes’ into NatureShare, they
are shared for all to use. This means, if biological attributes
are already entered in NatureShare prior to a collection
being established the new collection becomes immediately
searchable. Most importantly, once attributes are entered, they
are in NatureShare forever and there is no need for individuals
and groups to ‘reinvent the wheel’ on their existing website.
NatureShare makes photos and other information available
for any use (eg. books, newsletters, articles) so long as credit is
given under a Creative Commons attribution scheme.
Many individuals and groups regularly go on excursions/
walks and make lists and photos of what they see. This
information can be shared on NatureShare.
If you think of a new feature for NatureShare you can build
it yourself (or apply for grants to pay for someone to build
it for you). NatureShare is an OpenGL web 2.0 application,
which means code is freely available.
NatureShare is a project conceived, designed and
implemented by Reilly Beacom and Russell Best and was
launched in August 2011. It was funded by Riddells Creek
Landcare, APS Keilor Plains and DSE’s Vision for Werribee
Plains project, with the addition of an extraordinary amount
of volunteer and in-kind support from people and groups
in Riddells Creek, the Macedon Range, across the Keilor-
Werribee plains and beyond.
will effectively be NatureShare 2.0 may be up
What and running soon. NatureShare has effectively been
taken up by Atlas of Living Australia, who have funded
Museum Victoria to incorporate it into a bigger system they
are calling ‘Bowerbird’. Russell Best is hopeful that this will
take over from the current version of NatureShare. “Basically
the Museum/ALA wanted a NatureShare-like system and they
had already developed the stuff we were going to do in the
next 10 years within the Museum’s biosecurity system, so they
are putting it all together, effectively replacing biosecurity with
biodiversity for this system. It will have, I hope, everything
that is in NatureShare but also include all the things that are
currently not great, like excellent communication systems,
mapping, better searchability, and many more bells and
whistles, the ability to set up virtual groups, and including one
or probably two apps for iphone and ipad”.
NatureShare provides a long-needed resource for compiling
observations of species occurrence and ecology in Victoria.
However features that IFFA members may find lacking in the
current implementation include:
• There is potentially a lot of data with not much
interpretation. For example the site does not include a
general description of species.
• The site is not an identification guide although you
can compare photos already on the website with your
observation.
• The site does not deal with revegetation either in the sense
of including observations of revegetated species, or in terms
of including information on how to propagate or
re-establish a species.
• There is little emphasis on how species interact.
• The site as it stands is not particularly inviting for the
general member of the public to learn about their local
indigenous species.
These functions might be added to the site in future, so in
the meantime IFFA’s web pages on flora and fauna species will
remain, and members are encouraged to contribute to these as
well as to NatureShare. We will endeavour to include a link to
the NatureShare species record in each of our species pages.
Tony Faithfull
Much of the information in this article is drawn from the
NatureShare website or information kindly provided by Russell Best.
Eclectic Parrot lives again
Older Indigenotes readers will recall the excellent radio show
The Eclectic Parrot which covered issues to do with the
conservation and management of local and Australian flora,
fauna and ecosystems. Bob McDonald who used to organise the
show has recently been in touch: “I am trying to put together The
Eclectic Parrot online — just building the site now at:
www.eclecticparrot.com.au
I will hopefully have online broadcasts in the next couple of
months. My main project for the last couple of years has been
getting up an underwater observatory for the Port Welshpool Long
Jetty — see the link on my website.”
INDIGENOTES VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 5

Wood white or Spotted Jezebel,
Delias aganippe.
Photo Brian Bainbridge.
Butterflies
in the suburbs
Native butterflies drift lazily through your backyard on sunny spring and summer
days. Ever wondered where they come from? Did some all-powerful super-being
create them spontaneously from thin air and drop them in your garden? Why have
they come to 27 Smith Street, Elwood? What are they doing? asked John Reid.
Butterflies like nectar. Nectar from all kinds of
flowers, indigenous and exotic. The carbohydrates
contained in this nectar help them to live longer, give
them the strength to find a mate and breed successfully,
enabling the females to produce lots of viable eggs.
So it seems our adult butterflies are happy with many of
the plants we serve them up in those crazy, chaotic, jumbled
collections of flora we surround our houses with. But adult
butterflies are essentially breeders, and as we have seen, they
appear to be fairly unspecific in their choice of plants to provide
strength-giving nectar. It is when the eggs hatch out to produce
caterpillars (larvae), that the crucial feeding stage begins. And it
is this stage that we must be most aware of if we are to conserve
indigenous butterflies.
Like all indigenous fauna, butterflies require the correct habitat
in which to live. In particular, this habitat must provide them
with particular larval food plants. When the female butterfly is
ready to lay eggs, her sense of smell is probably stimulated by the
essential oils of the plant species on which the larvae can feed.
Regardless of the nature of this stimulation, she usually lays her
eggs on or near certain preferred plants. This ensures that when
the eggs hatch, the young caterpillars will be on or close to the
plant they want to start munching straight away.
That’s enough of the preliminary waffle: now for the guts
6
of the article. We are all land managers in our own way,
professional or otherwise. We can all have input into the way
our indigenous flora and fauna are managed. For example, in
suburban Melbourne we can get involved in our own gardens,
in council reserves, bits of bush along the roadsides,
railway lines, creeks and gullies, etc. As lovers
of indigenous flora and fauna, let’s
have some input on behalf of the
caterpillars of our native
butterflies.
Klugs or Marbled
Xenica,
Geitoneura
klugii.
Ian Faithfull
INDIGENOUS FLORA AND FAUNA ASSOCIATION INC

1
2
3
1 Varied Sword-grass Brown
Tisiphone abeona albifascia,
Inkpot. Ian Faithfull
2 Imperial Hairstreak, Jalmenus
evagoras, with attendant
Iridomyrmex ants, La Trobe
sanctuary. Mick Connolly
3 Imperial Jezebel, Delias
harpalyce, larvae Amyema
pendulum, KTRI Frankston.
Ian Faithfull
4 Broad-margined Azure, Ogyris
olane, reared ex pupa, Dergholm.
Ian Faithfull.
Spiny-headed Mat-rush (Lomandra longifolia), a common
local tussock of the grasstree family, is the food plant for at
least two species that occur around Melbourne: the Splendid
Ochre or Symmomus Skipper (Trapezites symmomus), and the
Barred or Dispar Skipper (Dispar compacta). Wattle Mat-rush
(L. filiformis) is eaten by the Montane Ochre or Phigalioides
Skipper (T. phigalioides).
Native grasses are particularly valuable as butterfly habitat.
There are at least seven other Melbourne butterflies that
feed exclusively on grasses such as Kangaroo Grass (Themeda
triandra), Blue Tussock Grass (Poa poiformis) and Slender
Tussock Grass (P. tenera). These include the Common Brown
(Heteronympha merope), Shouldered Brown (H. penelope),
Ringed Xenica (Geitoneura acantha) and Klugs or Marbled
Xenica (G. klugii).
The general public doesn’t seem to be particularly enamoured
by our parasitic (shock! horror!) native mistletoes. But we must
tell all those who don’t love these plants that as well as a host of
other ecological values, they provide larval food for at least four
Melbourne butterflies: the Imperial White or Imperial Jezebel
4
CONTINUED PAGE 8
INDIGENOTES VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 7

Butterflies in the suburbs
(Delias harpalyce), Wood White or Spotted Jezebel (Delias
aganippe), Olane or Broad-margined Azure (Ogyris olane) and
Dark Purple Azure (O. abrota).
The Imperial White is a particularly beautiful insect, black
and white on the uppersides of its wings with splashes of red
and yellow against a dark background on the undersides.
Around Melbourne it usually has two generations each year.
The adult butterflies fly around looking spectacular between
September and November, then a second generation hatches
in February and flies till April. Their caterpillars feed on the
leaves of various mistletoes. In the suburbs of Melbourne
these include Creeping Mistletoe (Muellerina eucalyptoides),
Drooping Mistletoe (Amyema pendulum) and Box Mistletoe
(A. miquelii).
Two of our local Saw-sedges (Gahnia sieberiana and G.
radula) are excellent butterfly plants, providing food and
shelter for the larvae of the Sword-grass Brown (Tisiphone
abeona), Donnya or Varied Sedge-skipper (Hesperilla
donnysa) and Spotted Sedge-skipper (H. ornata). If we can
both preserve and re-establish these two sedges within the
appropriate vegetation associations along verges and in
bushland remnants, these three butterflies may continue to fly
in the suburbs of Melbourne.
Another handsome butterfly of the Melbourne area is
the Australian or Yellow Admiral (Vanessa itea), black and
rich port wine coloured with a large cream patch on each
forewing. Its caterpillars feed at night on the leaves of the
native Scrub Nettle (Urtica incisa). During the day they hide
in a shelter made by joining a couple of the nettle leaves with
a few strands of silk.
Along Dandenong Creek in Heathmont, there still occurs*
at least one colony of the Common Imperial Blue or Imperial
Hairstreak (Jalmenus evagoras). They have survived in this
area because two of their food plants, Black Wattle (Acacia
mearnsii) and Silver Wattle (A. dealbata) have been retained
near the creek. Here the larvae and pupae are attended by
swarms of small black Iridomyrmex ants. The ants harvest
sweet secretions from the larvae and pupae, and presumably
return some degree of protection from predators. I have found
colonies of the Common Imperial Blue in Mount Waverley,
Vermont South, Donvale and Warrandyte.
The Common Grass-blue (Zizina labradus) is regarded as
the most abundant butterfly in Australia. The caterpillars feed
on the young leaves, flower buds and seed-pods of various
pea flowered plants. Around Melbourne, they probably
feed largely on introduced legumes such as White Clover
(Trifolium repens) and Lotus species, but many indigenous
species have been recorded as food, including species of
Desmodium, Swainsona and Indigofera. The Two-spotted
Line-blue (Nacaduba biocellata), is a smaller but prettier
butterfly with larvae that feed on the flowers of a large
number of Acacia species.
Another group of much maligned indigenous Melbourne
plants are the Dodder Laurels (Cassytha spp.). They are often
thought of as straggly and untidy, and of course like the
mistletoes they are p-p-parasitic! As well as growing in dense
tangles that provide safe places for native birds to nest, they
are also the food plant of the larvae of the Common Duskyblue
(Candalides hyacinthina). I have found these caterpillars
on one of the Dodder Laurels, probably Cassytha melantha, in
8
open forest dominated by Red Box, Long-leaf Box and Red
Stringybark in Warrandyte and Park Orchards.
There are other indigenous butterflies and indigenous
butterfly food-plants in the Melbourne area, but this lot will
do for a start. It is hoped that this article will stimulate further
discussion by IFFA, on how we can promote public awareness
of all indigenous invertebrate animals and their habitat
requirements.
This article was originally published in Indigenotes
Newsletter No. 4 September 1986. IFFA intends to
re-publish a series of articles which the late John Reid wrote
for Indigenotes during 1986 and 1987, in recognition of his
contribution to advancing our knowledge and protection of our
indigenous flora and fauna. Thanks also to Graeme Lorimer
and Ian Faithfull for updates and corrections to the article.
Michele Arundell, IFFA Secretary.
Notes from Graeme Lorimer
*Imperial Blues (now called Imperial Hairstreaks, for
international consistency) in central southern Victoria were
decimated during the drought. Their host plants are mainly
Blackwoods, Silver Wattles and Black Wattles, which also
suffered badly in the drought. Blackwoods in the eastern
suburbs were reduced to a few percent of their pre-drought
numbers and became sickly, so it’s no wonder the butterflies
plummeted, too. The wattles have recovered spectacularly
and I started to see Imperial Hairstreaks in the eastern
suburbs again over the past two summers. I haven’t seen any
specifically in Heathmont but I am confident that they will
return there if they haven’t yet.
Most other butterfly species mentioned in John’s article
also have newer names, as listed below.
Old name
Current terminology
Symmomus Skipper
Splendid Ochre
Phigalioides Skipper
Montane Ochre
Dispar Skipper
Barred Skipper
Klug’s Xenica
Marbled Xenica
Imperial White
Imperial Jezebel
Wood White
Spotted Jezebel
Olane Azure
Broad-margined Azure
Sword-grass Brown
Varied Sword-grass Brown
Donnysa Skipper
Varied Sedge-skipper
Spotted Skipper
Spotted Sedge-skipper
Australian Admiral
Yellow Admiral
Common Imperial Blue Imperial Hairstreak
Common Dusky-blue Varied Dusky-blue
Further reading
The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia by
Michael F. Braby includes information on food plants of
Australian Butterflies, although much is unknown.
A coming article from Ian Faithfull will outline how much more
needs to be known, and taken into account, in revegetation for
butterflies, and the management of their habitat.
INDIGENOUS FLORA AND FAUNA ASSOCIATION INC

Book review
The Biggest Estate on Earth
— How Aborigines Made Australia
Bill Gammage 2011
Allen & Unwin, 384 pages
Fire management in Victoria appears to
be ruled by a science of idiocy. Burning
of the land is focused on reaching senseless
area-targets with little regard to effects on
ecology or even on reducing further fires. With
all our science, technology and civilized ways, it
seems that overall we are still a long way from
appropriately managing and understanding the
country we live in, writes Karl Just
The main theme of The Biggest Estate on Earth is that
Aboriginal fire management was and still is an extremely
complex science, involving an intimate understanding
of ecological processes and plant-animal interactions,
honed over many millennia. This book argues more than any
before that many of the Australian landscapes that the first
Europeans encountered were almost totally an artefact of a
complex management regime by humans. Consequently, as
dispossession of the caretakers of country proceeded, so did
the ecosystems they sustained for countless years begin to
unravel. Whole landscapes were to change rapidly beyond
comprehension.
This book draws on a massive amount of research (over
1500 separate references), using excerpts from old journals,
newspapers, paintings and photos. It then skillfully draws
the evidence together to paint an eye-opening perspective
of Australian ecology, describing just how aboriginal burning
’made’ the land. As the book proceeds you begin see the pre-
1770 Australian continent as a managed estate of massive
proportions. Gammage shows that aboriginal fire management
didn’t involve merely setting the scrub on fire whenever it was
deemed too thick; it was an intricate science. Balanced mosaics
of open and treed vegetation were created to provide ideal
habitat for particular fauna. The frequency and intensity of fire
was often altered at a fine-scale to favour one plant species
or community over another, while rainforest was in some parts
of the country transformed into open grassy plains by lighting
fires on hot summer days, using the right winds at the right time.
Like many others, Gammage argues that with the use of fire,
aboriginal peoples sculpted complex ecosystems, sustaining
diverse communities of plants and animals.
One of my favourite chapters is ‘Heaven on Earth’, where
Gammage describes the inseparable nature of aboriginal
theology and ecology. As Gammage writes, ‘ecology explains
what happens, the Dreaming why it happens’. Here science
and spirituality run on parallel spheres. An example is given
of a group in northern Australia who took great care to avoid
burning a jungle thicket, so conserving a restricted community
and its dependant fauna. However this was not explained in
conservation terms, but rather that if the area was burnt, the
spirits of the place would blind them. Again, aboriginal women
harvesting yams in the top end would always leave the top on
the yam and cover it with earth. This allowed the yam to re-grow
and provide more food later, but it was explained ‘if dig it all
out, then that food spirit will get real angry and won’t let
anymore yam grow in that place’. For aboriginal people
there are deeper processes at work than just plain science;
if the Dreaming is followed, the land flourishes.
Another great chapter is ‘Canvas of a Continent’. Here
Gammage has reproduced a range of early paintings and
photographs, and for each one points out clues to fire patterns
that can be seen in the various landscapes. He has actually
re-visited a lot of these sites to provide evidence of changes that
have occurred since European invasion.
‘A Capital Tour’ presents a wonderful tour of all of Australia’s
capital cities, including descriptions from early explorers
and colonists. One of the most fascinating of Gammage’s
observations is that it was the shaping influence and
management of these areas by their traditional owners that led
to them being selected as the sites worthy of our capital cities.
Some of these future cites, such as Melbourne, Hobart and
Sydney, contained country described by colonists as resembling
English ‘gentlemen’s parks’. These ‘parks’ were well maintained
grasslands and grassy woodlands, easy to walk through and
abounding with wildlife, which Gammage argues had been
partly created and maintained by Aboriginal burning regimes.
It is sadly ironic that many early settlers found the country so
agreeable that they believed it had been prepared for them by
the hand of God. Little did they know it had been significantly
shaped by the very people they claimed did not manage the
land at all, leading to the to the Crown’s stamp of Terra Nullius
(land belonging to no one) across the continent.
I must say that I did find the reading a bit frustrating at
times. Gammage will occasionally jump all over the place
when illustrating a point, listing numerous quotes from various
times from places all over Australia. In his popular book,
Victorian Bush, its Original and Natural Condition (Reviewed
in Indigenotes 22:1), Ron Hateley argued the point that there
has been a lot of assumptions made of Victorian aboriginal
burning based on burning by aboriginal peoples from northern
Australia, where the ecosystems and culture are significantly
different. Gammage occasionally appears to make this same
error, illustrating a point based on evidence from vastly different
places. I was also sometimes worried with some of the content.
Most of the work is backed up by frequent references, but
then occasionally a rather bold statement is made without any
reference or evidence. One example includes a discussion on
Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests, which he claims
‘must have been’ regularly burnt at low intensity to reduce
undertsorey cover. While I don’t think this out of the question,
to my knowledge there is still very little evidence that aboriginal
people managed this community with fire. There are also a few
inaccurate statements, such as a claim that Kangaroos have
vanished from Kangaroo Ground north-east of Melbourne (they
were recently being culled due to high population numbers)
and another describing how the Otway Ranges have shifted
from a mosaic of heathlands, woodlands and forests to climax
rainforest. Anyone who has even driven through the Otways
knows that climax rainforest is still of restricted occurrence,
being largely confined to sheltered gullies.
There is still wide controversy regarding to what extent
aboriginal burning shaped Victorian landscapes, with many
believing that the ‘fire-stick farming’ concept has been greatly
exaggerated. CONTINUED PAGE 11
INDIGENOTES VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 9

Little Penguin outing
On the first Sunday night
in April, IFFA visitors
and Earthcare St Kilda
volunteers gather at St Kilda
Pier for
the last of the fortnightly
Little Penguin monitoring
for this season.
We are received by Zoe
Hogg, who has been
coordinating the research
activities for the last 26 years. As
we walk along the pier and pass
the public boardwalk, she tells me
about the enormous datasets she
has obtained with the help of her
many volunteers. This year,
she has had PhD students
run tests on the data with
surprising results; Zoe
estimated the St Kilda pier
population to consist of
around 1500 animals, but
in-depth analysis showed
a possible population of
close to 3000.
One of the reasons why
the birds are doing well
in this not very peaceful
spot is their stress-resistant
nature. As we walk along
the pier in the dark, we
can hear their social calls
and see them scramble
over the rocks, looking
for their burrows. Even
drunk Irish backpackers
don’t deter them, which is
a feat not many humans
can boast of. Bravely they
Male or female? Humans favour the beak
measurement test. Flash-free: Mick Connolly
waddle between the boulders, occasionally jumping from
rock to rock, setting off squeals of laugher and excitement
among the tourists. The only thing really harmful to them is
a camera flash, one of the volunteers explains. “Their eyes are
very photosensitive,” she tells me. “Being flashed in the face
by a bright white light will blind them for such a long amount
of time, they can’t find their burrows to feed their chicks. Red
light, on the other hand, is safe to use as they can’t see the red
light spectrum like we do.”
As we leave the boardwalk and Zoe opens the padlock to the
big fence on the breakwater, I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for
the two patient volunteers that patrol the area and keep an eye
on the tourists. “No flash please,” I can hear them say every
few minutes, as they try to educate the visitors and protect the
penguins from a light-overdose. If that were me, I don’t think I
could be that patient for long. After the third warning I would
most likely be ready to push people off the boardwalk into the
water. I have great respect for their dedication.
Beyond the fence all is quiet.
The monitoring will take place in
this restricted area of the pier. We
split up in groups, each of which
will sweep a part of the breakwater
for penguins.
“I have hidden 10 Easter eggs
last night,” Zoe announces,
“if you don’t find all of them,
I’ll know you’re slacking it.”
Grinning, she unpacks her
backpack and gets her monitoring
tools ready. It doesn’t take long
for a volunteer to catch the first
penguin. He is on his belly,
sticking his arm as far down
a burrow as he can manage.
Squawking loudly in protest, the
little penguin tries to wriggle itself
out of his grasp as he pulls it out
from between the rocks. When
that doesn’t work, it resorts to
a vicious pecking into the volunteer’s
fingers. Watching the dagger-like beak
tearing through the cloth, it is instantly
clear to me why they are all wearing
gloves. I used to wonder what would
happen to the poor little things when
somebody grabbed them, but my fears
were unfounded; between the wriggling,
screaming and pecking, they seem to be
able to take care of themselvesl.
The volunteer carefully drops the
penguin head-first into a little cloth bag
and Zoe weighs it with a hand-held
scale. Around this time of year, they are
supposed to weigh about 1.5 kilos. The
penguin’s catch location is recorded, and
the width of its beak, which determines
its sex (males have slightly broader
beaks). All penguins are checked for
PIT-tags, the little chips that are also
used to tag dogs and cats, and the identification number is
noted. This way, the researchers can follow the individual
penguins throughout their lifetime.
One volunteer catches two chicks in the same burrow. They
look funny, with their dazed expressions and plucky down
nesting feathers all over the place, like a bad haircut. Their
parents have not returned from hunting yet, so we quickly
weigh them and insert PIT-tags before putting them back into
their burrow.
“It’s a shame,” the volunteer tells me, “these chicks are
probably not going to make it through the winter. It’s too late
in the season, they should have already been self-sufficient
by now.” I ask Zoe if this happens a lot. She shakes her head.
“We’ve had a very good year for penguins,” she says, “because
last year was terrible. There were very few nests. But this year,
the penguins that did not have nests last year seemed to make
up for it by having two nests this breeding season. They started
breeding much earlier than usual.
10
INDIGENOUS FLORA AND FAUNA ASSOCIATION INC

These chicks probably come from a second nest and they
won’t make it before the weather gets bad. But as their siblings
are already out there, it shouldn’t matter for the population size.”
It’s harsh for the two little ones, but that’s life.
We catch plenty of penguins that night. One is a massive
fatty, weighing a whopping 2.4 kilos. I learn that this one is
about to moult. When moulting, the penguins change all
of their feathers over in the space of 2-3 weeks. During that
time they can’t go out into the water to hunt and stay in
their burrows. So they stock up on energy and fat-reserves
beforehand to last them until their new water-resistant
plumage is ready. All the newly moulted penguins we catch
are beautiful. Their feathers are sleek and shiny, with the
unmistakable metallic blue hue that this species is known
for. By the time we are finished, our little group has a few
dozen sightings under its belt (including penguins that were
recorded as ‘audible’ and ‘unreachable’ when we could hear
them but not get to them). We pack up and walk back to
the gate. “Here, take these home,” Zoe says and hands out
chocolate Easter eggs, some of which have suspicious peckmarks
on them. “Good job, you’ve found them all.”
Fam Charko
Want to learn more about Little Penguins?
Visit the webpage of Earthcare St Kilda:
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~earthcar
Book review CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
One Australasia-wide study recently released has even
claimed that aboriginal burning had a negligible effect
on Australia’s landscapes, which is certainly at odds with
the findings of many historians. The Biggest Estate on Earth is
certainly a hefty body of evidence that should be considered
by anyone involved in fire management. Whatever the case,
Gammage’s work certainly doesn’t support current Victorian fire
management, which is purely focused on ‘putting runs on the
board’ — burning as much public land as possible with little
regard to the ecological attributes or fire hazard of the site.
Despite some of the draw-backs I would still highly
recommend this book to anyone interested in environmental
management, particularly fire ecology. It is a remarkable
synthesis of ecology and culture, bringing together an enormous
range of natural themes into one fascinating book. For me
it greatly reinforced the understanding that management of
landscapes with fire is a complex art, and that mismanagement
can have drastic consequences. I hope that the book will
contribute to raising this awareness in our community, where
fire management is currently at the whim of politics and poor
science.
Gammage concludes the book with some grave but important
insights:
‘There is no return to 1788. Non aboriginals are too
many, too centralized, too stratified, too comfortable,
too conservative, too successful, too ignorant. We
are still newcomers, still in wilderness, still exporting
goods and importing people and values. We see
extinctions, pollution, erosion, salinity, bushfire and
exotic pests and diseases, but argue over who should
pay . . . If we are to survive, let alone feel at home, we
must begin to understand our country. If we succeed,
one day we might become Australian.’
Indigenous Flora and
Fauna Association
http://www.iffa.org.au
Incorporated Association No: A0015723B
Office Bearers
President: Brian Bainbridge, 7 Jukes Rd Fawkner 3060 (03)
9359 0290(ah) email: president@iffa.org.au
Vice-President: Vanessa Craigie, email: vicepres@iffa.org.au
94973730 (ah).
Secretary: Michele Arundell PO Box 77, Kallista 3791.
(03) 9755 3347 (ah) email: secretary@iffa.org.au
Treasurer: Tania Sloan, 23 Harrison Street Brunswick East 3057,
treasurer@iffa.org.au
Public Officer: Peter Wlodarzyck, 0418 317 725
email: publicofficer@iffa.org.au
Events Coordinator: Fam Charko, activities@iffa.org.au
0402 519 124
Newsletter Editor: Tony Faithfull, (03) 9386 0264 (ah).
21 Harrison St East Brunswick 3057. editor@iffa.org.au
Webmaster: Vacant
Indigenous Nurseries Liaison Officer:
Judy Allen, nurseries@iffa.org.au
Student representative: Karen McGregor, student@iffa.org.au
Fundraising Coordinator: vacant
Ecological Information Coordinator:
Karl Just, email: info@iffa.org.au
Committee members: Liz Henry and Linda Bradburn
Life member
Patricia Crowley
Indigenotes is the newsletter of the Indigenous Flora
and Fauna Association.
The views expressed in Indigenotes are not necessarily those
of the Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association.
Call for articles
Indigenotes is a newsletter by IFFA members for IFFA members.
Stories, snippets, photos and reports from members are always
welcome.
If it’s something you’re doing with flora or fauna or habitat, write it
down and send it to IFFA’s editor at Membership
$40 per annum for non-profit organizations,
$50 per annum for corporations,
$25 per annum for individuals, or $20 per annum concession,
$35 per annum for families,
$500 for individual life members or
$700 for family life members.
Membership includes
4 issues of Indigenotes per year,
•
Occasional freebies or discounts
Discount subscription to Ecological Management & Restoration
Journal ($72, inc GST)
Membership applications and renewals should be sent to
21 Harrison St, Brunswick East, 3057
Problems with membership renewals? Please contact
Tony Faithfull on 93860264 or membership@iffa.org.au
INDIGENOTES VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 11

Little Penguin chick and the hands of an Earthcare volunteer on the breakwater at St Kilda pier.
The photo is flash-free, lit by a single torch. The camera is a Canon 1D4, the ISO rating is 12,800.
Story: page 10
Contents
IFFA excursion invitation; President’s letter 2-3 Book review 9, 11
The forgotten flora 4 Little Penguin outing 10
Natureshare5 Contact us 11
Butterflies in the suburbs 6-8
INDIGENOUS FLORA AND FAUNA ASSOCIATION INC