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Newsletter number 22

Season’s greetings…

What happened to 1999, where did it go!

Another fire season upon us and another year older… Thankfully it would appear that this fire season may be somewhat ‘green’, although things could be interesting in the New Year !

On behalf of the Australian Alps Liaison Committee, I would like to sincerely wish you all a happy and safe break over the festive season. We look forward to your continual support next year. During 1999 the response of staff across the Alps has been to give their time in addition to their normal duties, to become involved with and ensure the success of the Alps program.

Without this level of staff commitment and the energy and enthusiasm of the working groups, the overall program would not have received international recognition as a model of excellence in achieving cross-border cooperation.

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Newsletter number 21

Rare and exciting find in the Australian Alps!

Who would’ve expected that a routine inspection of a Peregrine Falcon nesting area would reveal arguably the rarest item of Aboriginal cultural heritage significance in the Australiana Alps national parks? An Aboriginal digging stick. And it was the Alps’ own eagle-eyed Brett McNamara who found it!

Finding any wooden item of Aboriginal origin still remaining in the Australian Alps was considered so unlikely, that it took some persuading of various experts before it was authenticated. While these discussions raged, the Canberra Archaeological Society was successful in obtaining an ACT Heritage grant to study the site and the stick. Neither the local Aboriginal organisations nor the Heritage Council wanted the stick removed for further study; the stick remains on site in -situ.

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A Little Bit of Heaven in the Victorian Alps…

Nigel Watts is a Ranger with Parks Victoria based out of Mansfield. Nigel’s “little piece of dirt” to which he has responsibility for covers a vast area including a proportion of the Australian Alps Walking Track within the Alpine National Park.

Lying at the Western end of the Australian Alps National Parks, the Mansfield Workcentre, as part of the King, Howqua Unit of the Alpine National Park, is responsible for an interesting and spectacular patch of countryside that encompasses the headwaters of the King, Howqua and Jamieson Rivers. The area also contains an array of thought provoking names. Here are 3 areas of particular note.

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The Alps have grown…

What has a Minister of the Crown and a Tharwa meat pie have in common?

Not much, but in some ways the inclusion of Mount Buffalo National park into the Alps Memorandum of Understanding owes much to a chance meeting and a meat pie for lunch!

Some three months ago the Hon Marie Tehan, Minister for Conservation and Land Management (Victoria) was visiting the ACT and inspecting the northern section of the Australian Alps national parks.

While driving through the quaint village of Tharwa on the outskirts of Canberra, protocol demanded the procurement of one of the best pies in Tharwa (in fact the only pies available in Tharwa) for a Ministerial lunch!

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The Australian Alps Have Moved …

Well, not the actual mountains, but the management of the Australian Alps national parks cooperative program.

April saw a major change in the administration of the Australian Alps national parks program as Neville Byrne handed over the reins of Program Coordinator to Brett McNamara, formerly a ranger from Namadgi National Park (ACT).

Every two to four years the responsibility for coordinating this program rotates to a new conservation agency. It is traditional that each of the land management agencies involved in the Australian Alps takes a turn (in rotation) to sponsor the coordination of the Australian Alps program. With this rotation, the job of Program Coordinator also rotates to the new Agency – the ACT Parks and Conservation Service.

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Annual Field Workshop

Yet another Annual Field Workshop has come and gone with great success and lots of networking between rangers and others involved in management of the Australian Alps.

This year’s workshop concentrated on the theme of Community Education and Information, a topic that cuts across all areas of management of the natural and cultural resources of the Australian Alps national parks.

The key outcome of the workshop was to investigate the future direction of community education with respect to raising community awareness about the Australian Alps nation parks and about the co-operative arrangements between land managers that enable the Australian Alps to be managed as a biogeographic area.

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