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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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