November 2011
Southern Cross Trip Notes First Aid Training Day 10 years at McLEG Desert Delights
Visitors Always Welcome!
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Leschenault Peninsula Conservation Park In March of 2001, eight member vehicles visited Leschenault Peninsular for the first of the regular twice a year working bees directed by then CALM ( Department of Conservation and Land Management) and now DEC (Department for the Environment and Conservation) staff. The weather on that occasion was very hot, so much so that the aircon on our Patrol cut out when ploughing down the beach. Some of the team worked on brushing the dunes, no, not with brooms but by putting light branches (brush) on the dunes to stabilise them. Others went off with Tom Woods from CALM to check out where we should do some more work on our next visit. There was no agreement at that time for Club members to camp on the Peninsula so that we all stayed overnight at the Leschenault Caravan Park. Camp fires were permitted so it was “real camping” with the bonus of running water and plenty of water for showers. Not long after this was changed with initially camps being held at Tuart Grove and then to an area specially prepared for the Club’s exclusive use at Tuart Grove West. This is much safer than under the trees at Tuart Grove where the branches often succumb to gravity. Since that time on a very hot March day, we have returned twice a year to help Tom, then later Peter Morris and now Leon Price, with a variety of tasks. Cleaning up the beach, putting in bollards to stop people damaging the bush, erecting signs, fencing off dunes and car parks and clearing walk trails. We even practised, with considerable success, the art of removing kangaroo ticks from the bush. Getting them off us was a different matter and the itchy lumps resulting from their feeding frenzy were not much fun. On our last visit, we could see that one of the more visi5
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ble fences we put up near Buffalo Beach carpark has been very successful as the area we protected has slowly revegetated and the sand has built an embankment up the fence. However the walking trail we cleared in 2001 is very overgrown and there is no beach access due to the winter storms providing a cliff face to drop to the beach. What has changed in 10 years? The Club has continued its commitment to the environment at Leschenault and added Wungong Regional Park behind Byford (McBEG) to its responsibilities. Tony has continued in the role of Environment Officer for the Club. Of the members who went on that first weekend to build the reputation of the Mitsubishi 4WD Club as warriors and worriers for the environment, most are still members and of these only Terry Keesing with Liam and us was able to come on this 20th visit.
Relocating shelters this year
In 2009 Tony, on behalf of the Club accepted with great pride an Award, The DEC Outstanding Service Award, for its contribution to the environment at Leschenault. These annual Awards are presented by the Minister for the Environment at a special function to honour volunteer groups that assist DEC. Over the years of our volunteer work in the Leschenault Conservation Park members have revege-
tated the dunes, painted & repaired jetties, cleaned the beach of debris, put up fences, laid rubber matting to stabilise the dunes, erected & repaired shelters, repaired picnic furniture, removed castor oil plant from Belvedere picnic area, removed arum lily seed pods, spread rust disease to bridal creeper and had a great time together. We have learned to cope with sand flies, mosquitoes and ticks and it has never been too cold, wet, windy or hot except on the that first excursion. The Club has had media recognition in several ways. The Keep Australia Beautiful calendar of 2011 for the month of September featured a photo of the participants in the previous November’s beach cleanup. We seem a glamorous group in our working gear! The work of the Club has featured twice in the Motoring Section of the West Australian newspaper and also in a now discontinued periodical, Tread Lightly. The Club membership has more than doubled but unfortunately the number of participants in the work hasn’t. This time there were twenty five participants plus the DEC staff. This last visit on 14-16 October had, as the main work, assisting in the data bank inventory of marine debris held by the United Nations. On the same weekend last year we drove and walked the 14 km length of beach from north of Buffalo to The Cut collecting the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the beach and the trash left by fisherman and others using the beach. This year we did the same again on Saturday assisted by Anita who is a local resident and representative of the Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society (www.oceancare.org.au). Leon Price from DEC met us at the campsite at 8.30 am for a briefing with Anita. Also there to assist by collecting the rubbish bags (67 bags) and stuff too big (Continued on page 8)
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for a bag were four other DEC staff, all volunteers like us. We returned to camp for lunch and then quickly sorted the rubbish into inventory groups, some of which were counted, some like rope bundles estimated in length and other groups put into buckets for Anita to take home to weigh and assess. The information gathered in this way helps marine researchers recommend changes to fishing practices such as packing of bait boxes & rubbish dumping. While the sorting was underway, some of our team went to The Cut to move a picnic table, repair a jetty and whipper snip the long grass in a picnic spot, returning at around 4pm ready for some refreshment. The Club will be back to Leschenault in May, 2012 to work possibly at The Cut and do a beach clean up as usual. Next October we will assist the Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society again in the annual marine debris data collection. We hope as many members as possible will be there. DEC is repeatedly astonished at the amount of work members accomplish at each visit but we could do so much more if some of you who haven’t been to Leschenault Peninsula joined us. On many of the early MCLEG events, the CALM/DEC Officer who coordinated our efforts and provided the history of the location was Peter Morris. He was later transferred to Karajini but on Sunday, at our last visit, he returned to pay his respects and say he has been relocated to the Wellington District. It was good to have the opportunity to show what had been achieved in his absence. Stella & Tony Weldon October 2011
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Bruce! I couldn’t face it if you tried to kiss me again !!
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PICTURE OF THE YEAR Entry for November A lack of entries this month allowed the use of this great shot. Taken at Wilbinga in May. Did you take this photo? Email the editor Left: Wilbinga 2005!
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Why not lead a trip in 2012. Plenty of help available from your fellow club members. You just need to ask. Keith Parker the club Trip Coordinator would love to hear from you. trip@mitsubishi4wd.org.au
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This collage was created by Michael G. after his recent crossing of the Simpson. As you can see it was a little damp! A truly amazing time to be visiting the area. 17
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Presidents 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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Ian Lockhart Ray Edwards Ray Edwards Stuart Baldock Robin Silver Geoff McKeown Lindsay Hill Terry Kitchen Terry Kitchen John Bromberger Reg Hill Mervyn Ward Mervyn Ward Peter Baker John King John King John King Rick Ellis Rick Ellis Paul Ryan Paul Ryan Paul Ryan Paul Ryan
Recipients A. Pearce/K. Fleming Ray Edwards Ray Edwards Reg Hill/Pam Fleming Judith McKeown Dorothy Hill Terry Kitchen B. Harvey/D. Whitaker David Whitaker G reg Wilcox Tony Weldon Maxine Gosney Peter Baker Lester Cousins John MacKay Terry Keesing Lester Cousins Wes Sutton Paul Ryan Martin Archer Tony Weldon Neil Hewer Trevor Theunissen
The Ian Lockhart award is presented to a club member for recognition of commitment to the objectives and for service to the club.
Contact Trip Leader for Details
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