Gertrude Petty Place

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December 11, 2011

Envirionmentalist of The Year and Bushcare Group of 2011

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, Roly Chapman Reserve Bushcare, Rover Street Bushcare | Tags: , , , |
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2011 has been a big year for Mt Gravatt Environment Group so to receive two top awards from Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (B4C) is a very satisfying way to round off and prepare for 2012.

I was personally awarded Environmentalist of The Year which is a great honour coming from some of the most committed and experienced environmentalists I have ever met.

Mt Gravatt Environment Group was awarded Bushcare Group of 2011 which truly reflects the extraordinary work of a large number of community members but particularly our Bushcare coordinators:

Our achievements also build on the strong support of Kate Flink, our BCC Habitat Brisbane Officer, the B4C team, Ann Moran and Alan Moore who presented our Environmental & Photography Workshop, community groups like Mt Gravatt Men’s Shed, McGregor Lions Club, Southside Sport and Recreation Club and Mt Gravatt Historical Society, Griffith University, BCC Mt Gravatt Library and local politicians Phil Reeves MP and Cr Krista Adams and their excellent staff.

Now it is time to take a holiday and get ready for an even more extraordinary 2012.

 

December 1, 2011

Christmas with Mt Gravatt Environment Group

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, Photography, Wildlife of Mt Gravatt Reserve | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Saturday 26 December – Morning tea after a morning pulling weeds and planting at Gertrude Petty Place Bushcare. A simple happy and appropriate way to celebrate another successful year.

Our Gertrude Petty Place team have been steadily cleaning up the gullies and doing restoration planting. To October the team has put in 211 volunteer hours and planted 249 native plants most of which were propagated by the team members themselves.

Female - Spotted Pardalote - Photo A Kittila

Missing from the photo are Sheamus O’Connor who organised the Mt Gravatt SHS planting at the start of the Summit Track and Brett Dugdale – Rover Street Bushcare … and Kate Flink our wonderful BCC Habitat Brisbane Officer who was taking the photo.

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Black-faced Monarch - Photo A Kittila

It is important to note that 211 volunteer hours is only the time spent on-site. As well as that time our volunteers spend time on propagation, talking to school and community groups, applying for grant funding, preparing track guides and coordinating corporate groups like Conservation Volunteers Australia and McGregor Lions.

Others generously contribute information and photos of wildlife like the Spotted Pardalote Pardalotus punctatus and Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis. Andrea has added three bird species to our Flora & Fauna of Mt Gravatt Reserve bringing our count to fifty one bird species in the Reserve.

 

November 30, 2011

CVA team roll up weeds on Mt Gravatt

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Removing weeds with Tree Popper

By Susan Jones

Last Saturday, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) brought a corporate group of twelve young volunteers to assist Mt Gravatt Environment Group with weed removal at the entrance to the Summit Track.   Their main targets for the day were Creeping Lantana Lantana montevidensis and Mickey Mouse Plant Ochna serrulata.

Group leader, Fabian was interested in trying out our Tree Popper on the Mickey Mouse Plants, as he had not seen one of these used before.  The tool is placed around the main stem of the ground at ground level, the pincers are closed firmly and the tool levered towards the user.  With very little effort the weed emerges from the ground with its deep tap-root intact.

Whilst the blokes were grappling with Mickey Mouse Plants, the girls were rolling up Creeping Lantana like a carpet.  After shaking off the dirt, the ‘carpet’ was laid out to dry.  Once the materials has dried out, it will be returned  to the earth as mulch.

Rolling up Creeping Lantana

Thanks to Conservation Volunteers Australia  and the volunteers for a great day’s work!

Conservation Volunteers organise groups of local volunteers, often corporate groups, as well as volunteers from around Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the world.

 

August 18, 2011

Self-guided bushwalk to Mt Gravatt Lookout

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushwalks, Gertrude Petty Place, Mt Gravatt Tracks | Tags: , |
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Explore Mt Gravatt with our new Summit Track self-guided walk brochure.

Park at Gertrude Petty Place picnic area at the base of mountain: off Mt Gravatt Outlook Drive. From the parking area take the concrete path then follow the signs to Summit. The track winds around the northern face providing views of the city, Glasshouse Mountains, D’Aguilar Range, Mt Coot-tha and over Toohey Mountain to Main Range.

Distance:  Two kilometres (return)

Grade:  Easy. Uphill all the way: some steps.

Time: One to one and a half hours, depending on walking rate and time spent exploring.

The self-guide brochure provides details relating to Station markers along the track.

Printing of the new brochure has been supported Cr Krista Adams through the Lord Mayor’s Suburban Initiative Fund and Wishart Ward.

You can collect a copy of the Mt Gravatt Summit Track self-guided walk brochure from Wishart Ward Office, Mt Gravatt Library and Garden City Library or print your own – Summit Track guide.

 

August 3, 2011

Mt Gravatt SHS students planting their future

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Mt Gravatt Tracks | Tags: , , , , |
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Peter, Sophie, Kevan, Maddison, Dean, D’arcy, Dan, Sheamus, Manasha, Natalie, Caitlin, Breanna, Rosie, Tahlia, Emily, teachers Andrew and Penny

‘We’re so excited’, said Emily.  She was the first Mt Gravatt SHS student to arrive for a planting of 120 native seedlings that will eventually support koalas, gliders and butterflies on Mt Gravatt.  Year 11 student Sheamus O’Connor organised a band of 15 students, two science teachers, and three family members to recognise National Tree Day by rehabilitating a degraded area adjacent to the Summit Track.

Within an hour, the area had been transformed from a barren wasteland into the makings of a great little piece of wildlife habitat.  The students really enjoyed changing the landscape.   Look for it on your left, as you cross the road from Gertrude Petty Place to commence the Summit Track walk.

It gives us hope for the future when our local students don’t wait for others to solve all the problems, they partner with other community members to plant their own future.

You can collect a copy of the Mt Gravatt Summit Track self-guided walk brochure from Wishart Ward Office, Mt Gravatt Library and Garden City Library or print your own – Summit Track guide.

 

July 13, 2011

Mt Gravatt Environment Group Finalist in Brisbane’s Spotless Suburbs

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Fox Gully Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Roly Chapman Reserve Bushcare, Rover Street Bushcare | Tags: , , , , , |
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Mt Gravatt Environment Group has joined Fox Gully Bushcare as a finalist in the 2011 Keep Australia Beautiful – Spotless Suburbs Award.

Mt Gravatt Environment Group coordinates four Bushcare groups:

  • Gertrude Petty Place Bushcare – Sue Jones
  • Rover Street Bushcare – Brett Dugdale
  • Fox Gully Bushcare – Michael Fox
  • Roly Chapman Reserve Bushcare – currently no team leader

We appreciate Cr Adams’ support in nomination of of Mt Gravatt Environment Group and we are proud to represent our community by reaching the finals of the Brisbane’s Spotless Suburbs competition.

 

June 21, 2011

Koala spotting near Gertrude Petty Place

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushwalks, Gertrude Petty Place, Mt Gravatt Environment Group, Wildlife of Mt Gravatt Reserve | Tags: , , , |
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Thanks to park visitor Barry we have another confirmed Koala sighting near Gertrude Petty Place.

Can you spot the Koala? Scroll down.

Barry was a little embarrassed about the quality of his photo, however, given the height of our furry friend, I think this is a fantastic photo for someone using a mobile phone!

Well done Barry and thank you for passing this photo on with the location details. We are starting to build a wildlife sighting database for our Reserve, so we really appreciate information about sightings with location information and ideally digital photos which automatically give us date/time of sightings.

I was particularly pleased to receive this photo today and then find that today’s ABC Bush Telegraph program, was also about Koalas.

Given our efforts to protect and restore this unique bush habitat in middle of suburbia the segment on The history of Europeans and the koala was particularly interesting. The interview with Ann Moyal, author of new CSIRO science history book The Koala, had particular impact. Photos are an important part of our community education, so to visit the Bush Telegraph web page and see a photo of 3,600 Koala pelts loaded on a truck in Clermont district Queensland: in 1927!

Our Mt Gravatt Reserve was conservation protected in July 1893 and now, almost 120 years on, the forest is still recovering from logging.

 

January 29, 2011

Gertrude Petty Place Team

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bushcare, Gertrude Petty Place, MEG Activities | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Two large pile of weeds have been removed so it is time for a cuppa with the Geutrude Petty Bushcare team. Around the table today are Judy, Ian, Sarah, Nancy, Brett, Morag, Susan and Mannix.

It is always interesting to sit down with the team at Geutrude Petty. The range of experience around the table is extraordianary. Today the group included a retired business owner, an expert in breeding frogs, an envrionmental restoration professional, Meals on Wheels volunteers and a person who hiked into the Stinson wreck to clean up and carry out rubbish: a 35 kilometre treck climbng 1040 metres.

Gertrude Petty restoration is creating an amazing picnic opportunity you normally only find in a national park outside the city. Our Australian wildflowers are often small and easily overlooked. Visit Gertrude Petty virtually any time of the year and you will find amazing flowers. The Native or Ivy-leaf Violet Viola banksii are flowering at the moment.

The Gertrude Petty team meets 8am to 10am last Saturday of each month and 3pm to 5pm every Wednesday. For details/contacts see 2011 MEG Calendar.

 

February 27, 2010

New butterflies at Gertrude Petty Place

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Gertrude Petty Place, Wildlife of Mt Gravatt Reserve | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Geutrude Petty Place Buscare site is alive with butterflies at the moment.  The work Sue and the team have done removing weeds and planting native grasses and shrubs is really paying off with the rain we have been getting this summer. With the weeds removed natural regeneration means a large number of different native grasses and sedges have returned a critical success factor for bringing back the butterflies.

I photographed two new butterflies this morning which have not previously been recorded on Mt Gravatt.

A Spotted Sedge-skipper – Hesperilla ornata posed on some native Barbed Wire grass. Saw Sedge which is indigenous to the Reserve, is the laval food plant for the Spotted Sedge-skipper. With natural regeneration bringing back the native sedges we can expect to see more of these beautiful butterflies on Mt Gravatt in the future. This is particularly important because these butterflies are classed as “uncommon” in Braby’s Butterflies of Australia.

I also found this male White-banded Plane – Phaedyma shepherdi.

At 55mm these are quite a large butterfly for Brisbane. The patterns on the wings identify this specimen as a male.

I also found Splendid Ochre – Trapezites symmomus and Small Dusky-blue – Candalides erinus butterflies.

Mike

 

February 14, 2010

Bush Tucker on Mt Gravatt

Posted by Mt Gravatt Environment Group under Bush Tucker, Gertrude Petty Place | Tags: , , , , , , |
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I added a special bush tucker plant to our Flora & Fauna of Mt Gravatt Reserve today – Austromyrtus dulcis Midgen, Midyim Berry.

I am honoured to be given these bush tucker berries by my MEG collegue Sue. We have French visitors coming for dinner and we are planning an Aussie food experience: Kangaroo steak on the barbie followed by Pavlova topped with Midyim Berries.

Midyim Berries are growing in our Gertrude Petty Place Bushcare site. If you want to grow these in your own backyard the B4C Nursery has plants available.

Do you have any other bushtucker ideas we can use with our French foodies?

Mike

 

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