 Matt Allison organised an OFF tree planting ‘event’ on Sunday 28 May at the Oatley West Rail Park (next to the underpass). We put in over 300 shrubs, grasses and ground covers as well as two trees – a Sydney Iron Bark and a Turpentine. Both are appropriate for the area. OFF is working towards making our urban spaces greener as in 202020 Vision has been helpful in framing our latest project on trees.
VIEW PHOTO ALBUM
 OFF dedicated the Iron Bark to the memory of Glen Turner, the OEH Officer murdered while trying to prevent illegal land clearing in Moree district in 2014. Remnant natural vegetation on farms was being cleared by a greedy and insensitive farmer who disregarded the essential habitat needed to support koalas among many other creatures. Glen’s murder was essentially ignored by our state government who are keen to further weaken laws to protect native vegetation. To learn more about this significant Australian story look for the movie “Cultivating Murder” which was shown by OFF at our meeting back in April at the RSL.
 The Turpentine was planted in memory of Val Boyan, an active member of OFF for many years before her death in 2014. The nearby Myles Dunphy Bush reserve contains Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest (STIF) which is an Endangered Ecological Community. It is the only remnant in the Georges River LGA that is of good quality, retaining a tree canopy, under story and ground cover of native species. To accommodate the development on the former Oatley Bowling Club, trees and shrubs at the entrance to the site will need to be cleared as asset protection from bushfire danger. This will see the removal or severe disturbance of a strip of Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest (an Endangered Ecological Community under NSW legislation ) up to 20 m wide at a location where the Bushland Reserve is only 50 m wide.
We will be holding a second planting day in the coming month to complete the work at the site so keep a lookout for the details on our Facebook page .
VIEW PHOTO ALBUM
 On 24th April, 75 members and guests were treated to a premiere showing of the crowd-funded documentary film “Cultivating Murder” by Film Projects. This is a collaborative effort from Director Greg Miller and Producer Dr Georgia Wallace-Crabbe. It features the story behind the murder of OE&H compliance officer Glen Turner in 2014 by Ian Turnbull, who happens to be one of the wealthiest farmers in NSW.
 Glen worked on the frontline of habitat and wildlife protection in the Moree district and was investigating the illegal land clearing operations of the Turnbull family. The Turnbulls would purchase grazing landholdings and any remnant native vegetation on the property was bulldozed to improve the cropping potential of the land. However these remnant copses were clearly home to native wildlife (like locally highly threatened koalas) and, as such, were protected by state government legislation. Previously repeated large scale land clearing prosecutions of the Turnbulls meant they had already racked up multiple million dollar fines. In spite of this they continued clearing land. While Glen had been filming these further violations, Turnbull cold- bloodedly murdered him in front of an OE&H colleague. This witness would help to ensure a murder conviction but the killer died within 12 months of his effectively life sentence.
The film is a tribute to Glen and his family but it goes far beyond this personal tragedy. It highlights the greed of certain landholders and the political pressure they have placed on our present State government which has caved in ensuring the watering down of native vegetation protection laws*. This had originally been designed by scientific experts to protect the already critically endangered remnants. But as Ian Turnbull’s son says dismissively outside court: this tragedy will happen again unless the government stops contesting farmer’s business plans.
Click here to see more at Cultivating Murder Website
Click here to follow on Facebook
 The Native Vegetation Act and the Threatened Species Conservation Act were replaced in November 2016 by the Biodiversity Conservation Act and Local Land Services Amendment Act. OFF made a submission on the draft legislation pointing out many shortcomings. Now the draft regulations for the Act are on exhibition for six weeks from 10th May.
OFF will make a submission and OFF members are encouraged to do so too.
Details on the NSW Government website
 Oatley Flora and Fauna Annual Dinner
At The Oat Mill Brasserie Oatley RSL
Thursday 29 June 6.30 for 7pm
Set menu of alternate serves of entree & mains ***
+ cupcake dessert
COST $38 pp PAYMENT by MONDAY 26 JUNE MEETING
We will be holding a Raffle. Donations will be appreciated.
Contact Sue Howard 9579 1718 . Mob 0411580453
***vegetarian,gluten free & other special dietary needs can be organised.
 Congratulations to Robin Dickson on her Georges River Council Australia Day Volunteer Award 2017!
OFF nominated Robin Dickson, our Membership Secretary and Welfare Officer, for the GRC Volunteer of the Year Awards 2016 but those awards became incorporated in the Australia Day Awards 2017, so finally on Monday 23rd January, Robin was presented with her Georges River Council Australia Day Volunteer Award by the General Manager Gail Connolly and Administrator John Rayner, and Federal MP David Coleman. OFF representatives Graham Lalchere, Peter de Beuzeville and Liz Cameron were there to congratulate Robin.
Our nomination read:
Mrs Robin Dickson joined Oatley Flora and Fauna Conservation Society Inc (OFF) in 1990 and for the past 23 years has been a very active member of the OFF committee. Initially she was Honorary Secretary (11 years) then, for the last 12 years, Membership Officer, and for 8 years, Welfare Officer; she continues to carry out both these roles. As Secretary she was energetic in pursuing OFF’s objectives and has efficiently resumed that extra role when the current Secretary is absent.
Robin devotes considerable time to OFF business and activities. She processes new memberships, maintains an up-to-date register of members and their contact details, and each month presents a report on membership statistics and changes to the register; she also arranges printing and postage of OFF’s monthly newsletter. She is particularly busy at the end of the year, preparing and posting membership renewal forms to about 300 members.
As Welfare Officer, Robin looks after the wellbeing of our members, some of whom are quite elderly (our Society has been active for 62 years); she visits and phones those who are housebound or unwell, and sends condolences on behalf of OFF.
We have nominated Mrs Robin Dickson because she does far more than simply fulfil her nominated duties. She is a cheerful, warm and caring woman who fosters goodwill in our community and makes everyone feel welcome and valued. These qualities in Robin, along with her gentle persistence, have contributed greatly to the very high retention rate of members in OFF. She knows, and is probably known to, every member of our Society and communicates very easily with children as well as adults. Robin is generous in acknowledging the achievements of other members of OFF – in 2004 she documented the contribution of some of our prominent members and presented it to the Oatley Heritage Group, creating a record for future reference. But she is self-effacing regarding her own contributions.
Robin attends most of the numerous OFF events and outings and is always ready to provide practical assistance – helping on stalls, welcoming newcomers and providing delicious food for catered events. Her excellent handicraft skills were called upon this year when OFF members made 50 artificial nests for a research project on the endangered Regent Honeyeater.
 This is the second year we have stayed in Pygmy Possum Lodge at Charlotte Pass and again it was very satisfactory; fourteen OFF members spent three to seven days there during the week of 8-15th January. It was also a pleasure to have the company of some of the ski club’s members who were welcoming, helpful and knowledgeable.
 The bedrooms, all with en-suites, were comfortable and warm, and the kitchen very well-equipped (but it called for some complex choreography when everyone was preparing dinner at the same time). The lounge afforded spectacular views of jagged granite tors, snow gums and olive-green shrubs, all occasionally blotted out by sweeping curtains of rain that briefly dampened our enthusiasm for the outdoors.
 During inclement weather we occupied ourselves with reading, needlework, jigsaws, crosswords and identification of plants and animals we’d photographed. There was a happy hour each evening which sometimes developed into serious wine-tasting, and one night to admiration of the full moon as it rose in a crystal clear sky flushed by the sun’s afterglow.
 This year was particularly good for wildflowers – daisies everywhere, mintbush and eyebright on the upper slopes, clusters of magenta trigger plants, cream candle heath and glossy buttercups in low-lying areas. Photographers found it difficult to capture the depth of colour in bluebells, flax lilies, violets, fan flowers and others in the blue – mauve spectrum.
 Fauna was not conspicuous but there were grey kangaroos on the Waterfall Track and we saw two large echidnas. Piles of dung, scratchings and big burrows were the closest we got to wombats. Around Charlotte Pass were Flame Robins, Brown Thornbills, Australasian Pipits, Crimson Rosellas, Little Ravens, Striated Pardalotes and Welcome Swallows.
 There were some introduced animals including hares, a black rabbit, a feral cat (which we reported) and Common Starlings. A variety of sleek high country skinks was seen, and several “large dark snakes” (probably copperheads). There was a dead alpine funnel-web on Porcupine Track and colourful live grasshoppers and beetles were photographed on leaves and flowers; a few Bogong Moths secreted themselves in the Lodge at night.
 The legacy of snowfalls late in the season was evident in the high water level in Lake Jindabyne and good flows in the alpine streams. The countryside was green and snow gums were regenerating well, although the rate of regrowth is noticeably slower at higher altitudes. March and bush flies seemed more than usually abundant and persistent, perhaps another consequence of the recent rain and snow.
 Weather conditions were generally mild and conducive to walking. Our first walk was to Porcupine Rocks, an OFF tradition that prepares us for more demanding tracks. Many small patches of snow were visible on the Main Range and we admired “Jan’s tree”, a magnificent old Snow Gum beside the track that escaped the ferocious alpine fires of 2003. On our return to the Kosciuszko Road, we indulged in hot drinks and burgers at the Alpine Eyre café at Perisher Gap; it was a popular meeting spot for the rest of the week.
 Other walks completed by members of our party included Dead Horse Gap via the Thredbo chairlift, Blue Lake, Mt Kosciuszko via the Summit Road, Rainbow Lake, Guthega to Illawong, Waterfall, Mt Stilwell and Charlotte Pass Village to Alpine Eyre café. On the windiest day, while some were battling gales around Mt Stilwell, one couple enjoyed a peaceful riverside picnic in the sheltered woodland of Island Bend. At the end of the week the remaining ten people lunched together at Parc Café in Jindabyne and spent time in the displays and shop in the NPWS Centre.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM
 The last OFF outing for the year was a three-hour return cruise on Wednesday 30 November from Gunnamatta Bay at Cronulla, along the Hacking River to Royal National Park. Thirty-six members and friends embarked at 10.30 am on a fine mild day and enjoyed a smooth and comfortable ride (mid-week there was very little water traffic). Unlimited morning tea was available throughout the cruise and at the conclusion of the trip some of us lunched in Cronulla. It was unfortunate that Maureen, who had recommended the cruise for our 2016 program, was unable to join us on the day.
We travelled on the M.V. Tom Thumb III, named after the 2.5 metre rowing boat in which Bass and Flinders and ‘the boy Martin’ explored the area in 1796. Their voyage is also commemorated by a monument at Bass and Flinders Point in Cronulla but over the intervening 220 years much of the landscape they saw has been drastically altered.
 On the southern side of Port Hacking, after we passed the settlements of Bundeena and Maianbar that border the Royal National Park, it was not difficult to envisage what the first Tom Thumb’s crew would have seen. The shores remain covered in typical Sydney sandstone flora dominated by flowering angophoras with their summertime deep orange trunks and an understorey of native shrubs and grass trees. Silver Gulls, Crested Terns, Pied Cormorants and a solitary Pied Oystercatcher were resting on a sandbar, and we were surprised and delighted to see a dolphin in the river. Graham spotted an adult and an immature White-bellied Sea Eagle.
 The tide was high so our boat could motor as far as the weir at Audley; some passengers recalled Sunday School outings there. A kayaker was fishing in the shallows and picnickers on the bank waved to us. The commentator on board said it was planned, in the event of a Japanese landing during World War II, to bring all navigable craft in Port Hacking up the river to this point and burn them.
 The commentator also spoke about the original inhabitants – the Tharawal or Dharwal people, their place names and culture; some of their middens were destroyed when shells were gathered as a source of lime for buildings in Sydney. There were anecdotes about the European settlers and early industries including a fish hatchery and deer-farming. Many landmarks and significant dwellings and boathouses were pointed out, and free maps on board allowed us to trace our route. Also on board were albums of early photos and newspaper cuttings relating to life on Port Hacking.
The return journey took us into some of the bays on the northern shores of Port Hacking, a completely different landscape featuring palatial homes, private jetties and big boats. But there were also some swimming baths for the general public and one passenger said she had spent her youthful summers there.
 Shiprock Aquatic Reserve at the entrance to Burraneer Bay was pointed out. The biodiversity in this 2 hectare reserve so close to Cronulla is extraordinary and was illustrated by Gary Dunnet at an OFF meeting in February 2010. He explained the adaptations that allowed animals and algae to crowd onto the sandy substrates and rocky cliffs of what is essentially a flooded sandstone valley, and he listed some of the land and water-based human activities that can threaten that biodiversity. It was ironic that our tour guide also pointed out the former Fisheries Research Centre at the entrance to Gunnamatta Bay; scientists at the Centre which was closed down by the NSW Government in 2011, would doubtless have contributed to knowledge of Shiprock’s rich biodiversity.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM
Footnote:
For those interested in reading an evocative account of the original Tom Thumb’s exploration of Port Hacking, I recommend the following book. It has been described as juvenile historical fiction and I borrowed from Kogarah Library some years ago.
Joan Phipson, 1972. Bass and Billy Martin. Macmillan of Australia. 240 pages.
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Upcoming activities JUNE 2017
26th Monday Meeting – 7.30pm
Dorothy Luther elaborates on holding back the concrete - urban projects in Sydney's south
30th Friday- Field Day
Centennial Park - easy walk in the Labyrinth & swamplands.
Leader: Vicki Bolling
JULY 2017
24th Monday Meeting -7.30pm
Graham Lalchere trecks a WWII battleground in PNG following in his father's footsteps
Meeting at: Oatley RSL and Community Club, 23 Letitia Street, Oatley
29th Sunday Field Day
Coogee to Bondi via historic Waverley Cemetary
Leader: Sue de Beuzeville
AUGUST 2017
15th Tuesday Field Day
Sheldon Park. Turramurra - Blue Gum High Forest and spring gardens.
Leader: Liz Cameron
28th Monday Meeting - 7.30pm
Monica & Philip Moore take us on a rafting trip down the iconic Franklin River.
29th Tuesday - Field Day
Spring walk in Royal Botanic Gardens.
Leader Amanda Gibson
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Matt Allison organised an OFF tree planting ‘event’ on Sunday 28 May at the Oatley West Rail Park (next to the underpass). We put in over 300 shrubs, grasses and ground covers as well as two trees – a Sydney Iron Bark and a Turpentine. Both are appropriate for the area. OFF is working towards making our urban spaces greener as in 202020 Vision has been helpful in framing our latest project on trees.
OFF dedicated the Iron Bark to the memory of Glen Turner, the OEH Officer murdered while trying to prevent illegal land clearing in Moree district in 2014. Remnant natural vegetation on farms was being cleared by a greedy and insensitive farmer who disregarded the essential habitat needed to support koalas among many other creatures. Glen’s murder was essentially ignored by our state government who are keen to further weaken laws to protect native vegetation. To learn more about this significant Australian story look for the movie “Cultivating Murder” which was shown by OFF at our meeting back in April at the RSL. 
The Turpentine was planted in memory of Val Boyan, an active member of OFF for many years before her death in 2014. The nearby Myles Dunphy Bush reserve contains Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest (STIF) which is an Endangered Ecological Community. It is the only remnant in the Georges River LGA that is of good quality, retaining a tree canopy, under story and ground cover of native species. To accommodate the development on the former Oatley Bowling Club, trees and shrubs at the entrance to the site will need to be cleared as asset protection from bushfire danger. This will see the removal or severe disturbance of a strip of Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest (an Endangered Ecological Community under NSW legislation ) up to 20 m wide at a location where the Bushland Reserve is only 50 m wide.
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