The Thornleigh to Hornsby section of the Great North Walk goes through a number of different bushland types, from heavy creek bush to elevated, open grassland as it meanders through the Berowra Valley.
Meet: Thornleigh Station, western side 10.30 (Oatley to Central 08.43 – 09.12; Central to Thornleigh 09.36 – 10.26.). You can also leave your car at the station and pick it up after the walk as we’ll be coming back down the Northern Line from Hornsby.
There are a couple of moderate climbs and one scrambly bit near the end, so it could be classified as moderately strenuous, especially with the final climb out up to Hornsby station. It should take about 3.0 hours, so we’ll take lunch on the trail. For a general idea of the walk’s attractions see the “wild walks” website, although we won’t be taking the exact route shown.
Eight OFF members set out on Sunday, 30th July for a walk along the Coogee to Bondi cliff path. We picked a day with very disrupted transport arrangements but eventually arrived at Coogee desperate for a caffeine fix. Because it was such magnificent weather, we joined a cast of hundreds walking the path, although it was great to see so many people enjoying our beautiful coast. We passed the smaller beaches of Gordons Bay and Clovelly and looking southward the view along the coast was picture perfect.
After a little over an hour’s walk we arrived at the historic Waverley Cemetery. Here we visited the graves of many notables such as Lawrence Hargrave, Henry Lawson and Dorothea Mackellar among others. Our hero must surely be Sir James Martin (three times Premier and later Chief Justice of NSW) who was a founder of the League for the Prevention of Pollution of Air and Water (later the Sanitary Reform League) in 1880, possibly Australia’s first conservation group.
After a short lunch at Bronte beach we continued onto Bondi where a combination of beautiful weather and a festival at Bondi beach resulted in long bus queues to take us back to Bondi Junction. Unfortunately the group was split while boarding the bus so Graham L and Trevor decided it was quicker to walk back to Bondi Junction while the rest of us were kind enough to wait for them by having an outdoor coffee.
See more photos in webgallery
For free downloadable books and maps on graves search for Waverley Public Library, then Local Studies. http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/services/library/local_studies
Report by walk leader Sue de Beuzeville
OFF Field Day on Tuesday 15 August will be on Sheldon Forest Track, a 5-6 km walk from Turramurra Station through tall forest bordering Avon Creek and returning along Pymble streets. This is not a long walk but includes steep streets and an uneven track with many stone steps descending to a running stream and back up again. The track passes through majestic forest which transitions from Sydney Blue Gum through Blackbutt to Turpentine and thence Coachwood. The main attractions are the changing vegetation, birdlife and peacefulness – it will be an opportunity for photography and ‘forest bathing’, so a leisurely pace is recommended.
Travel in 2nd last carriage departing Oatley Station at 8.45 am; 9.27 am train from Town Hall arriving Turramurra at 10.04 am.
Bring something for a late morning tea/early lunch along the track. Back at Turramurra Station by about 2 pm. Leader: Liz Cameron 9580 6621; elsmere02@gmail.com
For more information and map see – Ku-ring-gai Council – Sheldon Forest Track:
Forest bathing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_bathing
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
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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 Society submitted a discussion paper on the Plans of Management for Royal, Heathcote National Parks and the Garawarra State Conservation. Read OFF submission.
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