Taungurung Traditional Owners partnership

In 1993 when Euroa Arboretum was founded, it was pretty much a clapped out sheep grazing paddock and storage depot for heavy machinery and road materials for VicRoads. Only a few trees and some pockets of native grass remained from its original diverse grassy woodland – rich in bush foods and medicine plants. In the early days of the Arb, restoration focused on replacing trees and shrubs. In more recent times, we have focused on restoring the native, diverse ground layer. Having been a landscape managed by Traditional Owners for millennia, it was natural that we looked to Taungurung, the custodians of the land, in how to manage the landscape and return the
grassland.

We have worked alongside Taungurung Land and Waters Council for many years –bringing science, cultural land management practices and a little bit of ingenuity together to restore the grasslands. We are proud to partner with Taungurung Traditional Owners – supporting their young people to learn and heal country, to share plant knowledge and to bring visitors to the Arb to learn from the Taungurung community about First Nations culture, bush foods and stories.

It is our great honour and privilege to walk together, restoring country.

From the earliest inception of the Arb, the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority have been a great supporter.  We are lucky to have strong connections with many of the CMA staff – working together to implement workshops, training, on ground works and surveys.  Our plants and seed are disseminated across the Goulburn Broken catchment for many of the revegetation projects each year.

Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority support us with funding various projects, and partner with us in managing the Goulburn Broken Indigenous Seedbank.

Longwood Plains Conservation Management Network committee, facilitator and landholders have worked tirelessly across the Longwood Plains district, (Seymour to Murchison to Violet Town) to revegetate private farmland.  Focusing on expanding roadside vegetation and linking creek lines and remnant vegetation, Longwood Plains CMN have transformed the plains over many years to increase landscape connectivity of native vegetation.

The Arb proudly support Longwood Plains CMN with plants and seed supply, and often a friendly chat with the folk that drop by for advice.

Strathbogie Ranges Conservation (SRC) is an active network often partnering with The Arb and working for biodiversity outcomes in the Strathbogie Ranges.  We love sharing workshops, art activities and festivals with SRC – collaborating in connecting people to nature.

Strathbogie Ranges Conservation works actively to protect the special places of the ‘Bogies’ – from the perched bogs, rocky outcrops, riparian areas to the forests. Project work often targets endangered or vulnerable species of flora and fauna and monitors how climate change is impacting on local habitats and biodiversity.

The Arb loves to support Strathbogie Ranges Conservation in providing plants, seed and advice to landholders that drop by for a chat.

Friends of the Sevens formed in 2012 and work actively along the Seven Creeks in the Euroa township.  Working along the billabongs and walking tracks where the mowers couldn’t reach, the Arb bush crew worked to control weeds and whipper snip, supporting the local community to plant thousands of plants over the past 11 years.

In addition, Friends of the Sevens have conducted bird counts, held workshops, carp catching, invertebrate counts, platypus watches, engaged local schools and most recently, implemented the construction of the Rockies Bridge with local Strathbogie Council.

You will often find the Gladys group – an offshoot volunteer group of the Arb – on the creek each week weeding, pruning or planting.  The Arb are strong supporters – still sending the bush crew in for the heavy lifting jobs and providing plants and advice as needed.