30 July Newsletter Friends of Eaglemont Village
A busy few days for our FofEV volunteers.
Successful days, enjoyable days, fruitful days.
On Friday 28th July some 26 girls from IGGS Year 4 came down to the Substation and Ashby Grove area and planted over 130 Australian native trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses.
Palpable excitement from novice environmentalists, simply uplifting for those of us of mature years. "Thank You" to the volunteers who turned out to help.
Sunday was the day for community groups - FofEV had our regulars, our neighbours, people who looked for a local site on the web and 2 corporate groups.
An impressive turnout from Monde Nissen, and the Environmental Institute of Australia & New Zealand.
50+ people out along Sherwood Road in brilliant winter sunshine showing great community spirit and bringing enthusiasm and energy to bear.
Banyule Council made a skip available for green waste, and also some "Workers Ahead" signs.
Metro made a toilet key available for the station toilets as we had so many volunteers working to rehabilitate railway's controlled land.
A big "Thank You" to Stephen and Carole who made their ground floor over to the hospitality effort. A continuous morning tea, cold drink stand and washing up facilities. Carole and Chris H ran a very efficient service.
Bella was in heaven with all the visitors and attention.
"Thank You" also to Maurie for having the green waste skip on his driveway crossover, near the work area.
Again we had some volunteers who donned the orange hiviz vests to undertake an organising role - thanks are also due for their time and effort.
The ground clearing role to make space for successful planting was immense. We have several boxes of tubestock still to be planted of the next few days.
Dr. Gilchrist & the Gang Gangs
Some feedback from Andrea C triggered by our recent focus on Gang Gang cockatoos.
Andrea takes us back a couple of decades to when Dr. Gilchrist was our favourite eccentric character in the Village.
Not being unkind - I frequently quipped that my ambition in retirement was to inherit Dr. Gilchrist's role as the Village eccentric.
A man of science, involved in his later years in Antarctic research with the ANARE. There are sub-Antarctic landmarks bearing his name.
Ivan kept the newspaper obituary article for him on the supermarket notice board for ages and ages. He was integral to the Village streetscape.
Dr. Gilchrist was often seen dressed in the manner of an English academic - complete with bicycle clips or his suit pants tucked into long socks, to avoid ensnarement in that greasy bike chain.
Always reading, sleeves kept out of the way with those chrome expandable retaining bands.
He lived up on Odenwald Road.
Dr. Gilchrist was an early environmentalist; he had a number of large eucalypts in his yard, and he understood the importance of maintaining the dead trees as roosting and nesting sites for birds.
Andrea recounts how pleased he was to have the seasonal visits from family groups of Gang Gang cockatoos.
He would spread the news and invite locals to come to observe them. He was well pleased with the success of his small personal contribution to maintaining habitat.
Addendum
Nilss read our mention of Dr. Gilchrist:
"Thanks for the nice article about Dr. Gilchrist who, as you mentioned, lived in our street, so we knew him quite well. In the nineties and early 2000‘s he was travelling around Eaglemont on a pushbike which had a woolen seat cover.
He attended Scotch College: "Scotch’s veteran rugby player was Dr. Alan Gilchrist who played in the 1936 squad.""
Banyule's Urban Food Strategy
Eaglemont Village exists because the railways commissioners demanded Heidelberg Council rezone land as commercial as a quid pro quo to creating Eaglemont Station halfway between Heidelberg and Ivanhoe.
Not demanding in 1925 "no shops allowed, take the train to Ivanhoe" mind you, which would have been in the railways interests.
Gone are the days of the lady of the house (or the housekeeper!) walking down to Minto's Grocery and Finch the Butcher with a wicker basket.
Now we are obliged to shop remotely from where we live - not only for food but hardware, petrol, medicines etc.
20 minute neighbourhoods? 10 minutes walk out, 10 minutes walk back for most everday goods and services.
Just being a bit picky here - if 6% of Banyule respondents to this Urban Food Strategy survey are riding bikes to do their shopping, why do I spy with my little eye so few bikes at supermarkets?
Banyule' Age in Focus
Affordable Housing?
Big block, big house, big price in The Great Depression.........
The Herald,
05.10.1932, Page 15
£5000 For Eaglemont House
A villa of eight rooms, in Summit Parade, Eaglemont, has been sold for £5000. The land has a frontage of approximately 150 feet by a depth of 190 feet.
(From the ever-vigilante Nilss)
What Now for Odenwald Road Bridge?
It is no secret that our Victorian State Government is, if not broke, then severely financially stressed.
If you are concerned about the size of your mortgage then you will appreciate how Dan and Tim must feel when the morning alarm ends dreams of more halcyon days.
Commonwealth Games built facilities progress reports on the evening news, Games opening ceremonies splashed on front pages, athletes being courted, entertained and glad-handed.
Gone.
Has Banyule Council's chance of getting the State Government to stump up $1.5 million for a pedestrian bridge over the rail cutting at Odenwald Road gone too?
The dancing, ducking and weaving between 2 levels of government to avoid taking responsibility for the safety of people - pedestrians and drivers alike - using the Odenwald Road bridge has gone on for far too long.
In the very recent years that Friends of Eaglemont Village has agitated for this safety measure for our community, Banyule Council has had the discretion to apply hundreds of millions of rates dollars.
Rates dollars over-subscribed by Eaglemont and Ivanhoe ratepayers.
Just not applied to Odenwald Road bridge.
Rose Street Bridge Repairs
As a footnote, we report that repairs will be made to the Rose Street bridge over the rail cutting near Darebin Station.
Rose Street bridge? Same age, same manufacturer, same materials, same design, same geology, same non-maintenance regime as our local Odenwald Road bridge.
And, we learn recently, another example of an obligatory "accommodation or occupation bridge" occasioned by the 1888 rail line dividing the Rockbeare estate.
On 5th August Rose Street bridge will be closed for repairs, 17 months after FofEV caused repairs to be made to the Odenwald Road bridge.
Let's see if the Rose Street bridge is likewise reduced to a 14 tonne safe load limit after these repairs, as still applies to the Odenwald Road bridge.
Swift Parrots Need Your Help
Swifties visit our near ranges and the wooded Yarra Valley annually, doing an extraordinary commute from Tasmania.
This is also the interstate visiting habit of Orange-bellied Parrots, which come over for our coastal marshes.
The Swifties' habitat in Tassie is under threat from renewed logging.
Please read this plea from Birdlife Australia.
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