By KATH GANNAWAY
THE Victorian Governor, His Exellency The Honourable Alex Chernov, has praised the vital role volunteers are playing in the fight to save Victoria’s faunal emblems from extinction.
The Governor, patron of Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater (FOHE), and his wife Elizabeth, unveiled two interpretive panels on the helmeted honeyeater and Leadbeater’s possum at the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve on 30 September.
They were welcomed by FOHE president Bob Anderson.
Speaking to FOHE and Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum volunteers, staff of Parks Victoria and Healesville Sanctuary and guest author, 11-year-old Mieke Florrison and her family, Mr Chernov said it was recognised how endangered the bird is.
“It is emblematic to Victoria and I know of your concerns with the preservation of it,” he said.
He said there was a realisation that the faunal emblems were in trouble, making reference to the government-appointed taskforce led by Zoos Victoria and the Victorian Association of Forest Industries that is currently looking at how to balance issues around the survival of Leadbeater’s possum and logging in the Central Highlands.
Mieke presented the Governor and Mrs Chernov with a copy of Lunar the Leadbeater’s Possum, written and illustrated by the Macclesfield Primary School student.
Mieke said she hoped to become a writer and was thrilled that her first work has been published.
She said the book was about the challenges the young possum, Lunar, faces as she searches for a home in the forest, including bushfires, logging and feral animals.
“She finds the last tree in the forest – the last tree standing,” Mieke explained, slightly giving away the bitter-sweet ending to her story!
The Governor was joined by family members for an excursion to the helmeted honeyeater bushland reserve and lunch with the volunteers.
