Grif Ward enjoys the peace and tranquillity of Wanderslore. 54677
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
MEANDERING along a roughly beaten path Grif Ward stops every so often to point out the latest bush peas that have sprouted.
In less than 10 minutes he has also spotted a wombat’s hole and a fallen bird’s nest, which he gently presses back into a tree branch.
Grif is one of the volunteers who helps tend the 10-hectare conservation site in Launching Place known as Wanderslore.
“We’ve got two wallabies who moved in last year, and wombats, two types of possums and more than 90 birds over a 12-month period,” he said.
The site changes from open native grassland, with hundreds of “bacon-and-egg coloured” pea shrubs covering the ground, to the rich damp greens of a fern gully.
“I can count five different ferns in this one area,” Grif said, watching a small creek trickle through the thick ferns.
His interest in nature began as an enthusiastic eight year old going off for nature class and factored in his retirement move to Big Pat’s Creek.
Hidden behind the Launching Place hotel, the site could have become sub-divided and sold off to developers.
In fact, this happened in the 1920s until a devoted woman began buying the empty lots and putting the property back together.
Constance Coleman inherited one of the lots from her father, and converted his fishing shack into a cottage. When the Launching Place station closed down, she had the station house moved up the hill to act as her studio.
Miss Coleman was the headmaster at several schools, including Lilydale High School, who eventually withdrew from teaching to paint full-time in her studio overlooking the valley.
Grif said apart from the cottage and studio, the land was pretty much the same as when the first people were wandering around.
“It’s the natural history of the area, including the history of Wanderslore, that I enjoy,” he said.
When Miss Coleman passed away in 1990 at the age of 86, she left the 10-hectare site to the Trust for Nature.
“I couldn’t bear to have this place over-run by red roofs,” she had said.
The Friends of Wanderslore group manage the sanctuary for the plants and animals, and face a constant fight against weeds such as holly and watsonia.
“It has taken us 15 years to get it in control, but the place is just about clear of weed plants,” Grif said.
Volunteers continue to throw on their gloves and gardening gear on Tuesdays and one Saturday a month.
Wanderslore is only open once a year to the public. This year it will be open from 10am on Sunday 17 October with nature walks and a sausage sizzle.
Parking is at the Home Hotel at 2180 Warburton Highway, Launching Place.
For more information contact Geoff Durham on gadurham@bigpond.com or 9523 5559.
