By Callum Ludwig
A small group of Wandin locals have been toiling away to little fanfare at a popular spot by the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail.
The Friends of Railway Parade volunteer to help keep the bush and brush alongside their patch nice and tidy for the enjoyment of themselves and visitors on the trail.
Su Shearer from the Friends of Railway Parade said they are a very loosely-affiliated group of people who live in and around Railway Parade.
“It’s a bit of a spin off from the Friends of the Rail Trail which some of our neighbours were involved in, and they actually did work right up past Yarra Junction but now they’ve contracted back to our little area, which is between the Warburton Highway and Sebire Avenue,” she said.
“We don’t have fixed meeting dates as such, we get together when things need to be done,” “Doug Pocock who’s a retired nurseryman who lives at the end of our street has grown a lot of plants and he’s done quite a bit of planting and weeding recently and my husband and I started across the road from our place 30 years ago clearing out blackberries and lots of invasive species.”
The group started to gain traction with more neighbours getting on board as the area started to look nicer. All are welcome to join an ad-hoc working bee, shared by Ms Shearer on the ‘Wandin North Neighbourhood Support’ Facebook page.
Ms Shearer said they really wanted to establish a wildlife corridor through their works on Railway Parade.
“That was the primary reason for getting out there and doing things, there were huge gaps and the birds weren’t able to get through and the echidnas and things like that, whereas now it’s a lot more bushy and the wildlife really increased,” she said.
“There are a lot more birds nesting in the area, we’ve got Satin Bowerbirds who’ve taken up residence, Tawny Frogmouths and lots of parrots and other things that have come through, there have been King Parrots actually nesting opposite us this year for the first time, so in that respect, it’s been great.”
The section of the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail alongside Railway Parade is one of the most popular parts of the trail given its proximity to the city for visitors coming in from out of town, its connection to the Wandin township and the site of the old Wandin Railway Station, including the historic murals that tell the story of Wandin and its community.
Ms Shearer said she thinks it’s a very important part of the trail.
“I walk on it every day with the dog and get up and down, there’d be hundreds of people passing up and down every day,” she said.
“It’s really good when we’re actually working out on the trail and people come past, and a lot of them ask questions and want to know what we are up to which gives us a chance to educate people on why we need those sort of native plants in and the fact that we’re choosing things that are indigenous to the Wandin North area,”
“We’re trying to keep it very much localised, and that’s being really helped by Ben (O’Leary) from the Council who sources things for us to plant so we don’t have to go out and look for them.”
Anyone who might like to get involved can contact Ms Shearer at sushearer@hotmail.com.
