New South Wales
Bald Hill
Name: Anthony Ritchard (Cormac's Grandfather)
Age:67
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Place: Gundaroo (45 km from Canberra)
Date: November 2007
Author: Cormac Mills Ritchard, Yr 5, Princes Hill Primary School, Victoria
Environmental issues: regeneration of farmland
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I was raised in the lush, fertile market gardens on the outskirts of Sydney. A marked comparison to where I now live. I first travelled through the Gundaroo-Murrumbateman area in the early 1960s whilst driving from Sydney to Canberra. I moved there in 1966 to set up my dental practice.
On retirement in 1991, I moved to our property of 80 acres, ‘Bald Hill’, a mixture of vineyards including the home, established gardens and tree-lined plantings, roads, sheds and the regenerating bushlands of the hillsides. Between the two is a rectangular paddock of introduced of pasture grasses dominated by Phalaris.
An artificial wetland, was built into what was once marshlands at the base of the hillsides. Its design did not take account of the typically long periods of very dry weather. Because of this dry the two large reservoirs will be filled in to replicate the original low-capacity chain of ponds. This will allow retention of water in the system, as will replanting of suitable tree species along the riparian edge.
In August-September 2005, 800 trees (mainly eucalypts, acacias and callistemons) were planted to provide a substantial connection between the two landscapes and allow refuge and the safe passage of bird and other small wildlife across the open ground. Those trees, which were lost due to drought and frost in 2005-2006 and the earlier part of this year, will be replaced in Autumn 2008. The tree blocks can be seen in the 2005 Google photo.
There is a heartening diversity of native mid-storey and under-storey species now growing on the hillsides to the north of the wetlands. These species have been given the opportunity to germinate and grow beyond a vulnerable size by the removal of livestock and weeds. The amount of revegetation can be observed by comparison of the 1991 and 2005 photos. Further plantings of native trees are planned for the future to replace the vines, which are being progressively removed, and introduced grasses are being gradually replaced by native species.
Links to further information:
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/
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