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Category: Narratives

Textual narratives explaining key concepts and specific subjects. Cascading from general to specific, eventually they will include variously concept summaries, subject summaries and geographic summaries.

Little Desert including the National Park

The Little Desert in western Victoria, lying south of the Western Highway that links Melbourne and Adelaide, was the subject of an intensive grassroots-led lobbying campaign in the late 1960s against a proposal to clear its native bushland for agriculture. A browse through newspaper archives of the period surprises one even now at the breadth and depth of the opposition to the government’s plans. Libby Robins’ book Defending The Little Desert: The Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia of 1998 tells the story.

 

Kaniva Flower Show 1973 – flyer.

The earliest leaflet for the new Park, enlarged from the Kiata Lowan Sanctuary, 1971

Various leaflets by the National Parks Service – birds, the Mallee-Fowl, tourist guides.

Nature trail guides to the Kiata and Pomponderoo trails.

A flyer announcing a ceremony in 2006 to honour long-time Ranger Keith Hateley.

Review Status: Pending

Friends of the Parks

The Friends of Parks movement in Victoria began in 1072 when members of the Maribyrnong Valley Committee led by the late Don Marsh approached the National Parks Service to offer help to revegetate the new Organ Pipes National Park. The story of the OPNP appears in an article in the magazine Victoria’s Resources in ~1974.

A leaflet promoting the Friends as at ~2000 is available here.


 

Review Status: Pending

Land-owning cooperatives

Personal involvement in the outdoors, and in particular, in bush regeneration, can be expressed via a wide spectrum of opportunities in all states of Australia, from couch surfing, online activities, motor touring and bushwalking to joining a Friends group… and even to owning a slice of a bushland property along with other like-minded people.

In various states a number of properties have been purchased by cooperatives: to protect them from development, to regenerate them, or simply to allow the members to enjoy the outdoor experience together.

The earliest cooperatives in Victoria were the Round the Bend Conservation Cooperative on the Yarra River in Kangaroo Ground (1971), a residential conservation community with an objective of building environmentally friendly houses; the Montrose Environment Group Co-op’s 9 acres at Wartook, northern Grampians (1971); the Moora Moora Co-operative Community at Mt Toolebewong (1974), another residential community; one in the north-western Grampians; and Urimbirra Cooperative Society Ltd in the northern Little Desert (1973).

Land held by a “cooperative” can be held under a number of different legal forms: for example, a group title/strata title/community title (the states have different regimes); a company limited by guarantee; or a cooperative under state law (such as the Co-operatives National Law (Victoria) Act 2013) which in recent years has conformed to the Australian Uniform Co-operative Laws Agreement.

A leaflet advertising the Kurri Kurri Cooperative in south-western Victoria lists a couple of coops.

 

The Urimbirra story is illustrative

The Urimbirra Co-operative Society was formed in 1973 to acquire and protect remnant bushland in the Little Desert region of the Wimmera district of Victoria. It followed the conservation battle of the late 1960s against State Government and AMP plans to alienate and subdivide most of the Crown land in this area for farming. At the time of purchase, privately owned bushland properties in good condition were still being sold for farming purposes. Professional people from outside the area were incentivised to buy the land through tax concessions on clearing costs. ln this area, the climate and soil type ensured that, once it was used for farming purposes, the land was likely to revert to a weedy scrub after the first drought year. There are several examples of properties close to Urimbirra which have been devastated in this way.

The Blackburn & District Tree Preservation Society, which had a substantial involvement in the fight to save the Little Desert from subdivision for farming, decided to form a co-operative to buy 400 hectares of remnant bush for conservation. Shares were sold at $25 per share. In 1995, the Cooperative acquired a further 600 hectares of adjoining land. Today, Urimbirra has over 150 active shareholders and owns 1,040 hectares of land under Trust for Nature conservation covenants.

The Urimbirra blocks are located on the northern boundary of the Little Desert National Park between Nhill and Kaniva. The blocks sit on a mix of sandy soils of low natural fertility (named Lowan Sands) and shallow clay with some sandstone. The low natural fertility of the soils supports a diverse range of Mallee shrublands, woodlands and heathlands as well as Yellow Gum, Black Box and Desert Stringybark woodlands that sustain rich biodiversity. Thanks to Alex English, Secretary, for this account.

 

Review Status: Pending

Ranger Uniforms and Emblems

In the early 1970s, mission brown and yellow were the colours chosen for signs and other labelling by the National Parks Service in Victoria. This revealed some USA influence. A decision was taken in the early 1970s to shift to olive green and cream. Notes of a Rangers’ Training Course held at Kiata in the Little Desert in 1973 indicate that a green uniform was modelled.

Uniform emblems from Victoria 1961-75 and Queensland 1978.

 

Ron Turner, Ranger in both Victoria and from 1978 Queensland (see his memoir First Ranger in the Document Library), writing for PaRC in 2023, has supplied the following recollection:

“When I joined the National Parks Authority in 1961 rangers were issued with clothing made by the Cushen Clothing Company of Melbourne. Shirts and a dress jacket carried a shoulder patch on each side. The jacket was never popular with rangers who often commented on its inadequacy. Issued clothing included both dress and working shirts with a brown tie, and both long trousers and shorts. Wet weather clothing, and a rubber-soled golf shoe and/or riding boot were supplied on an annual request basis. Complementing the uniform was a scout commissioner’s type of hat. The only good thing about this hat was the shade afforded but it was so stiff it could only be worn quite flat. There was no tilting it or pulling it down to reflect personality; it was an awful thing to wear. To make the point at one stage one of the country rangers pulled it down onto the Director’s head!

 

“Having been superseded more than 40 years ago, these uniforms would now be collectors’ items.

 

“The Victorian rangers had formed a Victorian National Parks Rangers’ Association of which I was the Secretary. The issue of a better uniform was often to the forefront of our discussions and we were modestly active in evaluating styles of clothing and colours, even viewing uniforms as made by various manufacturers. We had also opted to have the Wedge-tailed Eagle as an emblem for shoulder patches, etc.

“I had been to the first ever NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service conference held at Royal National Park, Sydney, in 1967, and been very impressed with the style and colour of their brand new uniform with its lyrebird insignia.

“Dr. L.H.Smith, the then Director of the renamed National Parks Service diplomatically led with his concept of having the kangaroo as the official emblem. The rangers, as a group, felt the kangaroo was already vastly ‘overdone’ on commercial logos and ‘Skippy the Bush Kangaroo’ had not long been released on television. Our efforts were not entirely in vain for I was asked if I would ‘model’ a uniform as proposed by the National Parks Service at our forthcoming annual training course. In due course my measurements were taken at the Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory. In 1973 the training course was held in the controversial Little Desert National Park area and I fronted the conference in this new uniform, complete with a softer, more appropriate hat.

“As far as I was aware the above uniform was the only one of its kind ever made and those six metal buttons must now be ‘scarcer than hen’s teeth’!”

Cream-on-green later replaced sunflower-on-mission brown (but the colour in the image below is somewhat duller than the original).

 


A 1996 sign manual for Queensland‘s Department of Natural Resources (forestry and forests recreation) will be made available in PaRC as soon as scanning is complete.

 


 

Review Status: Pending

Open Gardens Scheme

In 2014 Open Gardens Australia announced that it would cease to operate the national scheme after June 2015. This leaflet explains its operations. The Wikipedia entry explains its history and related organisations.

Open Gardens SA was incorporated in December 2014 to continue the Open Garden Scheme in South Australia and Open Gardens Victoria was launched in 2015, as volunteer-run, not-for-profit organisations that assist garden owners to open their private gardens to the public and also organise gardening and horticultural themed events.

 


 

Review Status: Pending

Jenny Veitch, Physical activity and nutrition

Jenny Veitch. Deakin profile photos August 9 2022

Jenny Veitch is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), at Deakin University, Australia.

Her research aims to better understand the impact of the built and natural environment on physical activity and health-related behaviours. A/Prof Veitch has a particular research focus on understanding how the design of parks and public open spaces can optimise physical activity and social interaction among children, adolescents, adults and older adults. Since the award of her PhD in 2008, she has attracted >$3.8M in competitive research funds, including three consecutive nationally competitive externally funded research-fellowships, providing support for her program of research for 13 years (2009-2021). As at September 2023 she is Chair, Faculty of Health, Human Ethics Advisory Group, Low Risk Ethics Committee HEAG-H, Academic lead of IPAN’s Stakeholder Engagement Committee and Co-Chair, of the World Urban Parks’ Children, Play and Nature Committee. She has authored >114 publications (33% lead author, 31% senior author), two book chapters and 19 reports for government/NGOs. Over 42% of her publications are with international co-authors. Her research has been cited by researchers in >109 countries and in 60 policy/guideline documents across nine countries.

Ten recent publications:
  1. Veitch J, Timperio A, Salmon J, Hall SJ, Abbott G, Flowers E, Turner AI. Examination of the acute heart rate and salivary cortisol response to a single bout of walking in urban and green environments. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 74:127660.
  2. Veitch J, Biggs N, Deforche, Timperio A. Exploring important park features for active and social park use among adults: a qualitative study using walk-along interviews. Health and Place, BMC Public Health, 22:753.
  3. Veitch J, Ball K, Rivera R, Loh V, Deforche B, Timperio A. (2021) Understanding children’s preference for park features that encourage physical activity: An adaptive choice based conjoint analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18:133.
  4. Veitch J, Ball K, Rivera E, Loh V, Deforche B, Best K, Timperio (2021) What entices older adults to parks? Identification of park features that encourage park visitation, physical activity, and social interaction. Landscape and Urban Planning, 217, 104254.
  5. Veitch J, Salmon J, Abbott G, Timperio A, Sahlqvist S. (2021) Understanding the impact of the installation of outdoor fitness equipment and a multi-sports court on park visitation and park-based physical activity: a natural experiment. Health and Place, 71.
  6. Veitch J, Rodwell L, Abbott G , Carver A, Flowers E, Crawford (2021) Are park availability and satisfaction with neighbourhood parks associated with physical activity and time spent outdoors? BMC Public Health, 21,306.
  7.  Veitch J, Ball K, Flowers E, Deforche B, Timperio A. (2021) Children’s ratings of park features that encourage park visitation, physical activity and social interaction. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 58,126963
  8. Veitch J, Elliott F, Ball K, Deforche B, Timperio (2020) Exploring children’s views on important park features: a qualitative study using walk-along interviews. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7, 4625
  9. Veitch J, Flowers E, Ball K, Deforche B, Timperio A. (2020) Designing parks for older adults: A qualitative study using walk-along interviews. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 54, 126768 org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126768
  10. Veitch J, Denniss E, Ball K, Koorts H, Deforche B, Timperio (2020) Increasing translation of research evidence for optimal park design: A qualitative study with stakeholders. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 17. 49 doi.org/10.1186/s12966-020-00952-5.
Recent projects

Optimising park features for all ages

This video outlines the research findings of A/Prof Jenny Veitch and team about the most valued park features in different age groups.

Click to play video – 3.46 MIN

 

REVAMP study

The Recording and Evaluating Activity in a Modified Park (REVAMP) study was a natural experiment that examined the impact of the installation of a play-scape on park visitation and park-based physical activity compared with a control park.

Click to play video – 2:23 MIN

Summary report – PDF, 1 MB

Infographic – PDF, 333 KB

 

ProjectPARK

This three-year project (2017-2020) identified the relative importance of park features that attract children (8-12 years), teens (13-18 years) and older adults (65+ years) to visit parks, and to be active and social during their time in the park.

Summary report – PDF, 616 KB

Infographic – Older adults – PDF, 128 KB

Infographic – Teens – PDF, 129 KB

Infographic – Children – PDF, 128 KB

 

Parks for heart health

This project is supported by an Australian National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship.

Infographic: Important park features for adults 19-64 years – PDF, 168 KB

Review Status: Pending