The article below explains the role of the Gorse Rabbit in the evolution of this project. Suzanne Donisthorpe is the author.

It was first spotted last Good Friday, high on a hill in Taradale. It loomed 12 feet tall, out of the paddock, swaying gently, silhouetted against the evening sky, faceless and slightly spooky.

We were up at our place in Taradale for the Easter long weekend and had invited a few people around for a party and a bonfire- as you do –in the country. But as wood is scarce and useful and we had promised a bonfire- we decided to use what we had to hand in vast abundance… gorse. Nasty, ghastly, invasive, gorse. The curse of Central Victoria. We had been hacking away at our shamefully large patch with the slash and spray method, so there was a big pile of dead weed around. ‘Let’s burn that’ I suggested.’ I’ll make it into something- then we can burn it,’ said my husband Frank, the sculptor. He is a man who loathes gardening, but when you can burn the results- well now you’re talking. And given it was Easter, what else but a rabbit?

And when he was done, it looked something like the wicker man or the rabbit from Donny Darko- whose name just happens to be…Frank, all very menacing in its furry gorse suit. But what could be better than to burn an effigy symbolising colonial environmental disaster- the twin evils of rabbits and gorse – all in one fell swoop?  Burning the wicker wabbit- there’s  a reason to party.

Of course before we burned the bunny, we took lots of photos and filmed the actual fire. But by Easter Sunday, we were missing the rabbit, now a pathetic, twisted heap of burnt wire. So Frank made another rabbit- it rose again in fact and we called it the Resurrection Rabbit.

RR stood sentinel over the Taradale valley for all of winter, aging visibly as his gorse skin dried out and his wire sagged. He looked out across at the living gorse which had spread alarmingly with all the rain. We heard that Connecting Country had some funding available for community projects to get rid of weeds and so we hatched the Gorse Must Die project with our neighbours. Meetings were called and the ball began to roll. Landcare got involved and things looked promising. Meanwhile more was happening on the art front.

We got news that Lot 19 – the wonderful art space out in the back blocks of Castlemaine – were having their annual Spring Sculpture prize. Frank looked at me, I looked at him, we both looked at the rabbit. It nodded slightly back. Of course- the perfect thing to enter. A sculpture about Central Victoria, with a black story. But Frank is a dreamer, so one rabbit was not going to be enough. He decided he wanted a whole family and so the rabbits began to breed. Now there were three- mother, father and child. Two stood watching and waving as the third sailed off in his corrugated tin boat. We called it The Departure.

In January 2011, Frank’s father Kurt Veldze passed away in Albany West Australia. He was 80 years old, and had been a fashion photographer in the Madmen days of the 60’s. He was born in Latvia and had fled Europe with his family escaping the Russians first and the hell of war that came after. We had his ashes but had not found a suitable time or place to say our final goodbyes. It struck us that we could burn the rabbit and Kurt’s ashes at the Lot 19 show, a fitting tribute we thought for a man who was both an artist and a traveller.

And so it was that we farewelled dear Kurt, we put his ashes in a velvet heart shaped box, put the heart in the rabbit in the boat, and set fire to it. Two gypsy violinists played as Frank said goodbye to his Dad. I watched the faces of the people gathered around. Some, but by no means all of them knew Kurt, but most were silent and thoughtful as the rabbit went up in flames.  It was a beautiful moment for us all. Kurt would have been proud.

But this story has a happy ending. The Departure has been chosen as a finalist in the 2012 Montalto sculpture prize – up in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsular. So as I write this, the rabbits are back here at Taradale. They are all being given new, fresh gorse coats and are being jazzed up for their next incarnation. Oh and about the gold- well Frank won the Lot 19 prize. And we have our fingers crossed for the Montalto prize, and better still, we have been successful in our application to Connecting Country and soon the gorse will be sprayed. Resurrection Rabbit has become the Pin Up Bunny on the Connecting Country newsletter.

After the gorse is gone, we might have to think of other ways to make art, but it’s a sacrifice we are happy to make.

Hosted by Connecting Country, the project officer, Michael Luke shall be working with North Harcourt /Sedgwick Landcare Group, Harcourt Valley Landcare group and the Barkers Creek Landcare and Wildlife Group in the development of a ‘Local Action Plan’.

The Local Action Plan will determine achievable Landcare projects that will produce high ecological outcomes and restore Barkers Creek to a healthy watercourse – thus the working title “Brilliant Barkers Creek” was chosen. Initially a focus will be placed on the eradication of invasive woody weed species that occur along this locally important waterway – particularly Blackberry and Gorse.  Following the successful first phase of the project (woody weed removal), it is intended that revegetation of indigenous flora species will follow in subsequent years (dependant on funding).

Michael will be engaging local landholders in the area, to provide advice, mapping and related extension work.  He will also be looking to source additional funding to provide subsidies for landholders to assist them to remove woody weeds on their properties.

Funding for the Barker Creek Clean-Up Project has been received from the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and the Victorian Blackberry and Gorse Taskforces.

Michael Luke

Michael is new to Connecting Country. He has always had a keen interested in the environment and decided to leave the Commonwealth Department of Education after 16 years to commence a course of study in the environmental field.  He has recently completed a Diploma of Conservation and Land Management and Sustainable Water Management at the Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE and is excited to be commencing employment with Connecting Country.  Michael is planning to engage a large number of local landholders, and to assist them to make a difference not just on their ‘patch’ but also to increase the overall health of Barkers Creek.

For more information or to get involved, Michael can be contacted at michael@connectingcountry.org.au or on 5472 1594.

Connecting Country will also be launching the recently produced ‘Forest Creek Action Plan’. The plan has been produced through consultation with local community groups who have an interest in restoring the ecological health of Forest Creek, as well as the government agencies responsible for managing the creek, and local residents.

The Forest Creek Action Plan documents how the creek is valued by local residents and what threats it may face in the future. It also provides information on the social and natural history of the creek. The plan should be of value to anybody with an interest in the history and ecology of Forest Creek and the Box-Ironbark forest landscape more generally.

Forest Creek’s proximity to Castlemaine and its surrounding townships makes it an important recreation area and a showcase for successful ecological restoration. Local community groups have worked very hard and very successfully over the last 20 years to restore the Forest Creek landscape and it is hoped that the Forest Creek Action Plan will help them to continue their work in the future. The iconic degradation of Forest Creek is now an opportunity for iconic restoration!

The Great Eastern Ranges corridor (called GER) is hosted by Greening Australia NSW and is largely funded by the NSW Government, which in turn leverages project funding and in-kind contributions from over 120 regional implementation partners. The GER Initiative has commissioned a number of research activities in partnership with ANU, CSIRO, Birds Australia and others. This is starting to provide insights into the importance of the GER corridor across each of the eastern States.

GER have generously offered to share their findings with the Central Victorian Biolinks initiative, which itself is very new and in a scoping phase. However, a key role of this initiative is to share information that they think may be of interest to people and organisations working ‘on ground’.

Title: ‘The Great Eastern Ranges Initiative – its evolution, achievements, science and future plans’
Date: Friday, February 17^th
Time:  9am for coffee and cake and to meet with Gary Howling. 10 – 12 for presentation.
Where:  RM Campbell Theatrette, City of Bendigo Library, 259 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo

Please RSVP to sophie@centralvicbiolinks.org.au or ring on 0422 227471

For information on this early stage of the Central Victorian Biolinks project please see  www.centralvicbiolinks.org.au

A donation to cover costs will be welcome.

Commencing on Monday the 27^th of February, the program will first travel to Maldon, Chewton, Sutton Grange and Guildford to present a nest box watch workshop series. This will be followed by a lecture on the benefits of biodiversity in agriculture with Dr Dennis Saunders (Research Fellow CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences) on Tuesday 20^th of March. Other sessions will cover practicalities like identifying native vegetation using Victorian Standards with Paul Foreman (Bush Heritage Australia) and Ian Higgins (North Central Catchment Management Authority) on Saturday 25^th of March, followed by Establishing goals for revegetation initiatives by Prof Ary Hoffman (Bio21 Institute – University of Melbourne) on Tuesday 8^th of May, and finish with Using native grasses and shrubs for pasture, presented by Graeme Hand (STIPA Native Grasses Association) on Friday 25^th of May. A panel discussion on the economic opportunities related to farming for nature will also be held on Wednesday 18^th April where the public can quiz some of the active local organisations such as Australian Carbon Traders, Trust for Nature, Connecting Country, Bush Broker and Land for Wildlife.

The program is open to all members of the public. Evening sessions are free, however the first two field days are $10 per person to cover transportation. For more information and to RSVP please contact bryan@connectingcountry.org.au or call the Connecting Country office on 5472 1594. Full details of the program and a registration form can be found here.

Ian O’Halloran and Fritz Hammersley will be discussing seed collection, storage and germination for the home revegetator. They will be looking at weeds and identifying the usual and unusual suspects, focusing on effective strategies for control of different types of weeds on a short and long term basis.

Finally, there will be an opportunity to look at the progress of the works on the property and discuss revegetation and long-term weed control options with a focus on the site’s unique requirements. This will include a brief look at the site’s soil, topography, vegetation distribution and history.

The workshop will conclude with a Q/A session and a late morning tea in the log cabin, kindly made available by Julie Moss, the proprietor of the property.

As some of the walk will be adjacent to dead, brittle gorse and blackberry, suitable clothing and footwear are recommended. Parking is available on Golden Point Road.

For more information contact Fritz Hammersley on 5472 1089.

You can find more information and how to get involved in the project by reading this document.

We urge our Landcare Group representatives to attend this meeting as this will be a great opportunity to provide further input into the Landcare Facilitator role over the next four years. We will also be launching the Forest Creek Action Plan developed by Max Schlachter.

For catering purposes please RSVP by Thursday the 16th of February to krista@connectingcountry.org.au or call the office on 5472 1594.

You will be able to find out the latest weather predictions and how the DPI Climate Dogs can help you better understand weather patterns.

Guest speakers include:

• Jane Bunn – WIN TV Weather Presenter
• Graeme Anderson – DPI Senior Climate Scientist

When: Tuesday 14 February 2012, 8.00 am – 11.00 am (breakfast and morning tea provided)

Where: Serpentine Hall, Chapel Street, Serpentine.

RSVP (for catering purposes) by 10.00 am Monday 13 February 2012 to North Central CMA by emailing info@nccma.vic.gov.au or by calling 03 5448 7124.