User:GCBabbler/Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club

The Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club is a group operating in the Castlemaine area, in central Victoria, Australia. The group plays a major role in promoting and investigating the flora and fauna values in the Mount Alexander Shire.

History
In early 1976, about 40 people turned up to a public meeting called by Mr Ray Bradfield to guage interest in establishing a field naturalists organisation in Castlemaine. Inaugural office bearers were Ray Bradfield (president), Rita Mills (secretary) and Lloyd Bransgrove (treasurer), with another six committee members also elected. Ern Perkins took on the role of Newsletter Editor, and the first issue of the Castlemaine Naturalist appeared as a four page sheet in April of 1976.

Meetings were initially held on the third Wednesday of each month, but was changed to the second Friday of the month in September 1976.

Monthly general meetings were initially held in the old Education Centre above the S.E.C. offices (now the C.H.I.R.P building). The club has not had a permanent home, and club meetings have been held at a variety of locations. General meetings are currently undertaken at a room behind a church in Lyttleton St.

Business meetings were separated from the general meeting early in the clubs history.

Each general meeting usually has a speaker of interest. The first speaker was Barry Golding, who spoke of his work on nest boxes. The first club excursion was to Bells Swamp.

Meetings
General meetings are held on the second Friday of each month (February to December) at 8.00 pm, in the Uniting Church hall, Lyttleton St, Castlemaine. The meeting usually has a guest speaker who deals with some topic of natural history.

Publications
The newsletter The Castlemaine Naturalist is published monthly (with the exception of January), since the inception of the club. The newsletters are generally 8-12 pages long.

The club has published a range of brochures on aspects of the local environment, for members and the general public to learn more about flora and fauna values of the Castlemaine area (i.e., the Mount Alexander Shire). Examples of brochures produced by the club include:
 * Bird List for the Mt Alexander Shire - Birds recorded by the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club in the Mount Alexander Shire.
 * Eucalypts of the Castlemaine District - Describes the indigenous eucalypts to be found growing within 25 kilometres of Castlemaine
 * Where to find birds in the Mt Alexander Shire - A guide to good bird watching localities in the Mt Alexander Shire
 * Weed list for the Castlemaine district - which is a list of weeds recorded in the 10 minute block centred on Castlemaine.

Excursions
The club holds excursions each month, usually on the Saturday after the monthly meeting. Excursions are usually to a local place of interest.

Conservation Actions
Actions currently undertaken by the group include:
 * Eltham Copper Butterfly monitoring and habitat management, including the removal of truckloads of the invasive Cape Broom and Flax-leaf Broom.
 * Annual bird surveys as part of the Big Birding Day, run by Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (formerly the Bird Observers Club of Australia).
 * Atlas of Australia Birds, managed by Birds Australia.
 * Surveys and searches for threatened orchids in the local area, in conjunction with the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment

Previous conservation actions undertaken by the group include :
 * Input to the development of the Land Conservation Council report developed for the north-central region of Victoria, which ultimately led to the establishment of local flora and fauna reserves, a state park at Mt Alexander and the historic areas as Castlemaine and Maldon.
 * Contributions, particularly participation in flora surveys, that led to the publication of The Distribution and Conservation of Vascular Flora in the North Central Area, Victoria, 1982.
 * Lodgement of local plant specimens to the National Herbarium
 * Assessed and surveyed the conservation value of roadsides throughout the (then) shires of Maldon, Newstead and Castlemaine, and participation on roadside management committees.

Australian Natural History Medallion
Since 1940, the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria has awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian Natural History. In 2008, this medallion was awarded to Ern Perkins, of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club.

Affliations

 * South-East Australian Naturalists' Association