Islands Land Management lungtalanana, Babel, Mount...

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

Land Management UpdateSeptember 2018

Ordnance Point takayna

Hummocky

Rangers and community members carried out a comprehensive survey of historical relics and points of interest in June. Items included middens, stone arrangements and fire pots as well as birder buildings, sheds, boat remains and other relics of life on Hummocky.

HummockyDylan Beeton is sitting on what we now call Beetonrock, in what was historically known as 'Shag Boat Harbour'.

Directly behind are the remnants of an old birding shed.

1862, same location.

Hummocky

Ambrose and Grahame keep up their relentless progress on boxthorn, with fire, tractor, chainsaw and poison.

yula monitoring

120

75 7087 98

45 41 3447 45

94

128 80137 147

0

50

100

150

200

Dec-13 Dec-14 Dec-15 Dec-16 Dec-17

Average No. of burrows per 100m transect

Big Dog Babel Chappell

43%

68%

64%

68%

58%

50%

56%

45%

58%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Big Dog IslandOccupancy rates (adj)

Adults (Dec) Chicks (Mar)

55%

60%

63%

66%

71%

50% 51%

34%

54%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Babel IslandOccupancy rates (adj)

Adults (Dec) Chicks (Mar)

Big Dog

Completed in June 2018 with federal funding, the Big Dog Homestead has been brought back to life and looking great, with the outside painted, weatherboards replaced and the north-facing verandah rebuilt.

Homestead

With a fridge, washing machine and a wood-heater, it’s perfect for camps. Bookings are available through Launceston TAC.

The bedrooms were re-lined and are all comfortable with bunk beds and new mattresses. The new kitchen has hot and cold water and the toilet/shower block was rebuilt.

In April 2018, The pakana rangers undertook a 10 day fire project in an important cultural landscape near Ross.

Midlands

The project is an important and innovative collaboration between the Aboriginal community, the University of Tasmania and the landholder, Julian Von Bibra.

Returning patrula

At the time of invasion the Aboriginal people living here suffered from terrible dispossession and many atrocities occurred.

After 200 years this land has been accessible again for Aboriginal people to experience its richness.

A community fire camp was held during the project and several important cultural sites were visited.

The project has opened up opportunities for further activity in the Midlands landscape, including the development of art projects and telling the story of the country and people in this area. A short film ‘Returning patrula’ was produced to capture the project.

Returning patrula

The project allowed for a reconnection to begin on special country where our ancestors lived for thousands of years.

lungtalananaAs part of our IPA/WOC work on the islands, we monitor the lagoons to ensure they are in pristine condition and weed free etc. This year we looked at the lagoons on lungtalanana and mapped them.

Extensive work is occurring on maintaining the old house, in conjunction with the cat monitoring project.

Stage 1 of getting rid of cats from lungtalanana:

Finding out how many there are!

We deployed cameras, sand pads and cage traps to get an idea of the number of moggies on the 8,000 hectare island.

Bait station

Motion sensor camera

Patch burning was successful in the southern central plains of the island (June 2018).

lungtalanana

Preminghana

This is a massive achievement, with one of the last areas to tackle being the small mountain. Fire will be the primary control, which supresses regrowth but encourages germination of the existing seed stock. We will burn again and again, hopefully eliminating gorse permanently.

The pakana rangers are tantalisingly close to completing ALL PRIMARY CONTROL OF GORSE at Preminghana.

Preminghana

The dead brown gorse is due to a massive spraying effort by Pakana rangers: Victor, Brenton and Fox.

Small mountain, after eco-mulch, before fire.

Ecomulchinggorse

20 Nov 2017

1 June 2018

The impact of the ecomulcheris impressive.

Preminghana – Solar Power!

Solar power has been installed at Preminghana.

Along with battery-storage and generator back up, every building will now have lights and power connected 24/7, including power to the work shed for the first time ever.

Camping will be easier and more user friendly with power at the fingertips.

Using facilities will be as simple as turning a tap or flicking a switch with full-time flushing toilets

Kings Run

Contacts:Adam Thompson:

Adam.t@tacinc.com.au Launceston 6332 3814

Andry Sculthorpe: andry.s@tacinc.com.au

piyura kitina/ Risdon Cove 0410 237 404

Jarrod Edwards:jarrod.e@tacinc.com.au

Preminghana 0400 064 384

This update compiled by Shaun Thurstans shaun.t@tacinc.com.au Hobart TAC