Three children having a great deal of fun making cape weed chains.

This area is part of the 111 hectares that was cleared for farming but it is hoped that one day with the assistance of local schools and Tafe and of course with expert advice we will bring it back to the way it used to be.

All the same the Twin Creek bush block has been a wonderful find with approximately 400 hectares of native bush, which includes some 150 hectares of regrowth.

It is estimated that 1,000 species of flora will be found on this property and it has already been ascertained that there are two rare species (Drakea confluens & Pleurophascum occidentale) and several priority species.

As you can see by the plaque Twin creeks was opened by the Hon Dr Sharman Stone MP who was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage on the 4th of October 2003. Dr Stone reprents the electorate of Murray in Victoria, which includes such towns as Shepparton, Cohuna, Echuca and Kyabram.

It is very hard to put into a few words Dr Sharman Stone’s whole speech, a speech that took some time but, unlike many speeches, was full of interest and even non political. She said that finds such as Twin Creeks were rare and that we the general public at the end of the day, were the ones best suited to find and preserve such sites for future generations. This is borne out by the many local environmental groups that are found throughout Australia all of which are doing good things in projects large and small. Australia should be proud of the work done by these volunteers.

As you can see by the photographs of Dr Sharman Stone, [1, 2, 3] she is very much a country girl and was brought up on a farm on the great Northern plains of Northern Victoria. Her home farm has now succumbed to salt and so she really knows why it is so important to preserve our native bush and to protect our farmland from degradation for future generations.

The minister and Ann Burchell. Ann herself is the person who has been the driving force behind the purchasing of Twin Creeks because although Ann has had many helpers it is true to say without her this whole project would never had got off the ground.

My pictures of the four people walking in the bush at Twin Creeks and the three children making cape weed chains are to me my favourite ones, not because they are great but because of what they represent. The four people, two with backpacks on are enjoying a walk in the bush and may they do so for many years to come, the children well they are our future and they are enjoying doing what children did many years before they were born and you never know as they become part of the local school scene they could be the ones to help revegetate the part of Twin creeks that was cleared for farming.

The Marque was erected for the speeches and approximately 100 invited guests.

There was great food for the entire guest and the lady in charge of the banquet was Gayle or, as she is perhaps better known Luigi. I was one of her helpers and really my mind did not rise above the standard barbecue but Gayle wanted something special for such a special day and so we had marinated chicken, small Indian curry meat balls, a vegetarian burger, many types of salads, fresh fruit and wine and you know it must have been good because many of the guests came back for seconds and some even more than that.

To top off a very special day we had a great deal of food left over and that evening a small group of volunteers came back together for a nice evening at Jingalla Wines. The barbecues were lit again and we sampled several types of wine and some of Charlie’s famous beers (by the way I will return your empty bottles one day Charlie for a refill).

There are so many people to thank for what took place on the 4th of October but the ones we should never forget are the fantastic people of Jingalla Wines because they allowed us to use their kitchen facilities for all of Friday and Saturday morning and they sent out and never let us pay for our lunch (on the Friday) as well as the use of their barbecues and their one tonner to transport them to Twin Creeks.

For all the donations given so freely a big thank you.

- David Smith