Noongar Elder Treasey Woods (second from left) with Torbay residents (l-r) Glen Scott, Sandra Swain & Liz Marshall on site at Lake Pleasant View

On Saturday 8 December an enthusiastic bus load of people headed off with Noongar elders, Ivor & Treasey Woods and Department of Indigenous Affairs archaeologist, Robert Reynolds, to explore more of our local indigenous history and culture.

First stop was the site of an archaeological excavation in Lower King. In an area that has been partially developed for residential lots, an excavation earlier in 2007 near an known camping ground readily uncovered artefacts, ochre and shell middens. This site had been a well used camping ground up until the 1950's. Carbon dating of recovered artefacts is still to be completed.

Bus tour participants at Muttonbird Beach

Noongar Elder Ivor Woods showing Olive White and Glenys Rowland lizard traps at Lake Pleasant View

Lake Pleasant View, at Manypeaks, forms part of the Yoolberup (Mt Manypeaks) mythology. It is an important area for camping, fishing and hunting, with the large lake (now part of a DEC reserve) providing abundant food resources. Lizard traps were observed on the top of the large granite rock. The area has been recently purchased by the Indigenous Land Corporation and is managed by the Albany Heritage Reference Group.

The tour stopped to observe the Kalgan River at the site of the old upper Kalgan Bridge. Noongars referred to it as "the meeting of the two rivers", as this was the limit of the tidal influence, and the water above this point was fresh. Fish traps were located approximately 700m downstream at Honeymoon Island. Adjacent to the Kalgan Hall is a fire pit, that has charcoal dated at approximately 20,000 years. This is the oldest archaeological remains in the Albany area.

Where the Kalgan River meets Oyster Harbour extensive fish traps were constructed along the foreshore. The remnants of approximately 800m of stone weirs remain along the northern shore of the harbour. Nearby the harbour a scarred paperbark tree, demonstrated the Noongars adaptability to use modern tools to undertake traditional activities. The scarred tree shows axe marks, from where a large piece of paperbark was removed for possible use as a carrying basket, cover for a shelter (mia mia) or wrapping food.

Ivor Woods (centre) with Ian Moss (left) and Phil Mellon (right) at the Oyster Harbour fish traps

Last stop for the day was at Muttonbird Beach. Muttonbird Island provided food resources such as muttonbirds, salmon and groper were attracted to the area through the use of groper burley traps. Important camping areas were located near the Torbay Inlet. The elders told the group that the Noongar would sing to the dolphins, to bring the salmon into the beach, were they could be easily caught.

All the sites that we visited on our tour, were located near water. Today, we still value those places, but possibly for different reasons. This places are still important to all people today, and should be respected for their cultural, environmental and intrinsic values.

Many thanks to the Elders for sharing their knowledge and wisdom.

Creek crossing on Hank and Denise Van Der Meulen's property

The annual Torbay catchment tour was held on Sunday 15th April. The theme of this year's tour was the diverse agricultural industries in the catchment, with five very different properties inspected to see what farmers in Torbay are producing.

Firstly, the tour visited Howard and Bev Shapland's annual horticulture property. The Shapland's grow a wide variety of vegetables on their farm; outdoors there is broccoli, corn, cauliflowers and pumpkins and an extensive range of lettuce, spinach and salad greens are grown in the greenhouse. The Shapland's fresh produce is very popular at the weekly Albany Farmers Market and they also supply the Perth market via the Canningvale Markets.

Next stop was a blue-gum plantation owned by Great Southern Plantations. Redmond Grove is a 76 hectare plantation that was planted in 2000. It is expected to yield 19,000 tonnes of timber valued at $3.5 million when the trees are harvested in 2010.

Hank and Denise Van Der Meulen are beef graziers in the Marbellup sub-catchment. The Van Der Meulen's were recipients of funding from the Torbay Catchment Group in 2006, to fence a stream, install a stream crossing and fence remnant vegetation. The vegetation has all responded well to protection and is regenerating nicely. These type of works assist the catchment group achieve its aims of improving water quality in the catchment.

The Oranje Tractor vineyard and winery is an organic farm owned by Murray Gomm and Pam Lincoln. Currently they are growing five different varieties of grapes, olives and a variety of fruit trees. They sell their wines (which we happily had the opportunity to sample during our visit) through the cellar door.

Last stop for the day was at Florescence, a floricultural and horticultural enterprise owned by Lee and Charles Reynolds, who are growing lilliums and cherries. They are currently producing 350,000 stems of liliums per year for the local and Perth market. The fragrant flowers are a popular item at the Albany Farmers Market.

The tour highlighted the variety of produce grown in the catchment and was enjoyed by all. Many thanks to all the landholders that we visited on the day, for giving up their time and talking to us about their businesses.

Department of Agriculture and Food soils researcher, Tim Overheu, explains soil types at Youngs Siding

Approximately 45 farmers from the Torbay and Wilson catchments gathered at the Youngs Siding Hall to learn more about soils and the importance of soil testing. Speakers from the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Centre for Excellence in Natural Resource Management covered topics from soil chemistry, soil nutrient leaching and soil sampling procedures. An inspection of several soil pits at an adjacent property demonstrated the variability of soils with the catchment.

to the Youngs Siding Hall on the 28th of March with the results of their soil testing for an independent interpretation of the results by Department of Agriculture staff, as well information on acid sulphate soils and pasture options for different soil types.

For further information please contact Karen McKeough, Torbay Catchment Coordinator on 9841 0128.

Previous catchment winners have twinned with a variety of groups worldwide. These include an indigenous school program in the Gulf of Carpentaria with the focus on river health and catchment issues, a "Green English" and environmental program with a college in Southern Thailand, a mentor relationship with a watershed in Argentina, help to restore the shrinking Lake Bam in Burkina Faso, West Africa, degraded habitat restoration for wild salmon, Sakhalin Island, Russia, and help in the Tiangol Mangol Basin, Senegal.

The idea is to develop a relationship with a community involved in waterways and land management with whom we can both "share and learn".

At this stage, we have developed an Expressions of Interest document which we have commenced circulation to international contacts and organizations. We have made contact with the Global Nature Fund, who coordinate The Living Lakes network.

It is really important that we have a selection of "possibles" to choose from - this part of the matchmaking process is a huge challenge! We'd really love to hear from you if you would like to be involved or have friends or contacts with communities, preferably within comparatively easy reach of WA, who might be interested in "twinning" with us.

Andrew & Liz Marshall
On behalf of the Twinning Project
Phone: 9845-1081
marshallae@bigpond.com.au

Another trophy for the cabinet!

The Torbay Catchment Group won the CSBP Environment and Landcare Award category. The award recognised the work undertaken to develop a restoration plan for the Toarbay catchment. The plan is designed to address community concerns about the land degradation occurring in the catchment, particularly algal blooms in the catchment waterbodies.

Phil Mellon, Chairman of the Torbay Catchment Group said: "The award is a great recognition for the group, community and our partner agencies, especially the Department of Water, for the hard work that has been done during the last five years. This award adds to the group's credibility in the community, and that we can achieve a positive environmental change in our catchment".

This award comes after the Catchment Group won the Thiess National Riverprize in September. The Regional Achievement and Community Awards are presented by Awards Australia. The aim and objective of Awards Australia is to seek out and encourage, highlight and promote positive role models to inspire other Australians.

Naomi Arrowsmith (Department of Water) and Andrew Marshall (original TCG chairman) display the trophy and the cheque

The group was selected for the "Watershed Torbay project"; a five year project of planning, research and community involvement that resulted in the development of a catchment restoration plan. The project was developed due to the community concern about the land degradation occurring in the catchment, particularly algal blooms in the waterbodies of the catchment.

Torbay Catchment Group chairman, Phil Mellon, is very happy about the win. "The prize is a recognition of the hard work that the community put in during the Watershed Torbay project". Naomi Arrowsmith, Regional Manager from Department of Water in Albany congratulated the group on their achievement. "The win is a wonderful achievement for the group that recognises the partnerships that have been created between community and government".

The Torbay Catchment Group was competing against three other groups from around Australia, including another finalist from Western Australia, the Cape to Cape Catchment Group based at Margaret River.

The Thiess Riverprize is open to organisations and community groups from across Australia, engaged in best practice river and catchment management and environmental repair. The prize money for the Thiess Riverprize is funded by the International Riverfoundation, established to advocate the protection and restoration of the world's rivers and waterways for future generations.