Friends

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                               Friends of Sturt Gorge
                                    Newsletter
                                          No. 14: February 2008

We would like to extend a warm welcome to all new members who have
joined us in the last year and hope to see you at one of our regular working
bees and that you will enjoy keeping up with our activities with this
newsletter.

Among the highlights over the last year
  The production of the new Sturt Gorge map by Rick Williams and Mal Kirkham, with plenty
    of input by Bob Grant. Rick, in particular, has spent many hours producing an excellent
    result with part proceeds from the sale of this map coming to our group. Copies of this map
    are available for $10.00 from Bob Grant. Please phone him on 8278 6724 to order.
 Our attendance at the DEH annual “thank you to volunteers” BBQ held this year at Cleland
   Wildlife Park. A great opportunity to “network” with other friends groups.
 Our efforts at clearing the site of the Magpie Creek ruins of large olives and other weeds.
 The well-attended working bees, particularly the extra one held in October at M.U. 28 off
   York Drive when we had 16 workers tackling the great mass of boneseed which had sprouted
   after a control burn.
 The interest we took in being part of the “Save the Minda Farm Dam” project. This dam,
   which had been marked for demolition, will now become part of Sturt Gorge Recreation
   Park, after the state government agreed it was a valuable community and firefighting water
   resource and would cost more in time and effort to remove it.




Membership Renewal – 2008
In this Newsletter you should find a Membership Renewal Form for 2008, if you
didn’t attend our January Meeting and/or haven’t yet paid this years subs.
Single or Family memberships are still only $10.00.
Please fill out the form now and post it to the membership officer today to:
The Treasurer
Friends of Sturt Gorge
C/o 7 Craiglee Drive,
Coromandel Valley
SA 5050
                                     Calendar of Events
Month   Date           Purpose       Meeting Place/Focus                                    Man Unit
                  rd
        Thurs 3        Working Bee   9AM Corner Gorge St/Broadmeadow Dve, F/S Hill.         MU9
APR                                  Follow up Better Bushland Envirofund work – remove
                                     small olives – also some large ones to be frilled.

        Tues 15        Business      7.30 pm, Activity Room, Bellevue Heights Primary
                       Meeting       School
                        AGM
               th
        Sat 19         Working       9AM Opp 21 Bushland Dve, Bellevue Heights.             15/16/17
                         Bee         Continue extending out from previous work – olives,
                                     boneseed, dogrose
        Mon 28          Working      9 AM Trail Maintenance – Refer to Bob Grant – See
                         Bee         note below

        Thurs 1st       Working      9AM Gate 9 far end of Broadmeadow Dve, F/Staff Hill    MU21
MAY                      Bee         Maintenance

        Sat 17          Working      9AM Opp 34 Gorge Rd, Bellevue Heights                  MU32
                         Bee         Continue extending out – olives mainly
        Tues 20         General      7.30 pm, Activity Room, Bellevue Heights Primary
                        Meeting      School

        Monday          Working      9 AM Trail Maintenance – Refer to Bob Grant – See
        26th             Bee         note below

        Thurs 5th      Working       9 AM Gate 10 Broadmeadow Dve, F/S Hill (opposite       MU9
JUN                      Bee         106) Follow up work (olives sprouting down hill)
        Tues 17th      Business      7.30 pm, Activity Room, Bellevue Heights Primary
                       Meeting       School

        Sat 21          Working      9AM Opp 21 Bushland Dve, Bellevue Heights.             15/16/17
                         Bee         Continue extending out from previous work – olives,
                                     boneseed, dogrose
        Monday          Working      9AM Trail Maintenance – Refer to Bob Grant – See
        23               Bee         note below

        Thurs 3rd       Working      9AM Opp 62 Broadmeadow Dve, F/staff Hill               MU9
                         Bee         Work around old growth gums
 JUL
        Tues 15th       General      7.30 pm, Activity Room, Bellevue Heights Primary
                        Meeting      School
        Sat 19th        Working      9AM Opp 34 Gorge Rd, Bellevue Heights                  MU32
                         Bee         Follow up work

        Monday          Working      9.00 AM Trail Maintenance – Refer to Bob Grant – See
        28th             Bee         note below

*Management Unit (Vegetation Management Plan 2003)
Interested in walking trails? Bob Grant leads regular working bees to maintain
walking trails within the Park. These are held on the 4th Monday of the month. Please
contact him on 8278 6724 or email bobgrant@esc.net.au for information.

Guidelines for Working Bees
 Do not work alone                             Always take water and sun protection
 Wear sturdy footwear                          Smoking is not permitted in the park
 Carry a First Aid kit for the group           Do not work on cliff faces
 Take care in steep areas
 Total Fire Ban days - working bee is cancelled
                            The Osage Orange ( Maclura pomifera) Trees

Early in 2007 I re-found two Osage orange trees. These are trees which had fascinated me as a
child. Yes, the fruits look like oranges but are always green and quite inedible. The two trees are
in a tiny Mitcham Council Drainage Reserve between Trevor Terrace and Clematis Drive,
Blackwood about 50m uphill from Magpie Creek, a tributary of Sturt Creek.
        Like sheoaks, Osage orange trees have separate male and female trees. The pollen blows
in the wind from the male trees to fertilize the flowers on female trees.
        In my childhood days these two Osage orange trees were part of a group of about 6 to 8
trees growing on the banks of a small dam that filled with water from the drainage line. Water
remained in this dam all the year round, whereas Magpie Creek, which only flows intermittently,
was dry much of the year. Sometimes one or two waterholes retained some water except in the
hottest weeks of summer.
        The dam was in the part of “Wittunga” farm known as Magpie Gully. It was already
there, with its Osage orange trees, when my grandfather, Edwin Ashby, bought the land. Folklore
had it that Lord Kitchener had a gun-enplacement close to the dam prior to World War I. There
are other sites associated with Lord Kitchener in the vicinity of Sturt Gorge which are described
in the recently published book, Valleys of Stone1.
         Another common name for the Osage orange is bow tree. Bruce Lang of the Eden Hills
Archers says Osage orange wood is one of the timbers still used to make bows and arrows.
However these days, as the trees are very uncommon, wood from other tree species is more
frequently used. My own recollection is of the Osage orange timber being used for the shafts of
horse drawn vehicles before motor cars and tractors were in common use.
         Osage orange is a spiny deciduous tree which can grow up to 18m tall. It is native of the
fertile lands of SW United States of America eg Arkansas and Texas. Osage is the name of a
tribe of North American Indians who used the wood for bows and fighting clubs.
         One of the two trees in Magpie Gully was first recorded as No. 110 on the National Trust
of South Australia Register of Significant trees in 1988. Now both of the two trees, one male and
the other female, are registered.
                                                                                 Murray Jones has
                                                                         a photo taken c.1930
                                                                         which shows cattle
                                                                         beside the little dam and
                                                                         the group of Osage
                                                                         orange trees can be seen
                                                                         on the left hand side of
                                                                         his photo. Murray’s
                                                                         family were butchers in
                                                                         Blackwood for many
                                                                         years and they owned the
                                                                         land adjacent to the little
                                                                         dam in Magpie Gully.

                                                                                Enid Robertson




1
    Smith,P.A., Pate, F.D., Martin, R. (eds).2006
      Valleys of Stone : The Archaeology and History of Adelaide’s Hill Face.
      Kōpi Books, Belair, South Australia.
FRIENDS OF STURT GORGE

TREASURER'S REPORT for year to 31st DECEMBER 2007

Opening Balance 1st Jan 2007                                                  $3,657.66

Receipts

Memberships                                                        $470.00
Donations                                                       $10,205.00
Grants                                                           $5,256.00
Miscellaneous       Refund on hatchet                               $69.73
Bank Interest                                                      $350.40




                    Total Receipts for year                                  $16,351.13

Sub Totals                                                                   $20,008.79

Payments


Contractors (Better Bushland)                                    $2,000.00
Committee Expenses                                                  $64.06
Equipment Repairs & Services                                       $339.35
Consumer Items - Diesel etc                                        $133.97
Stationery, Postage & Newsletter costs                              $58.95
Equipment Purchases                                              $5,490.60
Subscriptions                                                       $21.00
Bank Charges                                                         $1.75

                    Total Payments                                            $8,109.68

Balance of funds as at 31/12/07                                              $11,899.11

This is represented by :
                     Money in Cheque A/c - Bank SA                            $1,991.00
                     Money in Express Saver A/c - Bank SA                     $9,908.11
                     Total in Bank                                           $11,899.11
                     Less Cheques issued not yet paid at Bank
Balance of funds as above.                                                   $11,899.11
Grant funds for specific use                                                  $9,500.00
Funds available for general use                                               $2,399.11



Lorraine Billett                                         Doug Othams
Treasurer                                                Auditor