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Wednesday, March 6, 2024 - Page 37
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THE ALPINE
BRIGHT - POREPUNKAH - MT BEAUTY - TAWONGA - TAWONGA SOUTH Wednesday, March 6, 2024
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NEXT WEEK’S EDITION of the Alpine Observer will be out Thursday, March 14 due to the Labour Day holiday
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DEAGUE’S VCAT APPEAL Alpine
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Alpine
THINGS TO DO AND SEE ACROSS
COULDN’T BE CAGED: Alexandra Court resident Arno van Winden with his unsuccessful rabbit trap. After trapping one, the rabbits seemed to grow wise to the contraption. INSET: GARDEN VISITOR: A European rabbit in the front garden of a Walkers Lane resident. PHOTO: Brodie Everist
Rabbits run riot BRIGHT residents in Walkers Lane and surrounds are once again beset by pests, with the European rabbit a common sight along the streets and gardens of the neighbourhood. Only seven months ago the Alpine Observer reported an aged Sambar deer was stripping garden shrubs around Walkers Lane, and now residents are reporting another hungry garden grazer. “There’s a hell of a lot of rabbits,” Lachlan Court resident Keith Harrison said, and then pointed out one across the road. “I’ve had to put wire all around the fence and that’s to stop the rabbits going in, because they eat all the plants. “You’ve got to cover up all your veggies and stuff like that.”
THE ALPINE SHIRE, HIGH COUNTRY
AND RESORTS
Labour Day/Easter 2024
Take a hike through town’s history THE Myrtleford and District Historical Society is holding a bushwalk across Reform Hill on March 10, in an opportunity to take in views of and Myrtleford and the Ovens Valleys appreciate new, informative signboards. The walk, on easy to moderate grades, the will leave at 9am from the front of Old School Museum in Elgin Street, Myrtleford, and visit the Hume and Gold Hovell Monument and the Reform Mine workings. Walkers will then pass the town’s Ɯ ./0 3 0!. /0+. #! ş9A;<š !*.+10! 0+ 0$! Poverty Reef mining area.
$! +2!.05 !!" %/ 0$! 0 '!ő+Ƣ ,+%*0 for a walking trail loop which takes in spectacular views above Robertson Street and Standish Street. Signboards displaying historical images of the town along the loop will enable walkers to appreciate our environment “then and now”. The signboards, installed around last September, were funded by the Friends of Reform Hill and installed by the Victorian Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action. The walk returns via the loop, and eventually exiting at Elgin Street,
will take no more than 90 minutes. Water should be carried and sturdy footwear worn. Myrtleford and District Historical Society deputy president John Taylor said the society has often run events over the Labour Day weekend, especially when the Myrtleford Festival was held. Day “We did a bushwalk every Labour ” weekend for something like 18 years, he said. “That was on top of everything else we did, because we were a major contributor to the festival.”
and District Historical Society deputy A SIGN OF THE TIMES: Myrtleford this one the new signboards on Reform Hill, president John Taylor with one of PHOTO: Brodie Everist showing a map of tracks in the area.
Bunnies in abundance in Bright g neighbourhood g BY BRODIE EVERIST beverist@ nemedia.com.au
Alexandra Court resident Arno van Winden said rabbit numbers were higher than he’d ever seen and suggested it had only become a problem in the past year. “We have seen the odd rabbit, but we’ve never seen these numbers,” he said. Mr van Winden showed the Alpine Observer many rabbit holes and droppings in his garden, and said he had seen four in his garden that morning. Around four months ago he purchased a trap that succeeded
Phone for an appointment, call in to our DLJƌƚůĞĨŽƌĚ ŽĸĐĞ Žƌ ǀŝƐŝƚ ŽƵƌ ǁĞďƐŝƚĞ ĨŽƌ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ ŽŶ ƉƌĞͲƉůĂŶŶŝŶŐ LJŽƵƌ ĨƵŶĞƌĂů ĂƌƌĂŶŐĞŵĞŶƚƐ ĂŶĚ ĨƵŶĞƌĂů ďŽŶĚƐ͘ 166 Myrtle Street, Myrtleford
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in capturing one rabbit, which he relocated, but afterwards no more have been tempted into the metal cage. “They’re not getting into the vegie garden at the moment, I think probably because there’s lots of grass,” he said. “But earlier on when I was planting they’d nibble up your little seedlings because it was lush.” Mr van Winden said he’d like to see the pest eliminated, but he wasn’t willing to use poison in his garden. Nearby resident Andrew Heafield said when he leaves for work at around 5:30am he has counted around 25-30 rabbits between his property and the end of Walkers Lane.
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“That’s the ones I do see on the side of the road or everyone’s nature strip,” he said. “That’s not the ones you see in the backyards.” Not all residents are against the hopping creatures, however, with one saying they enjoy seeing them in the backyard and near the street. In Victoria, European rabbits and foxes are declared as established pest animals under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994. Under the Catchment and Land Protection Act (1994) all landowners have a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent the spread of, and as far as possible eradicate, established pest animals on their land.
Pages 17-20
Sport
MOUNTAIN MEN SHAKE OFF RUST