north east regional extra | August 28 - September 3, 2019
nemedia.com.au
1.
August 28 - September 3, 2019
A true best friend of the forest By CORAL COOKSLEY
A LOVE of nature from playing in the woods with her brother behind the family home in England's country town of Bristol before the war years has always stayed with Yackandandah's Eileen Collins and played a significant part in her life since then. For more than 30 years since she retired from her teaching profession, Mrs Collins has dedicated her time as a volunteer and convener of 'Friends of Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park' gaining a vast amount of information and knowledge from identifying flora and fauna as well as working on conservation projects helping to place the park on both national and international agendas. When Mrs Collins, who only recently moved to Yackandandah, came to Chiltern with her husband in 1969 to take up local teaching positions, she discovered the park's rich diversity of animals, birdlife and vegetation but says the catalyst for her work and research was her friendship with eminent botanist the late Jean Galbraith. "Jean was my mentor and when I left Gippsland she said 'when you go to Chiltern you must catalogue the plants in the park'.
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◆ PARK PROTECTOR: Eileen Collins leaning against one of her favourite trees - an Ironbark. PHOTO Nat Ord
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