Ru Liu / 1257246 Landscape Thesis Presentation Report Supervised by
I acknoledge that the Kinglake National Park is on Wurrundjeri Country and Taungurung Country.
I would like to acknowledge and extend my appreciation for the Wurrrundjeri and Taungurung People , the Traditional Custodians of the land that we are standing on today.
Today, we pay our respects to leaders and Elders past, present and emerging for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and the hopes of all Wurrundjeri and Taungurung Peoples.
The Gums Campground is nestled in a peaceful eucalyptus forest, adjacent to Island Creek. Many birds and mammals such as wallabies and lyrebirds that call the regenerating forest home. It is a popular destination for families and groups. The site offers many camping facilities including parking, firepits, free public gas grill, picnic tables, tent pods and toilets. The neighboring Cicada Circuit is a winding path around Island Creek, passing through tall eucalyptus trees and dense ferns and listening to the beautiful sound of nature, making it a great trail to explore nature.
Most of the sites are difficult to access due to the sense shrub layer blocking
• Extend the time visitors spend at the site or attract them to revisit the site
• Cultural burning is a practice used by aboriginal people for over 60,000 years
• Involes small controlled spot fires in cooler seasons
• Clears away dead flora and fauna
• Passed down onto each generation
"Aboriginal Fire Management: What is cool burning?", source from: https://www.watarrkafoundation.org.au/blog/aboriginal-firemanagement-what-is-cool-burning#:~:text=In%20a%20practice%20called%20Cool,wildfires%20from%20consuming%20the%20 land.
• explores the Australian Aboriginal land management practice known as 'fire-stick farming'
• the garden distils and abstracts the fire-stick farming practice to create a mosaic garden composed of elements reminiscent of both the burnt and rejuvenated Australian landscape
• elements include actual fire, charred poles and clipped branches, Eucalyptus and Acacia seedlings, embedded glass cabinets or wunderkammers containing sculptural installations of various narratives in relation to Fire Stick Farming
• reaveled how Australian landscape has always been shaped by cultural processes.
• re-present bushfire significance for both indigenous people and land management
• guiding visitors to re-examine the pros and cons of fire
• bring fire-stick farming into the Gums future land management
• combine the traditional fire cultural with eco-tourism
• explore the potentials of burnt trees
• educational siginificance - school field works?
• emphasise the relationship between the site and the fire as an important step to adapting climate change
• as a meditation space for visitors to reflect on nature.
• outdoor museum of eucalyptus seedings
The masterplan is based on the worldview of traditional custodian Tangurung Country, with an eye to traditional land management which is cultural burning to guide landscape management and inform the potential of ongoing development processes for more equitable and sustainable outcomes. The design and construction processes are driven by a native philosophy of "living with nature". The camp facilities, services and attractions will be moved, removed or added as the natural environment changes after the mosaic burns, significantly altering the existing natural environment and vegetation structure for at least 5-7 years.
A range of camping, recreational, educational, and nature immersion activities will be delivered incrementally to guide visitors to engage with nature in a meaningful way in the Kinglake National Park. Expand the range of memorable and relevant opportunities for people to rebuild or otherwise engage in the park, attract a more diverse range of visitors and encourage longer stays in and around the campground and multiple return visits to the site. In addition, the camp master plan foresees partnerships with indigenous people, local communities, the private sector, schools and social institutions, and other land management agencies to provide visitor opportunities that bring environmental, social and economic benefits in and around the campground.
The long-term vision for the Gums Campground is to serve as the primary accommodation for Kinglake National Park to be the most popular and accessible gateway to Kinglake National Park, and also be an intermediate hub connecting the national park to the city.
Phase 1 • Upgrade existing site facilities • Fuel management • Planned burning for biodiversity and for accomadate future caravan park and wild camping site
Phase 2 • Enhance nature-based experiences • water system - seasonal ponds • built long-term relationship with schools and survival insititution • Forest school
Phase 3 • More campsite for long-term stay and volunteers
Planned Burning Stage 1
Planned Burning Stage 2
The Kinglake National Park Masterplan envisages Kinglake National Park as 'Melbourne's most accessible national park'
The Gums Campground will be the most accessible and popular entrance to the Kinglake National Park, and will be the main accomodation area of the national park.
The Park provides opportunities for education and interpretation for all ages and backgrounds. A clear thematic structure to interpretation will assist first time visitors in understanding the Parks’ core values and its relevance to their day to day lives.
Planned burns need to be closed on short notice to ensure visitor safety, but because safe and effective burns require suitable weather conditions, the suitability of which can usually only be determined on the day of the burn, the timing of park closures can interrupt the visitor experience
Enhance and provide diverse visitor opportunities that attract a range of visitor markets.
The Gums Campground offer various camping experience and experience trail for visitors. And also provides opportunities for education and interpretation for all ages and background. The long-term vision of The Gums Campground would be extend visitor's stay and attract them to revisit the site.
Reducing damage to hollow trees during burning
Depending on the type of vegetation, fuel levels may take as little as five years or as long as 30 years to return to pre-fire conditions
Staff implementing burn plans should have a good understanding of the current state of the site and fine fuels
Lack of detailed assessment of vegetation and wildlife
Specific Criteria and methods of cool burning are not yet fully understood
The existing condition of the other side of the Island Creek is not yet known
The Gums Campground foresees partnerships with indigenous people, local communities, the private sector, schools and social institutions, and other land management agencies to provide visitor opportunities that bring environmental, social and economic benefits in and around the campground. (Forest Kindgarden, Survival School etc.)
The limitation of prescribed burning is that it is difficult to confirm that monitoring and evaluation is supposed to confirm that impacts/ benefits are consistent with predictions
think maybe 'Overthinking' is the most appropriate word for my state this semester. I seem to have fallen into some sort of rut where want every little bit of my design to be evidence-based. To do this, would look up the information one by one, and then waste too much time. Then I found that the more knowledge I absorbed, the more confused my mind became. I was always in a phase of inspiration deprivation, which resulted in minimal weekly output. Even every time got feedback from the teacher I only existed for a moment to know what I was going to do, and then when I did do it, I didn't know what to do.
found this topic really difficult but really interesting and stimulated many directions that I had rarely thought about in the past. In particular, this is a very rigorous area of land management in relation to burning and I am anxious to understand the full range of standards and approaches to cultural burning. Because managing forest landscapes by fire is an urgent strategy for Australia.
thought a lot about it and searched a lot to help me understand cultural burning, but didn't find much more concrete practice. So for two to three weeks, wasn't sure how I should proceed and was even a little confused about my design concepts. Fortunately, my tutor was always there to help me through the process, even taking extra time to help me improve my design, and was really grateful for that. So I'm sorry that I didn't end up with a good or even a complete design.
Time management is something I need to learn more about. I always get distracted by too much thinking and waste a lot of time. even studied every day but didn't know what had learned. So I was not able to finish the design I expected before the presentation, so after the presentation, didn't feel the relief of graduation as expected, but I saw the gap between me and others. So I decided to take a few extra days to refine my logical framework and graphical presentation to close out my graduate studies. Although this version still doesn't meet my expectations, it is the best expression I could come up with at the moment.
think the semester was still very fulfilling and enjoyable, and can't get enough of the topic, and hope to revisit it again at a later time, thinking about the circular economy, embodied energy, cultural burning, etc.
Finally, the many force majeure factors that happened this semesterI, but would like to thank my tutor Prof.Aki for his patience and time to help us finish the last semester.