4.4 Within the VNPA
W
hile the ongoing LCC processes and the fight to protect Victoria’s natural heritage were inevitably the main focus of the VNPA, in the 1980s the Association worked continuously to expand its range of activities and its services to its members. These rose in number from 2170 in 1980 to 3719 in 1990, promoted in part by the public support for the major environmental controversies of the 1980s such as the Alpine and East Gippsland forests campaigns.51
Park Watch flourished as both the Association’s principal public mouthpiece and its means of communication with members. Its editors during the decade included Dick Johnson, Eileen McKee, David Tatnall, James Calder and Chris Banks. In 1982 it was decided that the three-month break between issues of Park Watch was too long to keep members up-to-date on issues and events, so publication of a monthly Newsletter was introduced. Organised bushwalks continued to attract members for their fellowship and to appreciate Victoria’s natural environment. The Bushwalking and Activities Group lived up to its name and by the second half of the decade there was an organised walk or parallel activity virtually every weekend. An innovative variation began in 1982 when Geoff Durham started running ‘Introduction Days’ to educate people who were unfamiliar with the Victoria’s flora and fauna, bushwalking, national parks and other natural and historic places. In due course these events became known as ‘Walk, Talk & Gawks’, and the name was registered by the VNPA as a business name and later as a trademark to obtain national protection. The VNPA Council adopted a Walk, Talk & Gawk policy. The walks were led by an authorised person with involvement by invitation
58 A Short History of the VNPA
Former VNPA Presidents Graham Wills-Johnson and Geoff Durham, 1986.
of naturalists, park managers and others with appropriate expertise.52 The chance to help weed, revegetate and otherwise rehabilitate areas of bush had popular appeal and the number of Friends groups grew rapidly, to thirty in 1987 and to thirty-nine in 1990. One interesting group that was formed in the late 1980s to support to the Flora and Fauna Guarantee legislation was not place-based but was a more inclusive Friends of Flora and Fauna. In 1983 several of the Friends groups came together for the first of what became biennial conferences to discuss and coordinate their activities. Subsequently it was recognised that there would be great benefits in having a permanent umbrella body to coordinate and educate members of the groups, and to liaise with the National Parks Service. A Friends Committee was formed in 1986 with Geoff Durham as Convenor. However, in this case the VNPA faced something of a dilemma
about whether it would operate the Committee as a sub-committee of the Association, as it did with the Bushwalking and Activities Group, or would support an independent committee and new organisation. In due course the latter arrangement was agreed to, and in 1991 the Friends Network was formalised. It is now the Victorian Environmental Friends Network.53 As these references to Geoff Durham indicate, he was one of the major forces in the VNPA throughout the 1980s. Through his wise guidance in matters such as the mega-department and for a period as Treasurer, and his leadership in activities, bushwalking and the Friends, he made an enormous contribution. Another to do so was Dick Johnson, who after his period as President in 1981-83 had stints as Secretary, Treasurer and Editor prior to his retirement from the Council in 1989. His was a constant and
Chapter 4