For Riddell’s residents, Barrm Birrm, place of many yam roots, has been a place to get away from the world. It's close, it's beautiful, and no-one knows about it.
Now it’s time to get the word out.
Riddells Creek Landcare have looked after this bushland since 2005. We have hauled out the rubbish, pulled out the weeds, recorded the plants and urged the Shire to do more to protect this rare piece of bush.
Clean Up Australia Day 2015 RCL members and Scouts
We love this place because it is a beautiful piece of the wild close to human settlement. It’s a place to feel the natural world. Despite the tracks and the car bodies in the gullies, it is still the way it has been for centuries, a tender collaboration between grasses, shrubs and trees.
It is time for the State Government to buy back these private lots and make this place a public reserve. The subdivision was put in the town plan in the 1890s, by the Colonial Administration Office in London. Why a big subdivision so far away from a small village? Did someone's colonial nephew suggest it to uncle in London?!
The subdivision was wrong then, and it is a bad idea now. 162 lots, most an acre in area, sold off in the mid-1970s. The hillside could never handle 162 septic tanks, and the soils are highly erodible. No-one has been allowed to build here for 50 years, and that isn’t going to change.
In the fifty years since these lots were sold, Riddells Creek has grown out towards Barrm Birrm. It is now the most convenient place for Riddell residents to get into the bush. And as the new residential developments of Riddell come on stream, 3000 more people will need somewhere close to get out in nature. Barrm Birrm is that place.
But here's the strange thing: not many people know about Barrm Birrm.
Let’s get the word out.
If you walk there regularly, what does Barrm Birrm do for you? Tell us at Riddells Creek Landcare, and we will pass your message on to other Riddell residents, the Shire and to politicians. Make it personal: a paragraph, or 60 seconds of video on what’s important to you about Barrm Birrm.
Email your note to ross.colliver@bigpond.com. Or speak directly to Ross Colliver 0411 226 519 about your ideas. And check the Riddells Creek Landcare website for upcoming Spring walks in Barrm Birrm in September and October.