The Edi Black Range Landcare Group covers the Edi, Black Range and Meadow Creeks catchments, down to Moyhu in the King Valley.ABOUT THE LANDCARE GROUP
Our mission is to promote a practical balance between productivity and environmental concerns to ensure that the unique natural assets of our area are preserved and enhanced for future generations.
Role of the group
In relation to the particular issues we’ve identified, the role of our group is to: · Help educate the community · Support our primary school in learning about sustainable land management (at local level) · Communicate with neighbours about district goals · Attract grant dollars to finance projects · Co-ordinate projects · Be an active hands-on workforce · Form sub-groups to help make it happen
How Our Group Operates
General meetings: We have approximately 5-6 per year, arranged as needs dictate to address particular issues or hear guest speakers. The committee may meet more often to attend to the details.
A newsletter is sent to all members to announce general meetings or items of particular interest to Landcare group members.
Equipment is for hire to paid up members only, contact any of the current executive for details. · 2 spray units- one with boom, both have two hand reels with up to 100metres hose, $20 per day or free for use on roadside spraying · Chemical for roadside weed control has (from time to time) been supplied free of charge by the Wangaratta Rural City Council. When available for spraying this is dispensed via the Landcare group.
BACKGROUND
The Edi Upper Landcare Group was formed in 1994.
The main catalyst was the disastrous floods in September 1993. Damage was catastrophic. Erosion of 3-4 metres in depth occurred in some places overnight. This was estimated to have been a ‘once in two hundred years event’. It has left lasting effects. The Black Range Creek and its tributaries are the main streams of concern.
Approximately 50% of landholders joined up, that was about 60 families. There was a lot of enthusiasm initially, then after a few years we hit a flat spot. The enthusiasm of Georgie Wainwright towards the end of the 90s got us going again. A co-ordinator is really important and we think they should be paid.
We’ve carried out a number of projects: · Revegetation- we had a community planting around the hall, the Landslip has been fenced & planted, numerous corridors have been established and stream-side fencing and revegetation. · Foxoff campaigns · Weeds- one of the greatest successes is improved control on the roadsides. Reimbursement of chemical used for weed control was a major incentive for people to join the landcare group.
People have done heaps more since we’ve had the landcare group. We’ve motivated each other to do more. “Twenty years ago we’d have been called greenies!”
During 2002, the group boundary was extended to include the Meadow Creek area following a request by a group of landholders from that locality.
BACKGROUND OF THE AREA
Our Landcare group lies on the eastern side of the King Valley and now includes the Meadow Creek valley. These fertile valleys have deep, rich soils probably as a result of silt deposited by floods over millions of years.
The Black Range is the highest point of our catchment. We contribute water to the Murray River system via the King River which is a major tributary of the Ovens, a ‘heritage’ listed River. The King River defines our group border to the west. The Black Range Creek is the major stream in the Edi Upper sub-catchment and the Meadow Creek is the major stream in the meadow Creek sub-catchment. Both flow into the King River.
There is a lot of Crown Land in our area, mainly in the higher ranges to the south. There is also Crown Land managed by Parks and Forests to the east. During the 1800s, soil disturbance associated with isolated mining sites in the hills contributed to pockets of weed invasion.
Edi Upper was settled in the middle of the 1800s, the area was valued for its rich productive soils. A tobacco experimental farm was established at Edi in 1896. It is believed to have been the first one in Victoria and was relocated to Whitfield in 1907. There is a long history of dairying along the fertile valley floor with grazing higher up the valley on the foothills.
The first school was opened in 1874 called ‘King Flat’ No. 1422, this was later changed to Edi Upper. King Flat, Whitfield and Boggy Flat were the only ‘one third’ schools in the colony at that time- one teacher shared his time between the three schools. The amount of time spent at each school often depended on factors like how high the river was at the time!
The Whitfield Railway, Victoria’s first narrow gauge railway, opened in 1899. It travelled from Wangaratta to Whitfield through Moyhu providing a great link for the sale of produce and access to supplies. It closed in 1953 .
Around the mid 1950s, tobacco cropping increased and dairying declined. Tobacco has now declined and vineyards are becoming popular. The future for wine looks reasonably bright and the King Valley is rapidly making a name for itself as a quality wine region of Victoria.
Meadow Creek was not as intensively settled in the 1800s or early in the 1900s as Edi Upper, except for the fertile flats nearer Moyhu. Timber cutting was an ongoing activity in the early days in this locality. The Petty family, for example, had a long history in the area as landholders and timber cutters. People still refer to the ‘IXL Hill’. The large initials “IXL” could be seen from miles around- cleared sections etched into the timbered hills. No-one really knows the origin of this label on the hill but some local stories include: “the woodcutters lived on IXL jam and their camps were littered with piles of IXL tins” or “they had a contract to supply the IXL factory in Shepparton with timber to fuel its jam making boilers”. The hills were fully cleared and have since regenerated. There is also now a quarry on the site.
Before the first bridge was built in 1886 allowing easy access across the King River, landholders from Edi Upper travelled through the Meadow Creek area to get to Oxley where many residents of this area got their supplies and kept in touch with relatives.
For many, many years the more fertile flats nearer Moyhu were highly productive dairy farms supplying the Moyhu butter factory. Today, some dryland salinity is becoming evident in this lower country.
The Meadow Creek area was opened up for more intensive farming with Soldier Settlement subdivisions after the Second World War, resulting in the clearance of native vegetation higher up in the sub-catchment since the 1950s. The increased population led to the establishment of a school and a community hall at Meadow Creek. The school has long gone but the shelter shed can still be seen and the hall is just standing.
The school and hall at Edi Upper are still very much in use.
For information on land management issues the group is dealing with, go to the Issues Page.