Mathison Park

Such a lot has been happening in Mathison Park.

We have some thank you’s to say.

Firstly a huge thank you to Bunnings in Morwell for donating half a palate of compost which will be used when we plant our new trees.

Secondly to The Yinnar, Yinnar South Landcare group which has donated 30 various native trees to the park, thank you very much for your generosity.

Thirdly to the Council Maintenance team thank you for your careful mowing. Also many thanks for the loads of top soil to be used in our plantings.

Fourthly to Kurnai College Hands on Learning students and teachers we say thank you for your amazing contribution in the provision of two table/seat combinations.

Fifthly to Morwell Men’s Shed and Churchill Men’s Shed our special thanks for the provisions of more table/seats combinations, one designed for wheelchair convenience to be placed at the large picnic shelter.

Sixthly to our tractor supplier/driver thank you most gratefully for all the hours you have contributed in helping to deliver mulch for our crews and Gippsland Interchange crew to spread.

Richard has done a stocktake of our trees and made a list of all those which are missing in our arboretum conifers collection and east side pathway. He has sourced many replacements as well as purchased others to fill gaps. We are having several small planting days to put these all in the ground.

To ensure they are well looked after and to provide them with the best protection and help to prosper, tree guards, stakes, shade cloth and aggie pipe have been purchased along with bags of compost, partly donated by Bunnings as mentioned above.

Chris and Faye have organised a pruning of some of the items in what we called the Koori garden. The surrounding fence, which had parts missing due to vandalism and some parts which had deteriorated, has been removed. It was time for some new plants and Chris and Faye particularly wanted to plant bird attracting shrubs. After the clean up several of these new plants were put in. The garden looks so much better.

Other things achieved at our working bee were the felling of a dead dangerous tree which was part of the Koori garden. Two piles were burnt with all the extra material from the tree felling and Koori garden clean up were added. More unneeded fencing was removed. The area around the picnic and playground was cleaned up. Previously planted trees were watered. An area which is in the south east corner of the park was walked through to ascertain the survival rate of trees planted there previously. Some have grown well, others have died. There is a lot of work to do in this area.

The following Monday morning a small group of volunteers worked hard and tirelessly to begin our planting regime. With all the effort that was put in it is hoped the trees grow magnificently for us.

A special extra working bee was held on the third Saturday and with Bruce’s help to dig holes, more replacement trees were planted in the conifer collection. Thanks everyone for your amazing effort in turning out so often to complete these plantings.

There is always a long list of work which needs to be carried out in the park and we are always looking for new volunteers to come and help. Working bees are held monthly on the second Saturday at 9am but on each Thursday we are joined by the Gippsland Interchange crew at 1pm and your help for the one and a half hours would be most gratefully received if that suits your better.