No. 09
Hello everyone,
In this newsletter, we've provided a progress report on the Attadale Alfred Cove Foreshore Master Plan, details of our next Birdwatching Walk and the City of Melville’s Project Robin Hood.
We hope you read the City of Melville’s information on the Master Plan at the link we provided in our previous Newsletter No 8. We also hope you completed the Vision Survey at that link.
Attadale Alfred Cove Foreshore Master Plan
Firstly, development work on the Melville Bird Sanctuary will, for now, be part of the Master Plan.
It’s fair to say that COVID has interfered with the Master Plan’s timely progress.
After one cancellation in April due to lockdown requirements, the external consultant ‘element’ (assisting the City of Melville with the Master Plan), has now scheduled the Project Awareness and Knowledge Sharing Workshop for Tuesday 18 May 2021.
The Workshop is an invite-only event to key stakeholders including community groups, recreation groups and environmental groups specific to the site.
At least one representative from Friends of the Melville Bird Sanctuary (FMBS) will be attending this Workshop.
We will know more and keep you informed of outcomes once we have attended this Workshop.
Birdwatching Walk at Alfred Cove & Troy Park
Our second Birdwatching Walk for 2021 is planned for Wednesday 19 May 7.30am to 9am starting from the bird viewing platform to the right of the entrance to Troy Park (opp 194 Burke Drive, Attadale). As we need to limit the number of attendees to keep things manageable, please send us an email if you are interested in attending this event. (Don’t forget to bring a hat, bottle of water and hand sanitizer). Led by SERAG’s Margaret Matassa (Swan Estuary Reserves Action Group), it will be enjoyable and very therapeutic! The key isn’t just being in nature but noticing it. Come along and notice the birds of Alfred Cove.
Project Robin Hood
The City of Melville is holding its annual ‘Project Robin Hood’ - a participatory budgeting program which provides funds for community ideas, projects and events that bring people together and build better neighbourhoods. This year SERAG has submitted a project for consideration under the program viz. the creation of a seating area in a beautiful shady spot on the foreshore. Designed by a local artist, it would allow people to escape the noise, traffic and bustle of life, to contemplate and enjoy the natural sights and sounds of the Estuary that have endured for millennia, and hopefully will remain carefully preserved and respected for generations to come. As Alfred Cove provides sanctuary to many wonderful species of birds, SERAG have called the project “Djinang Djidimya - Look! A Place of Many Birds”. Lines spoken by Yagan in Jack Davis’s play Kullark will be embedded in the structure: The swan, the duck and other birds you gave me, And the waters teemed with fish a-shimmering bright. (Jack Davis, Kullark (1982)
The City of Melville community can vote for a number of projects of their choice at www.melvillecity.com.au/projectrobinhood5 until 5pm Sunday, 30 May. 13 projects have been submitted and details of each can be found at the above link. Please take the opportunity to support SERAG’s project with its special significance for the birds of Alfred Cove.
Kind regards,
Tom Lubin and Jenny Christenson
Friends of the Melville Bird Sanctuary