Newsletter June-July 2024
Getting our hands dirty…
BEATS’ founder Tommy Viljoen cutting lantana
The Beats’ Tommy, John and Angela were rearing to go to do battle with the lantana on Barbara Linley’s Tully Morgan property. They gloved up and looked ridiculous in their anti-mozzie nets. But hey – did Ange wish she had done that too! To compensate Barbara drove Angela round her 193 acres to where she had planted one thousand trees.
“It was a real lesson in regeneration,” said Angela. “You could clearly see where the neighbour’s cattle are fenced off. Barbara’s creeks were clear, and in the forested parts, she had some huge trees.” Some of which are koala trees – and that’s where the BEATS comes in. We raised funds through our Paint ‘n Sips and Amazing Botanic Race events to help keep those trees mulched and growing.
Paint “N’ Sip
Our collegial events are team events with fun and purpose. They are about learning to support our ecosystems, how to sustain them, and what we can do daily to make a difference.
Join our journey of Australia’s unique endangered flora and fauna. Relax, sip a beverage, colour in, and soak up the caring atmosphere we create. Take part in some fun quizzes. Learn how even the smallest thing you do, can make a profound difference to protecting and preserving our amazing nature!
Fully catered by you on your premises ($15 pp). Catering supplied to your premises ($50 pp).
Additions: Live music and/or didgeridoo $TBA on request.
The Amazing Race!
Join us on a journey through our state capitals’ botanical gardens, to hunt the treasures of our unique flora. Teams of three to seven compete at each ‘treasure hunt’ stage to ‘capture the flag’ and give the best response to each task.
Enjoy ice cream and drinks as you learn how to recognise and make a real difference to protect and preserve our amazing nature!
Why is the Kookaburra’s iconic laugh at risk of being silenced?
Recent research shows worsening fires, on top of land clearing, removal of old trees with nesting hollows, state permits to control local numbers, and being regarded as an exotic species in Western Australia and Tasmania, where they were introduced 100 years ago.
QLD property has 37 species found nowhere else in the world!
On the brink of extinction, the tiny, red-finned blue eye freshwater fish is only found in Great Artesian Basin springs on Qld’s Edgbaston Reserve. Now bought by Bush Heritage Australia, it and 37 other unique species of fish, snails, and crustaceans have existed on this isolated property since the dinosaur age when it was deep under water as part of the Eromanga Sea.
Great news!
How to cut stray cat numbers in a way that works better for all?
Our wellbeing is inextricably linked with animals and our environments. This good news story about how a Victorian council found a winning way to manage cat over population to work for all.
The Beats Values
- Respect our natural world
- Act to conserve and sustain our natural world
- Take a scientifically informed approach
- Recognise and amplify the good work of other like-minded people and organisations
- Act with respect and positivity in all situations
And always take your camera!
All aboard …
For a Million Minds to Learn, Care and Take Action for our Biodiversity, Endangered and Threatened Species (BEATS) we need to learn how to reduce natural hazards – like floods, fires, droughts, and man-made pollution and waste reduction. Let’s start with reducing our waste. Visit Sydney’s Northern Beaches Kimbriki and learn from Senior Ecologist Peter Rutherford on YouTube.