Farmland Regeneration
Coranderrk Property Management Plan 2016 - Regenerating
our farmland for a sustainable future
In 1999, 200 acres or approximately 80 hectares of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station was purchased by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC). It was subsequently vested in Wandoon Estate Aboriginal Corporation (WEAC) and became the residence of Traditional Owners, members of the Wandin family.
As we had no experience managing a farm, we decided the land would be agisted. For the best part of the next two decades agisted cattle were run on the property, and little attention was paid to farm management. The property was overstocked, weeds proliferated and fences deteriorated. It became apparent that the memory of the ancestors was not being honored.
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In 2016 farm manager David Stewart was bought on board and our Property Management Plan 2016 was developed.
This significant step forward was made possible by generous the support of the ILSC, the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority and Melbourne Water.
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Since then the foundational work for the farm's regeneration has been completed, including:
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Kilometers of internal paddock fencing, allowing a shift from 'set stocking' to a sustainable rotational grazing system, and protecting remnant vegetation and the waterways from livestock
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The protection of large areas of floodplain adjoining Birrarung (Yarra River) and Coranderrk Creek Crown frontages in up to 150 m wide fenced conservation areas, from which stock are permanently excluded. Over 20% of the property is now protected for conservation and cultural purposes.
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A reduction in stock numbers, and careful monitoring of pasture condition to guide grazing decisions
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Establishing an off-stream stock water system to end cattle access to the waterways
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Erection of new cattle yards and cattle crush, enabling safer cattle handling, animal husbandry and veterinary practices
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Planting an extensive network of shelterbelts and wildlife corridors for wildlife and stock health, and to protect magnificent old gum trees that would have been known to our ancestors, the original inhabitants of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station. Over 20,000 local indigenous plants have been planted so far.
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CLICK IMAGE TO READ MORE: PPMWCA – Coranderrk. Nov 2015
View: Coranderrk – Caring for Country in a modern context:
