BETWEEN FRIENDS

Hello Friends,

This first issue for 1999 contains a report on the Annual General Meeting and BBQ held in December 1998, which was also a working bee weekend, as usual.

The other important item presented here is the calendar of Friends activities for this year. The first working bee is very close, and the remainder are spread well throughout the year, culminating with the big AGM / BBQ / working bee at the end of the year. Be sure to note these dates in your diary, and consider coming down to beautiful Buchan and join the Friends for a least one of the working bees.

The working bees are a chance for cavers to put something back into the limestone area they know so well, and to experience the satisfaction of doing good for karst conservation and the parks community. Even if you are not a caver, the working bees are an unique opportunity to see the magic of the underground domain and the limestone landscapes from a conservational perspective.

5 - 6 December 1998

Friends:

Peter Ackroyd	Geoff Hammond	Lyn Sebire
Mick Adler	Mark Krause	Nola Sebire
Glenn Baddeley	Erica Maggs	Brenton Tulk
Dale Calnin	Anne Raner	Jim Tulk
Cathie Cranston	Ian Sebire

Fourteen Friends were present for the final working bee of the year. In perfect weather we naturally went underground. Three teams were formed. One, consisting of Geoff Hammond and Ian and Nola Sebire, washed down dirty pathways in Fairy Cave. A second, made up of Peter Ackroyd, Mick Adler, Cathie Cranston, Anne Raner and Lyn Sebire, carried out a check on the condition of the lower parts of Federal Cave. It's worth noting that Anne, who was six months pregnant at the time, was in there with the best of them - well done Anne. A third team consisting of Glenn Baddeley, Erica Maggs and Jim and Brenton Tulk did the same thing in Spring Creek and Childrens Caves.

In Federal Cave we noted that careless users of the lower passages had seemingly deliberately run muddy fingers up and down straw columns - the evidence was fairly clear. Nearby there were obvious muddy handprints on two previously perfectly white overhead shawls. Sometimes it's hard to understand!

On Sunday 6th December, the majority of the Friends drove up to the Potholes paddock to check on the condition of the revegetation plot and its young native trees. During the day considerable weed eradication was also carried out.

It was pleasing to see the number of trees which had survived the recent drought and the attempts by vandals to kill them off - persistence will win out in the end. Carrying out further repairs and general maintenance took up the remainder of the day.

By the early afternoon the sun on the hillside was becoming a little too much so people returned to the cars, but not before a quick dash back up the hill by Peter and Cathie to retrieve Cathie's camera.

On this weekend, our new treasurer, Anne Raner, cleared the donation bins in Royal and Fairy Caves, and counted the donations - $248 over nine months. A pleasant drive back to Melbourne saw an end to a satisfying weekend's activities.

Annual General Meeting

The members of the Friends of Buchan Caves held their annual general meeting at the Buchan Caves Reserve on Saturday 5th December 1998. After the fourteen Friends enjoyed a barbecue dinner prepared by Cathie Cranston, the president, Mick Adler, summed up the year's events. Mick foretold of new challenges ahead with three grant applications submitted to Parks Victoria. Elections for office-bearers were then held:

President:	Mick Adler
Vice President:	Jim Tulk
Secretary:	Erica Maggs
Treasurer:	Anne Raner

At the end of the meeting a surprise was in store. The Parks Victoria Volunteer Programs Unit gave Life Membership Certificates to four members of the Friends of Buchan Caves. The certificates read, "In recognition of the hard work, support and endless dedication you have given to the management of the Buchan Caves Reserve and to the conservation of caves and karst". The certificates were awarded to Peter Ackroyd, Mick Adler, Glenn Baddeley and Geoff Hammond.

14 February 1999

The Friends have been busy applying for several grants and two out of three have recently been successful:

The first is $3,000 for interpretation signage in the Buchan Caves Reserve from the 1998/99 Community Grants fund on 27 January 1999. It was one of 205 projects selected for $1,000,000 in funding this year, from 478 applications totalling $2,400,000.

The second is $1,000 to provide and install hand and safety rails in Fairy Cave from the Friends Centenary Grants fund on 1 February 1999. The minister for Conservation and Land Management, the Hon. Marie Tehan, MP, added a personal note to the approval that she loved her recent visit to the caves and urged us to keep up the good work.

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14 February 1999

Three more people have been identified in the photograph which was published in the last issue of Between Friends:

1	Val Townshend	(by Lyn Sebire)
2	Sharon Hodge	(by Lyn Sebire)
18	John Van Dyk	(by John & Kim Van Dyk)

That leaves only 12, 16 and 20 go to, although 12 will be nearly impossible as the face is in complete shadow. Here are blowups of these three fugitives:

12	16	20
Between Ray Monish and Bill Cuffe	Between Geoff Hammond and Peter Ackroyd	Between Bryan Gardam and Margot Wakeman