Friends of Sturt Gorge

21/03/2026

On Saturday morning we held a working bee off Bushland Drive within the drainage line down the hill to Magpie Creek, and across the hillside as follow up to work conducted in the previous few years. We were targetting Montpellier Broom (Genista monspessulana), South African daisy (Senecio pterophorus), Boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera) and olives (Olea europaea) seedlings scattered across hillside as well as larger olives located closer to the bottom of the hill.

Whilst the the bushland is still very dry, and we were rewarded by a lovely patch of Garland lilies (Calostemma purpureum) in full bloom.

16/11/2025

Yesterday's working bee was on the north side of the gorge (near Gorge Road, Bellevue Heights). We've worked across this hilltop over many years, so this was a follow-up working bee, hunting isolated olives, dog rose and the w**d orchid Disa. There were still a number of plants in flower as well as some nice fields of sundew (Drosera auriculata).

19/10/2025

We held a biodiversity working bee on Saturday, targeting isolated Boneseed, Olives, Ornithogalum bulbs and Disa Bracteata in an area with a high biodiversity on the north side of the gorge.

Disa bracteata (formerly known as Monadenia bracteata) is a South African ground orchid that has become a significant environmental w**d across southern Australia. The orchids are sending up flower spikes at this time of year, so it is a good time to tackle them by gently prising up the orchid with a screw driver, destroying the bulbs (each plant as last years bulb and a new one for next year). We also chop off the flower spike to ensure seeds can't mature from any remaining moisture and nutrients in the plant.

It was a good time of year to experience many of the native species in flower including Chocolate Lilly (arthropodium fimbriatum), Sticky Hop-bush (Dodonaea viscosa), Prickly Guinea-Flower (Hibbertia exutiacies), Sweet Apple-berry (Billardiera cymosa), and the last remaining orchids Notched Onion-orchid (Microtis arenaria) and Great Sun Orchid (Thelymitra grandiflora).

Makes it all worth it!

07/09/2025

Good Afternoon everyone. There has been some confusion as to why we have this page AND had a group called "Public sharing". The public sharing group has now been deleted and everyone can post their updates directly to this page now. Simply click on mentions and make your post. :)

Good Day,

FOSG Admin

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