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Bushfire management
After a challenging couple of years , Macquarie Towns Garden Club is back doing what it does best - gathering garden-lovers , gardeners and interested parties to their monthly meetings to enjoy good company , guest speakers , and a friendly cuppa at in the Tebbutt Room at Windsor Library .
Club president Ann Chilman says the club is attracting new members every month , “ People obviously like hearing from our range of expert speakers each month , with recent talks on bromeliads , rare plants , and a well-received one from well-known horticulturist Judy Horton .”
Last year speakers covered bonsai , invasive plants , iris , geraniums and orchids .
This year in March , the club held its Open Day for the first time in four years , with an array of propagated plants for sale . Two of our members , trained horticulturists , manning the ‘ ask the experts ’ table .
“ As a result we inherited two new keen members ,” said Ann .
While many long-established clubs can claim around 90 years of activity , Macquarie Towns Garden Club ’ s long history is a stand out . Amazingly , next year the club will celebrate 130 years of operation – quite an achievement !
The club began life as The Richmond Horticultural Society , was formed in 1894 . The name changed to
The Hawkesbury Horticultural Society in 1984 , and finally to the Macquarie Towns Garden Club in 1988 .
“ Our ‘ speaker ’ format is a bit different , but we still manage a number of garden visits a year . Recently the group visited Noorroo at Mount Wilson , and a return visit to view the bluebells is planned for spring ,” said Mrs Chilman .
It turns out that a Macquarie Towns Garden Club meeting is fertile ground for picking up gardening ideas , buying some new plants at bargain prices at the plant table … and growing new friendships with other gardening enthusiasts .
Macquarie Towns Garden Club meets on the first Thursday of the month at 2pm in the Tebbutt Room , Windsor Library . Find more information on their website : http :// macquarietownsgardenclub . wordpress . com . responsibilities of
small farm owners
[ Source : Farmstyle . com . au ]
If there is one thing a small farm owner can count on during a highrisk fire day , it ’ s that your local rural fire brigade probably won ’ t arrive in time to control a fire on your property . They are likely to be busy fighting fires elsewhere , as fire-fighting resources are often allocated to places where there is the greatest risk to life on high-risk fire days .
This can be a difficult fact to take on board for some new landholders , especially those living close to our larger regional towns and cities who are used to services being nearby and instantly available .
Bushfire management responsibilities of small farm owners
Living out of town and in a rural area is vastly different when it comes to firefighting services because of the much lower population densities and greater travelling distances between farms .
The message for small farm and lifestyle property holders is therefore clear : when it comes to firefighting and safety , you ' re largely ' on your own ’ so you need to be prepared .
Bushfire safety – 4 simple steps to be prepared
- Prepare your property and take action
- What will you do in the event of a fire ? - Know the conditions - Keep the bushfire information websites , numbers and app
Your bushfire responsibilities under the law
With farm ownership also comes significant bushfire management responsibilities , even for small holdings . Each Australian state has its own legislation detailing the roles and responsibilities in rural bushfire management and control .
For example , NSW legislation is covered under the Rural Fires Act 1997 . This particular piece of legislation makes it very clear that the onus is on the farm owner to prevent fires from starting , and if a fire does start , to have adequate resources to extinguish the fire before it spreads to neighbouring properties . If the owner fails to do this , they could be liable for any damage the fire causes .
Depending on the incident , the
24 ISSUE 159 // AUGUST 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT