All Events

The Great Southern Bioblitz 2025 Starts Tonight!

At midnight tonight, local time, the general public around the Southern Hemisphere will join scientists for a four day intensive data collection event to gather critical information needed by scientists to better understand biodiversity, namely the hugely complex intertwined ecosystems of plants, creatures and other life forms, and the roles each of them play in […]

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Join the fun - Observe, Photograph, Identify

Wednesday Wildflower Wander, 22nd October 2025 at 4pm, Walmer State Forest

Our fourth and final September/October late afternoon wander to explore our beautiful local wildflower areas will be on Wednesday 22nd October in the Walmer State Forest.  A chance to see the rare Goldfields Grevillea as well as many other treasures.  Meet: In the Car Park north of the Railway Goods Shed in Kennedy St, ready

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Leader: Geraldine Harris

Great Southern BioBlitz, 24-27 October, 2025

We’re now well into spring and so wonderful to see the new growth and increasing activity in bushlands and gardens after so many months of challenging conditions. Trees, shrubs and other understorey plants are putting out new leaves and foliage, and canopies are becoming denser. Birds are calling and nesting. Frogs are croaking. Thankfully insects

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Are you ready? Your chance to make a difference!

Wednesday Wildflower Wander, 8th October 4pm, 2025, Sinclairs Lane, Muckleford

Our Wednesday Wildflower Wanders will continue this week with a visit to the Muckleford Forest.  In addition to a magnificent show of different wildflowers including several orchids, we hope to see the rare Grevillea micrantha. Meet: in the Car Park north of the Railway Goods Shed in Kennedy St ready to car-pool and leave at

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Leaders: Judy and Philip Hopley

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 10th October 2025, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Hall Lyttleton St., Castlemaine

Drawing on a biography she is translating, club member Cathrine Harboe-Ree will talk about the extraordinary efforts the Norwegian field naturalist and polar explorer Johan Koren made to study fauna in north-eastern Siberia in the years 1909-1919. Koren survived shipwrecks and other maritime disasters, winters as cold as minus 65 Celsius, frostbite and isolation. He

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 10th October 2025, 7.30pm, Uniting Church Hall Lyttleton St., Castlemaine Read More »

Speaker: Cathrine Harboe-Ree “A field naturalist in Siberia”

Excursion: Saturday 11th October 2025, 1.30pm,“Creating a wetland environment”, Chewton.

The Mount Alexander region is generally quite dry, but Chewton residents Mikael and Helle Hirsch have transformed a dry, weedy paddock of about one hectare into a biodiverse wetland in a remarkably short period of time. Drawing on the expertise of local ecologist Karl Just and others, and making use of a natural spring supplemented

Excursion: Saturday 11th October 2025, 1.30pm,“Creating a wetland environment”, Chewton. Read More »

Leader: Cathrine Harboe-Ree

Wednesday Wildflower Wander, 24th September 2025, 4pm at “The Monk”

Our second September/October late afternoon excursion to explore the wonderful wildflowers in our local Box-Ironbark woodlands will be on Wednesday 24th September at The Monk, South of Chewton.  We will enjoy those wildflowers that favour a higher terrain, and maybe even see some stunning spiders! Meet: In the Car Park North of the Railway Goods Shed

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Leader: Cathrine Harboe-Ree

Wednesday Wildflower Wander, 10th September 4pm, 2025, Kalimna Park

During September and October, we will enjoy fortnightly late afternoon excursions on Wednesdays to nearby sites to enjoy the wonderful wildflower show in our local Box-Ironbark woodlands. Our first wander will be in Kalimna Park on 10th September. Meet: in the Car Park north of the Railway Goods Shed in Kennedy St ready to car-pool

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Leader: Peter Turner

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 8th August 2025, 7.30pm by Zoom

Linden Ashcroft is an award-winning climate scientist and communicator from the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on historical climatology, using pre-1900 documents and weather observations to improve understanding of Australia’s past climate so we can better prepare for the future. The impact of human-induced climate change is

Monthly Meeting:  Friday 8th August 2025, 7.30pm by Zoom Read More »

Speaker: Dr Linden Ashcroft “What will climate change bring to Castlemaine weather?”