Friends of Oxley Creek Common

PRESIDENT’S REPORT presented at Friends of Oxley Common’s AGM 27/6/10 by Marion Forrest

Welcome everyone.  My name is Marion Forrest, President of Friends of Oxley Common.

Thanks heaps to everyone for coming out today for our AGM, Morning Tea & Planting.  Also a big thank you too goes to the last management team for their time and effort and dedication to Friends of Oxley Common Inc.  Without those dedicated souls to help, FOOC could not run events or stand up for the common people on this our COMMON.  The last years team was:- Fred Olsen, Marj Dixon, Karen Possingham and Faseny McPhee. 

During the last 12 months, Friends of Oxley Common have run events which seem to have gathered more people interested in bird watching, fixing up the degraded wetlands, community farming and building community involvement on the Common.  However, we were slow on the mark and missed writing a submission for substantial Federal Funds for the wetlands.  Never mind  - perhaps another opportunity to raise money for that will come again. 

A GOOD thing was that last year Works Dept sent us a letter stating a strategy for dealing with the community was being drafted with full consultation with community groups.  A  SAD  thing is that has NOT happened.  No communication has happened – not written – not email – not even verbal.  Instead just the opposite has occurred.  That shed has arrived and it seems to have been donated to Corinda High School by the UNETHICAL Brisbane Markets..  And why I say unethical Brisbane Markets is that, in my opinion, the Brisbane Markets broke the Integrated Planning Act by putting their rezoning signs for that top high ground on the wrong street Martin Taylor Drive and on the wrong property but still managed to rezone the land.

However, we definitely do want to work hand in hand with Corinda High School on the rest of this 120ha of land still zoned for community purposes.  Where as in 2006 Friends of Oxley Common had to move fences to keep Corinda High’s cattle from trampling down the edges of Pelican Lagoon, now the School wants to teach environment management together with animal husbandry. I think that is very good.  So we are attempting to stay positive as we are very much interested in obtaining a positive outcome for this our Common.   Birds Qld, FOOC, OCEG & Qld Naturalist groups showed out support to Corinda High School early this month by having our stalls at their Agricultural Show Day.  So now all our positive energies are being focused on good local outcomes with logic at a local level being encouraged to help us forge ahead instead of actions by bureaucrats which could easily have an effect of dividing the community.

Right at this time, thank goodness we are working towards a functioning alliance of  5 community groups plus the Corinda High School Ag Science Teacher Tonia. We are only meeting now and again BUT by sitting face to face,   understanding what is common amongst us all,   I am sure we will get a good community outcome – or at least I hope so.

AND we have just come across info that inside the latest BCC Budget there is for 2011/12 an amount of $270,000 set aside and continuing upwards to 2013/14 $470,000 for the COMMON.  If that means anything, who knows.  You can have a look at what I have downloaded from the BCC Budget.

Now, on the community farm front, due to lack of any formal communications with the Government about our farm proposal formulated in response to peoples request at our Jan 2009 workshop, and with no government bureaucrat appointed to deal  with our farm proposal, we have started planting passionfruit and beans.  The passionfruit are doing fine but the beans are having trouble with the hard clay soil.  The soil needs improving.  So how about coming to the Family Fun Day here on 18/7/10 & help make some compost.  Also, we need to gather more names and get the farm sub committee meeting regularly & working on producing food & ideas.                           

So once again we think we have had a very successful year.  Land tenure issues aren’t sorted yet BUT let us hope our alliance with the other community groups and Corinda High can provide us with some sort of strong local leadership for building community on the COMMON.

Once again thank you for coming and thank you for listening. .    That is the end of my report.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT presented at Friends of Oxley Common’s AGM 6/6/09 by Marion Forrest

Welcome everyone.  My name is Marion Forrest, President of Friends of Oxley Common.

We really do appreciate everyone coming out today for our AGM/Speaker & BBQ.  Also I need to thank the members of the last management team for their time and effort and dedication to Friends of Oxley Common Inc.  Karen Possingham, our treasurer is overseas but will be back in a couple of weeks.

During the last 12 months, Friends of Oxley Common have learnt more about the dreaded aquatic weed Salvinia on Pelican Lagoon. In 2006 we thought we got rid of the salvinia by sending around an aquatic weed harvester boat.  This weed however is still coming back covering Pelican Lagoon every now and again BUT is getting less each time.  Thank goodness the Works Dept has now taken over responsibility FOR REMOVING THE SALVINIA. That, to us, is a really good outcome.  At this point in time, I believe it was the effluence, emptied into the Lagoon from the DPI Piggery situated where the Sunday Markets some 20 or 30 years ago which probably  made the lagoon nutrient rich and caused the problematic weed to thrive.  Nature is marvelous, isn’t it, as it does understand things even if us humans do not and it nature sure knows how to respond to mismanagement.

Now we probably have been consumed far too long with the Government sale of the high land up there for a cheap price as it was zoned for community purposes.  Anna Blight did not know it got sold either. As we have been following the events carefully, we realized signs for the BCC’s rezoning process were not erected.  However, BCC has just informed us 3 signs were indeed put up on the small side street Martin Taylor Drive and one sign was supposed to have been put up on Sherwood Road.  The Martin Taylor Drive signs were erected in the wrong spot. Nobody saw the Sherwood Road sign – not me or anyone else and so we have given the problem back to the BCC by sending in a statutory declaration stating that no sign appeared.  The sign on the fence, besides rezoning, was supposed to say The Brisbane Markets wanted to relocate one of the wetlands which they had accidentally filled in prior to BCC approval.

So we are now attempting to take our minds off that problem.  In January we ran a workshop to see if there was interest in a Community Farm for the Common. The response was so great we commissioned Julia Desbrosses to write a farm proposal for us.  That proposal also took a bit of our time as we needed to consult with as many in the community as we could.  We managed to complete the farm proposal in April and it was sent in to the Government via the Works Dept and to The Brisbane City Council via Cr Krista Adams, Chair of the Green Heart City Smart section. No response or feedback has arrived yet – things do take for ever it seems when dealing with these authorities.

However, when talking to MP Julia Attwood a couple of week ends ago, she reported that something was in the process of working itself out – no money but something.  What that is, who knows.

A community farm is a vessel to bring about all sorts of community activities on the Common.  Have a look at our farm Proposal.  It is written in such a way as the farm can grow at the pace the community wants it to grow. We stated we could start by planting fruit trees and native trees in that paddock behind the windmill. I can just see, in my minds eye in 20 years time, a row of trees right up to that gifted house and even around to Pelican Lagoon.  The trees would provide great pathways for the birds of Common too. However as we anticipate starting small, we have asked to plant in the unused beds in the EPA Air Monitoring Section FIRST.

Maybe, in the future, we could get a small organic farm going.  That might contribute to this part of the city becoming more resilient. I used to talk about sustainability but now with the global financial meltdown, I realize a resilient community is a sustainably community.  And I realize lots of communities or regions have become de-skilled and the spark of creativity has nearly gone out.   So let’s hope we can rekindle community involvement, get creative and become resilient here on the Common.

So once again we think we have had a very successful year.  Land tenure issues did sort of slow us down BUT as I think that will turn around in the next month or so, we will need lots of help soon to run more events and get organized for a brand new future for the COMMON

Once again thank you for coming and thank you for listening. .    That is the end of my report.