A community’s mission to grow back the bush at Euroa Arboretum has transformed an old sheep paddock and freeway works depot into a haven of biodiversity.
Story Corinna Boldiston Photo Wawa Biik
From the ground up, so many special things are happening. Seed orchards are harvested, the seed bank stocked. Endangered plants are thriving in the grasslands. Threatened diamond firetails have moved in, decorating with daisies 40 nests in the understorey acacias. After 6 decades, Key’s matchstick grasshopper (thought to be extinct until 2018) is back. There’s bush tucker in the wetlands, where the frog symphony signals biodiversity. Staff, volunteers and Traditional Custodians partner in weed management and education. And that’s just scratching the nurtured surface of Euroa Arboretum in north-east Victoria, a 27ha community-managed parkland on Taungurung country.
“It’s just as much about the people as the environment,” says grassy groundcover restoration coordinator Bronte Haines. “It’s such a beautiful, social place. Visitors can see this is bush that’s cared for.”
This story excerpt is from Issue #160
Outback Magazine: April/May 2025
