This year the Friends are celebrating 35 years of activity. What was happening in 1987?  

1987 was the year of Australia’s first mobile phone call, the National Tennis Centre opened  and now covers what was Flinders Park, John Cain Jr was the Premier of Victoria and Jeff  Kennett was the opposition leader, while Bob Hawke was the prime minister of Australia  

Soon after our 2021 AGM the State of Victoria entered yet another period of lockdowns due to COVID restrictions. During the second half of 2021, the Gardens were in heavy use by the community and picnic and group gatherings outdoors were popular, as they were all permitted by the pandemic restrictions.  

Over the past financial year four Newsletters were prepared in July, September, November  2021 and March 2022 and have been placed on the Friends website. During this period, we  held four general meetings and on 12th December the Friends held a Christmas Party in the  Gardens. 

Spring into Gardening:  

Just like the year before the 2021 Spring into Gardening had to be cancelled due to  COVID19. 

Victoria Gardens Volunteers:  

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was impossible to progress with any volunteer program.  Council is supportive of recommencing volunteer working bees, and have prepared new guidelines which are being reviewed by the Friends.  

Prahran High School:  

At the March 2022 meeting, it was agreed to abandon this proposal. This might be reviewed in the future but presently the priority is to support the volunteers and Victoria Gardens. It was unclear how High School support would benefit the Gardens and Friends activities.  

Garden Inspection Walk:  

The annual May Garden inspection walk was delayed due to staff availability and was finally held yesterday, 11 July 2022. Attending were John and Jill Hawker from the Friends and from Council, Dominic Mazza, Adam De Zoete, Sara Raeside (Parks Team Leader and Jarvis  Hawkridge-Hall arborist.  

The main matters discussed during the inspection included;  

1. A need to plant gaps in the playground  

2. Obtain a French Hawthorn to replace 2 trees north of the RSL memorial  3. Relocate the young Araucaria heterophylla from beside the memorial wall  4. Cut back and coppice Buddleja madagascariensis prune basal watershoots on  Lombardy Poplars  

5. Plant a flowering tree where the Cape Chestnut fell over in the SE corner  6. Concern about the waterlogged lawn along the SE boundary  

7. Concern about rear gate access and shrubbery damage by Trinian Street residents 

8. Fallen branch from Plum Pine, elm suckers, and palm seedling removals  9. Plant 2 Magnolia grandiflora trees in the North boundary bed, west side  10. Remove dying Pampas Grass and watershoots from Magnolia beside depot gate  11. Prune Cherry tree, Plectranthus, and reduce Prickly Paperbark branches over shrubbery  12. Monitor Yew with codominant trunk and shape canopy  

13. Lift and reduce Plane tree canopy over west shrubbery  

Draft Domestic Animal Management Plan (DAMP)  

In March the Friends responded to the Draft Domestic Animal Management Plan during the  Community Consultation period 15 March to 10 April 2022.  

According the Council’s website, Council endorsed the Plan in May 2022 and the Plan was then submitted to Agriculture Victoria on 30 May. While the Plan was meant to be approved between May-June 2022, this is yet to occur.  

The main matters raised in the submission included;  

1. Raised concern that a random check of registrations at dog off-leash areas by Animal  Management Officers (AMO) reveals a high proportion of dogs are not registered with  Council [p12]. This makes it extremely difficult to comply with laws, regulations and  legislation.  

2. The Plan identified the conflict between off-leash areas and other open space activities. This does not only apply to sports grounds but also gardens, especially the significant historic Victoria Gardens. The Garden’s relatively small area has both off-leash space in the sunken oval and the remaining leashed area. It is almost impossible for Council to enforce dog controls in the leashed area and as a result, extensive garden damage occurs. A solution is to designate Victoria Gardens as  “Leashed Only”.  

3. Appendix 3 of the Plan lists the qualifications of staff and their ongoing training and education schedule but was not included in the Draft.  

4. The Plan excludes any information on how incident reports and complaints will be  administered, what structure and systems are in place for reviews  

I would like to thank fellow members of the Friends Committee, Denise Saville, Secretary and  Public Officer, and Treasurer Jill Hawker. To Nick Hawker for the management of the Friends website. And thank you to Nobby Seymour for providing this meeting venue, and for many years of valued commitment to the work of the Friends.  

John Hawker  
President  
12 of July 2022