- 2026 to be a big year for the FoCC
First Friends meeting of the year will be held on Wednesday 7pm 22nd February 2026 at the Gorge adjacent to the Olympic Rd, Mt Clear turn around. Everyone welcome. Quick meeting and a short walk along the gorge. Easy for friends with restricted mobility.
Drive along Olympic Avenue to the Gorge. Walk the 10000-step trail on March 22nd 2026 with Friends. Starts at 1pm at the Dementia Trail welcome shelter. More information at the end of February.
Celebrate the ten-year birthday of the Woowookarung Regional Park. Gazetted on August 5th 2016 by the Victorian Governor and declared open by then Premier Andrews. (Originally known as Canadian Regional Park).
Planting the 6500 trees, shrubs and grasses at Lal Lal Drain Reserve, Soapys Dam Reserve, Canadian Creek Reserve and Sailors Gully Reserve and adjacent Park and privately owned creek sides. Funded by the Victorian Governments Urban Ripple Project. First planting late June 2026. See calendar for dates.
- Drinks at the Lookout
The 9th annual FoCC drinks and nibbles at the Lookout was held on Friday 5th December 2025
A warm end of year “Drinks at The Lookout”
- FoCC membership for 2026 now due.
Nearly 100 already paid. More to come!
Membership of the FoCC helps the FoCC in its advocacy, education and activities in support of the corridor.
All 2025 FoCC members have received an email notification that membership for 2026 is now due. (If you have already paid you will receive confirmation of your membership)
Membership runs from 1st January to 31st December each year, Membership fee is $20 per year. Children of members are free.
To renew your membership, either:
- Bank transfer to details: Bendigo Bank Buninyong BSB 633 000 Account No 184147098 Note: Please add your name to the bank transfer and email foccinfo@gmail.com your name and the date of the transaction. If your postal address has changed, please let us know.
- You can pay for membership via Trybooking at: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1427368
Cost is $20.50 via Trybooking. You can also make a donation of any size via this process. - Payment to the Treasurer at a FoCC meeting on February 18th at the Gorge, Olympic Av, Mt Clear.
New Members: New members are most welcome: Applications after July are credited to the next year. Membership via one of the three methods above.
- Spikey News change of issue dates
Spikey news will now be published six times a year.
Each edition will align with the six seasons of the Wadawurrung culture. The six seasons reflect how the traditional people and the seasonal changes in the landscape interact.
Publishing dates:
| Season | Spikey issue date |
| Mid-summer | End of January |
| Late summer | End of March |
| Autumn early winter | End of May |
| Deep winter | End of July |
| Early spring | End of September |
| Spring and early summer | End of November |
“In European calendars there are just four seasons, but in Wadawurrung calendar there are six. Each season brings about subtle changes in the behaviour of birds, plants, and animals, as they respond to these seasonal changes. Just as the fauna and flora respond to the seasonal changes, so did the Wadawurrung. Moving around the region to take the best advantage of seasonal tucker (food). What and where animals were hunted or food was gathered, was governed by a deep knowledge of the seasons and the life cycles of the plants and animals. The Wadawurrung lived in perfect harmony with the environment.” Description courtesy of the “City of Geelong”
- Lal Lal Drain Working bee
Lal Lal drain beside Burdeau St, Canadian was planted with 500 shrubs and grasses as part of the Urban Ripple project in August 2025. The late spring rain created very heavy weed growth. Weeds growing in the tree guards needed to be removed and the grass around trimmed. A working bee was organised for 10am on Saturday Morning 13th December with a large number of weeds removed.
- CoB Heritage Gap Analysis submission
The FoCC submitted the following sites a worthy of consideration for study in the CoB Heritage Gaps Analysis in December 2025.
- The Old Commonwealth Rifle Range known as the Canadian Rifle Range in Elsworth St Canadian.
- The Ballarat to Buninyong Railway embankments, cuttings culverts and bridges.
- The mining water races, dams and sluice workings within the Canadian Forest
After meeting with the CoB Heritage Officer, the FoCC further nominated the following sites for Heritage Gaps Analysis also.
- The Cremorne Rifle Range between York St and Wilson St, Ballarat East
- The Mount Clear Horse Puddler in Lavery Avenue Mt Clear.
- The Mt Helen Water Scheme and dam on Mt Helen Creek, Mt Helen.
- Pearce’s Quartz Crusher, Elsworth St East, Canadian.
- The Quarry Master cottage at 145 Bell Avenue Mt Clear.
- The Remnant Warrenheip Bank old trees woodland across Strickland Parade and the Ballarat to Melbourne Railway. (See article below)
- Warrenheip Bank Old Trees
- Koala Sightings
October to March is Koala breeding season and peak sightings time. If you see, hear or find scat from a Koala, please send the information containing the when, where, and how to: foccinfo@gmail.com. Images are gold (even if a little blurry). All Koala sightings are entered into the iNaturalist online data base. The complete list of sightings can be viewed at https://www.focc.asn.au/koalas/
Koala heard but not seen by Tracie. Recreation Rd., Mt Clear
- Koala Monitoring Invitation
The Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group has been monitoring koalas in Ballarat and Moorabool over the past three years as part of the National Koala Monitoring Program (NKMP). The FoCC have been proud partners on the program.
Invitation: Join us and learn how to perform transect and acoustic surveys all while contributing valuable data to the National Koala Monitoring Program (NKMP). The NKMP is a collaborative monitoring program across the Koala’s entire range. Locally we have been capturing data for four years and we hope we can involve the community as much as possible in the monitoring process.
Where: Meet at Canadian Creek Playground Reserve (Corner of Hocking Avenue and Hermitage Avenue)
When: Tue Feb 20, 12pm -2pm
What to bring: Sturdy walking shoes, water bottle, binoculars, iPhone (if available)
More info: Jackson Cass moorabool.landcare@gmail.com Ph: 497770075 NKMP: https://www.nkmp.org.au/index.php
- The Koala Paradox
Ballarat is home to a small population of Koalas and have been sighted regularly since 1970 all along the Canadian Corridor from Brown Hill through to Buninyong and beyond. Translocating Koalas from French Island stopped in the 1990’s and now all of Ballarat’s Koalas are acclimatised to their patch and local eucalypt food trees. Elsewhere in Australia there is a Koala Paradox. Either over abundance or under threat. Ballarat’s Koalas fit into the threatened category. The Koala Paradox debate is best described in the following article:
- Bird of the Month XLVIII (January 2026)
Musk Lorikeet (Glossopsitta concinna)
Local First Nations names: yukap / yukip / yukuwitj
For the full unabridged edition of BotM see the BotM page here…
A burst of bright colour – green synonymous with earthiness, organic. A burst of energy – lively, darting flyovers, giving off the impression it lusts for life. Activity heightened locally during spring and summer – a period of renewal and replenishment. Is there an Aussie bird that more richly symbolises liveliness than our first BotM for 2026? Read on, and decide for yourself.
Scarcely larger than a Budgerigar (20-23cm), the Musk Lorikeet is one of eight Australian lorikeet species. Piecing together the evolutionary relationships of Australia’s lorikeets, including Musk Lorikeet, is a subject of debate (refer to Table 1). One thing that defines all lorikeets is that they are brightly coloured parrots with a brush-tipped tongue, which is specialised for feeding on nectar (i.e. nectarivore’s sugar high!). Musk Lorikeet, while still nomadic, is considered to be “more seasonal and predictable than other lorikeets in its search for nectar”. They also eat lerp and scale insects.
Musk Lorikeets inhabit woodland, open forest, mallee, and cleared land with trees along watercourses and roads.
Breeding season is August through January. As with all lorikeets, Musk Lorikeets are hollow-nesters. The nest hollow is small, usually in a limb, very high off the ground, and lined with decayed debris and wood dust. The female incubates for 22 days a clutch of 2 eggs. Young fledge at 5-6 weeks. Juveniles look similar to adults, but distinguished by their dark bill, absence of blue crown and bronze mantle, and duller patches of red. Male and female are almost identical, but the male’s cap is bluer, and his bronze mantle is more pronounced.
In flight, Musk Lorikeet is bomb-shaped (very swift!), and the leading edge of the underwing is pale green. The green underwing and belly help us to rule out other local lorikeets, Rainbow and Purple-crowned, while Little Lorikeet is much smaller and its flight call is buzzier. The Musk Lorikeet’s call is metallic (‘tinny’), ‘jingling’, and higher-pitched than Rainbow Lorikeet’s vocals. Refer below for the bonus tips on how to ID a flying lorikeet.
The Musk Lorikeet has a distribution concentrated in southeast Australia. The species’ conservation status is ‘Least Concern’, with a ‘Stable’ population trend. It ranges from uncommon to common.
Next time you wander through Woowookarung RP, or adjacent residential streets, keep an ear out for the tinny, screeching of the pocket rockets bursting with life – the Musk Lorikeet.
Author note: FoCC Committee member and co-admin of FoCC’s Facebook and webpage, Joel Ellis is the resident bird nerd, amateur Powerful Owl researcher, and editor of FoCC’s (co-funded) ‘Indigenous [Species] of Southern Ballarat’ brochure series. Joel has studied birds up to Honours degree level, is a professional ecological consultant (ornithologist), and member of BirdLife Australia (Ballarat branch).
- Urban Ripple 2026 program.
FoCC community Tree Plantings for 2026.
28th June – Canadian Creek
12th July – Dozed Track
19th July – Lal Lal Drain
2nd August – Canadian Creek
16th August – Sailors Gully Creek
23rd August – Soapy’s Dam
2026 Tree, shrub and grass orders.
The FoCC is committed to planting 6500 trees shrubs and grasses on the four selected sites. 4500 plants have been ordered from the Wadawurrung Indigenous Nursery at Bostok and 2000 from Wine Barrel Banksias Nursery Buninyong for delivery in June. The FoCC will be putting together the planting plan with meetings with City of Ballarat and weed spray contractors during February. More details in the next Spikey News.
- Urban Ripple works 2026
Pine tree removal on Site 11 along Sailors Gully. The removal of pine trees will allow the replanting of the area beside the creek with trees shrubs and grasses.
Contractors clearing up pine trees beside Sailors Gully Mt Clear. Image 22nd Jan 2026. Contractors details:
- Friends of Yarrowee
The Friends of the Yarrowee (FoY) are a peer organisation of the FoCC.
The FoCC’s purpose is:
“Linking the community with Woowookarung and the Canadian Corridor”
The Canadian Corridor is essentially south of the Yarrowee at Brown Hill, East of Geelong Rd and north of Buninyong.
The Friends of Yarrowee’s purpose is:
“The Friends of the Yarrowee River is a community group that aims to work actively to restore, protect and enjoy the Yarrowee River and its environs, between Brown Hill and Magpie, Ballarat, Australia.
Source: https://sites.google.com/view/friends-of-the-yarrowee-river/
Friends of Yarrowee activities: Contact: mailto:friends.yarrowee@gmail.com Ph: Calvin: 0466486265
| Sunday 8th February at 10am | Bike ride along the Yarrowee River |
| Sunday 1st March at 10am | Clean up the Yarrowee River. |
- Grant to help platypus and threatened Species in the Yarrowee River.
Australian Government grant to restore the Yarrowee River in Sebastopol beginning with willow removal being the first task this year.
More info: https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/news/helping-platypus-and-threatened-species-thrive-yarrowee
- Rubbish dumpers, thieves and vandals
The FoCC urges Park friends to report vandals as well as rubbish dumpers, wood thieves and other suspicious activity to Parks Victoria on 13 1963 or email: woowookarung@parks.vic.gov.au
In emergency situations please call 000. If an offender is spotted, please note vehicle registration details as vehicle identification is most helpful, plus location and details. All information is treated by Parks Victoria Rangers professionally and confidentially.
- Useful information
- Parks Victoria Woowookarung email address: woowookarung@parks.vic.gov.au
- City of Ballarat wildlife information: https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/me/pets-and-animals/wildlife
- Recommended Wildlife rescue: Wildlife Victoria (03) 8400 7300
- Koala spotting – https://www.focc.asn.au/koalas/
- Ballarat Wildlife Hospital: https://ballaratwildlifehospital.org.au
- DEECA wildlife issues reporting information
Report wildlife crime to Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000. Report any wildlife at immediate risk of deliberate harm or neglect to 136 186. Other matters relating to wildlife and wildlife management should use the 136 186 too. The Help for Injured Wildlife tool will help you locate and contact the closest relevant wildlife carers and rescue and rehabilitation organisations to help the injured wildlife.
- Membership
Membership runs from 1st January to 31st December each year, Membership fee is $20 per year. New members and renewals after July 1 are credited to the next year. Bank transfer to details: Bendigo Bank Buninyong BSB 633 000 Account No 184147098 Note: Please add your name to the bank transfer and email foccinfo@gmail.com your name and the date of the transaction. If your postal address has changed, please let us know.
- You can pay for membership via Trybooking at: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1427368
Cost is $20.50 via Trybooking. You can also make a donation of any size via this process. - Payment to the Treasurer at a FoCC meeting
- FoCC Facebook and webpage
www.facebook.com/friendsofcanadiancorridor/
Rob is overseeing the webpage webmaster@focc.asn.au
The FoCC has over 1400+ friends following us on Facebook and growing. Welcome to all new friends. Feel free to pass on to other friends and press the Like button.
- 2026 Calendar
The calendar is prepared by the FoCC committee.
- FoCC Committee for 2026 is as follows:
| President | Jeff Rootes |
| Secretary | Hayley Inglis |
| Treasurer | Peter Darveniza |
| Committee members. | Jo Kelly, Tarn Kruger, Joan Brick, Rob Loveband, Jane Thompson, Bob Hartmann, Tracie Currie and Joel Ellis |
Spikey News is published monthly for the Friends of Canadian Corridor Incorporated. Registered No A0097535B. The FoCC is an independent Landcare group registered with Landcare Victoria Inc.
The purpose of “Spikey News” is to link the community to Woowookarung Regional Park and the Canadian Corridor
Circulation this issue is to 1324 1327 subscribers. Welcome to all new friends.
Any opinions expressed in Spikey News are made by the editors in good faith and do not officially represent Parks Victoria or the FoCC.
Previous issues of Spikey news can be found at our web site, here.
We are proud to walk this land with the Wadawurrung people and all other First Nations people.
Web – www.focc.asn.au Facebook https://www.facebook.com/friendsofcanadiancorridor/
Unsubscribe by emailing foccinfo@gmail.com
Friends wishing to add articles to the FoCC update may do so by emailing foccinfo@gmail.com
Feel free to circulate widely including doctor’s waiting rooms, work offices, friends and neighbour