MEDIA RELEASE

7th September 2009

DCQ Boosts Botanic Walk

More than a decade of dedication and hard work by Barcaldine couple, Marie and Sid O’Dell was vindicated on Monday when the Barcaldine Regional Council’s Botanic Walk was officially opened by the Member for Gregory, The Honourable Vaughan Johnson.
The Botanic Walk concept was kicked off in 1988 as a bicentenary project and, from the early 90s, ‘Friends of the Gardens’ members, Marie and Sid O’Dell maintained the tracks and replaced signs on a purely voluntary basis. After eleven years they could no longer continue the commitment and, in the face of rising complaints that the tracks and original signs were falling into disrepair, consideration was given to closing the Botanic Walk.
Enter Desert Channels Queensland with funding dollars to repair the tracks and replace signs for the many plant species represented. Barcaldine Regional Council Mayor, Rob Chandler said that the DCQ dollars were much appreciated.
“Our botanic walk has been given a new lease of life and I hope it will be another attraction for visitors to our area,” he said.
“This is what we call ‘open forest’ country and the reason it’s special is that it’s got most of the trees and shrubs that grow west of the Great Divide.”
In officially opening the Barcaldine Regional Council’s Botanic Walk, Vaughan Johnson said it was a good example of the great work done by DCQ. “The botanic walk will be a real experience for the travellers,” he said. “These signs are great; congratulations to all.”
The sign which attracted keen interest from all those who attended the opening was the colourful, 2 metre by 1 metre ‘Barcaldine Botanic Walk Plant Guide’. This sign was part of a major DCQ sign project funded by the Natural Heritage Trust and saw 61 signs erected along 5,800 kilometres of road across 510,000 square kilometres of Queensland.
According to Barcaldine Regional Council’s Doug Stewart, the ongoing maintenance for the Botanic Walk will be carried out by retired volunteers. Mr Stewart is the coordinator of the Barcaldine Grey Nomad Volunteers Project and said that the 24 volunteers they had on community projects this year showed that this would be achievable.
For anyone interested in finding out more on the Barcaldine Grey Nomad Volunteers Project, Doug Stewart can be contacted on 4651 5600.

ENDS