It’s one of the greatest hidden gems anywhere in the Cardinia Shire, just a five to 10 minutes drive from thousands of people in Pakenham, Officer, and Beaconsfield, and yet hardly anyone knows it exists. The Beaconsfield Nature Conservation Reserve has to be seen to be believed, as RUSSELL BENNETT discovered.
“There’d be just so many thousands of people who know about Lysterfield Lake but there’d be barely 100 people know about this to support it, but it’s so worth supporting.” – Eric Dodge
Eric Dodge has lived on a property neighbouring the Beaconsfield Nature Conservation Reserve for the past four decades.
He started the local friends group because he wanted to see things done to protect the 500-acre pristine parcel of land that borders Officer, Beaconsfield, and Upper Beaconsfield.
He wants more than words of support – he wants people to come and visit the reserve and see for themselves just how magical it is.
“We could use this place if it’s not utilised properly,” he said.
“We want to raise its profile. If future governments decide that they want to sell it, it’s gone forever.”
Yet so many thousands of people who live just a short drive away wouldn’t even know it existed.
“The people who live around it know it’s here, but it’s got a fence and not many people can get in here,” Eric said.
He would love nothing more than to open the reserve up to children to explore its beauty, once the basic amenities were built. There are already a number of newly-constructed benches and tables and chairs throughout the reserve.
“It’s pristine bush and in 1953 it was totally cleared,” Eric explained
“That’s how Officer got started – it was a railway siding for shipping out timber.
“They cut down all the trees here, took them down, and put them on the train and there were no trees left.”
The native flora started to recover over the following decades, but the Ash Wednesday fires burnt right through the area and wiped it out once again.
But, again, the reserve bounced back.
People like Eric, Cheryl Billing Smith and Paul Higgott are trying to raise the profile of the reserve so that it can be properly respected and protected by those on the surrounding communities.
The reserve is bordered by O’Neil Road in Beaconsfield, Hughendon Road in Upper Beaconsfield, and Dickie Road in Officer.
“I’ve been here for nearly 40 years,” Eric said of his Dickie Road property.
“I keep coming in here (to the reserve), and I just love the place.
“My stresses just go away when I’m walking around in here and I get a lot of pleasure out of bringing people in here and showing them around.”
That’s because he’s constantly introducing people to the reserve for the first time.
“They see it and they just say ‘wow, this is some backyard you’ve got here!’,” he said.
“We want to get people in here looking at the place and realising how good it is.
“That way, if future governments do decide to try and sell it, there’ll be people who say ‘hang on a minute, I like that place – let’s not sell it. Let’s fight for it’.
“They put a bike track in at Lysterfield Lake and after that hundreds of people came in riding their bikes around the place and other people were kayaking.
“There’d be just so many thousands of people who know about Lysterfield Lake but there’d be barely 100 people know about this to support it, but it’s so worth supporting.”
There was a particularly strong community push in the late 1990s to save the reserve from being sold off into private ownership and the Cardinia Environment Coalition (CEC) took over management of the site in 2008.
The CEC manages a diverse portfolio of land parcels within the shire of Cardinia, ranging from small bushland reserves of less than a hectare, to others well over 100 hectares such as the Beaconsfield Nature Conservation Reserve, which – along with the Guys Hill Reserve – is zoned within a Public Conservation and Resource zone.
The Beaconsfield nature reserve’s key asset is the decommissioned Beaconsfield Reservoir, which was initially fed from the Tarago channel.
The reserve is the largest and most diverse of any property that the CEC manages.
A two-metre-high security fence surrounds it, which was a requirement when the reserve was used as a domestic water reservoir with a closed catchment.
The property is listed in the Victorian Heritage Register for the reservoir, dam wall and aqueduct, and for the Haunted Gully gold diggings – remnants of which are believed to be located south of the reservoir.
Today the property is managed by the CEC in conjunction with Melbourne Water and the Cardinia Shire Council.
The reserve is home to at least three vegetation communities that are either endangered or threatened. The site has hugely significant conservation value, but how are the current and future generations going to protect it if they’ve never seen it? Once this incredible piece of paradise is gone, it’s gone forever.
In a recent letter to the Gazette, Cheryl Billing Smith wrote: “Did you know that this reserve exists? Did you know that there is a friends group who are keen to support, care and conserve the rare species of plants and the animals that are rare or endangered in this environment? This reserve is a critical habitat for endangered species.
“It is really important to understand that it is up to us to take care of such important reserves for our children, their children and future generations.”
Anyone interested in participating in the friends group, or in the activities of the CEC are encouraged to contact the group. Anyone interested can contact Paul Higgott at the CEC office on 5941 8446.
