Who Are We?

Roleybushcare is an environmental community group that is focused on the maintaining and protecting the bushland around the Roleystone and Karragullen areas.

We are a non-profit, volunteer organisation. The group receives funding from sponsorships and government grants to pay for the cost of materials.

We have regular revegetation field days during winter and dieback treatment field days during spring, summer and autumn.These days are made possible by the continuous participation of the community, so if you have the time, please feel free to join in.

Mission Statement

The objectives of the Group are:-

• To work with the community to improve the conservation and social values of Roleystone bushland reserves.
• To treat the bushland reserves in and around Roleystone to prevent the spread of dieback and minimize the impact of the disease on the reserves.
• To educate the Roleystone community about the causes of dieback, nature of its spread and methods to treat susceptible or infected plants.
• To encourage the community to reduce the risk of spreading or increasing the impact of dieback on local government reserves and on their own properties.
• To foster dieback awareness and knowledge of methods to combat dieback in other local communities and conservation groups.
  

History

The Roleystone Dieback Action group (aka the Dieback Busters) was formed in 1991 when concerned residents were noticing the Jarrah trees in the area were dying. Ian Colquhoun has chaired the group since its inception.
An independent website, www.roleybushcare.com, was originally created by Chris Horgan and Paul Mutton in March 2006. The site's original objective was to provide a forum for environmental groups, and to provide a source of local bushland information for the area. Once realising that our objectives were akin, in 2007 the resources for the website and the Dieback Busters merged. The group was renamed Roleybushcare The website is now managed by the group.

A quote from our local paper The Roleystone Courier

It is often the case that prophets are not effectively valued in their hometowns. So I wonder if Roleystone residents realise the importance of Roleybushcare and some of the members of this group, to the International understanding of Dieback and best practice in its treatment and management?

On July 16 2009, 220 attendees went to the Western Australian Dieback Conference. A contingent from Roleystone was amongst the crowd. The Roleystone group has had an immeasurable impact on dieback management. A significant contribution has come from Dr Ian Colquhoun who addressed the conference focussing on a worldwide perspective of dieback, including the effect of a related Dieback water mould in Chile that has affected 60000 hectares of forest and created devastation on the Kauri forests in New Zealand. It is now recognised that there are over 140 species of dieback (up from only 70 ten years ago).

In Ian's words: 'Roleybushcare is one of the most active and successful dieback action groups in the world.'

So how did Roleystone get to lead the world in this area? Once again it is largely down to Ian Colquhoun who first noticed that the Jarrah trees were dying at the Roleystone District High School site, over 17 years ago. (At this stage it was widely understood to be Jarrah Dieback and thought to be largely exclusive to Jarrah trees).

Ian knew that CALM had already developed a technique to treat trees to improve their chances of survival but there was no way to get this distributed or to get the expertise out there. So Ian and some like-minded friends founded the Roleystone Dieback Action Group and they 'started injecting trees and educating the public about how to limit the spread of dieback!' The rest, as they say is history.

This model was very successful and became the template for other groups across the state. Later the group diversified to include other areas of bush management and thus Roleybushcare was born.

Chair Ian Colquhoun Phone: 042 780 0732 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Vice-Chair Paul Mutton Phone: 040 052 1184 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Secretary Tim Lardner  Phone: 043 142 4199 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	Treasurer Adam Sbrana
Equipment Officer Peter Blaney-Murphy Phone: 040 892 3047 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it	H & S Officer Rod Fancote
Volunteer Coordinator Diane Horgan Phone: 040 888 6474 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
College Liason Officer Adrian Barrett	Webmaster Chris Horgan Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website Reporters	Bill Scott Paul Mutton Tim Lardner
Media Officer	Horst Seecamp
Reserve Historian	Dave Ward
Refreshment Officers	Yvonne Ward Kathy Blaney-Murphy Faye Clay -  93996406
Seedling Officers	Jack Tangey Willy Tuten Niek Tuten
Brochure Officer	Carolyn Fowler
Archiver	Rhonda

 Treating the bush for dieback.

Filling the syringes with phosphite solution.

Volunteers preparing the syringes for the coming Dieback Treatment Season

Planting in local Reserves

Morning tea, rain or shine

The Group usually holds one field day per month in our local Reserves. They last about 3 hours. We have a lovely morning tea supplied by a lovely group of ladies who share this duty. Everyone is welcome to join us. We encourage members of the community and friends to come along and learn how to protect their bushland properties from Dieback Disease or help plant new seedlings into our bushland. Students needing to fulfil their "community services" requirements for their High School, Scouts or Guides merit badges or the Duke of Edinburough Award are encouraged to join us. (Contact us if there are quite a few students as we need to organise this ). We have a meeting once each month to plan our next field day. If you would like to volunteer, please contact our Volunteer Co-ordinator by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or just turn up at a field day. Newcomers are always welcome.