Issue 40 December 2006
Reluctant hero
Community stalwart Eric Mitchell was quite grumpy about winning a Best Friends Award for 2006.
“I got something back for everyone else’s hard work,” he says.
But Mr Mitchell, 78, was indeed a worthy winner of the award, one of three presented recently at the annual Victorian Environment Friends Network seminar hosted by Melbourne Water at the Western Treatment Plant.
The former Springvale mayor and schoolteacher played an important part in establishing the 300-hectare Braeside Park and its Friends group in the late 1980s.
He drove many successful grant applications. These led to the development of a community nursery – which produces about 15,000 indigenous seedlings a year to revegetate the park – and various works to improve the park’s wetlands, including viewing platforms and extensive plantings.
A colleague, Bev Bancroft, said Mr Mitchell was a quiet man who always knew the right way of doing things. “He is a good teacher who is effective but undemonstrative,” she said.
The park is visited by about 300,000 people a year and is home to about 150 species of birds. It features heathland, wetland and grassy woodland conservation areas, a visitor centre (which provides information about the park’s wildlife and history), picnic areas, an adventure playground, and 12 kilometres of walking trails.
“You can see all aspects of nature here – from wetlands to open forests and bushland,” Mr Mitchell said.
Braeside Park is a favourite for walking and birdwatching groups as well as school and other community groups that get involved in Waterwatch and tree plantings.
The site was formerly a sewage treatment plant, and was used for grazing and market gardens. It was also a horse training centre, and it is believed that Phar Lap was once stabled there.
Mr Mitchell had two terms as president of the Friends of Braeside Park, for a total of eight years, and produced the group’s monthly newsletter for 15 years. Another colleague, Elsie Anderson said:
“He included articles that stress the importance of making natural history available and interesting to people of all ages, especially family groups.”
He regarded the job as a kind of duty. “You can’t run a voluntary organisation if you don’t communicate with people,” he said.
Mr Mitchell has made a habit of serving the community, having worked on his local council, and on advisory boards for Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria.
Now he is chair of two school councils, a guide at Melbourne Zoo, and an advocate at homes for aged and disabled people.
He recalls how Melbourne Water’s predecessor, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, presented its plans for the site to the community at public meetings. He answered a local newspaper advertisement seeking volunteers to set up the Friends group.
Melbourne Water’s work with the community and the importance of volunteers were central themes in an opening address by Chairman Cheryl Batagol at the Friends seminar.
She said there had been a fundamental change in the way Melbourne Water is working and thinking.
“The traditional culture and skills of the engineering organisation are quite different from the culture and skills of an organisation that wants to work together with others who are equally as passionate about the protection of rivers and creeks as we are, such as Friends and community groups, local government and the Catchment Management Authority,” she said.
“Now we have a much stronger focus on the community, supporting community grants and programs such as Waterwatch, Frog Census and Stream Frontage Management. Community groups help us see the benefit of working more collaboratively.”
The seminar included speakers from Friends groups, Melbourne Water and councils, panel discussions and case studies.
The other Best Friend award winners were:
 | Doris Bevan, for her many years of voluntary work including weeding, seed collecting and propagation, setting up educational displays, and improving walking tracks with the Friends of Sassafras Creek and other local Friends groups. |
| Bill Goodall, who has worked long and hard with his wife Shirley and other members of Friends of The Point to clear sand from the historic fortifi cations of Point Nepean. |
