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About Your Community Involvement

  • Clean Up Australia Day:

    Between 2004 and 2007 an estimated over fifty people each year were active on the day. Organised into teams with the help of Four Wheel Drive club Members collections of an estimated 55 tones of waste material was removed from the forest and surrounds each year. Over the four years it was common to fill four (15 meter) skips with steel ect. and three mini skips of assorted rubbish. Three cars and approximately 40 tyres were extracted from the forest in one year alone, along with about two cubic meters of discarded plaster requiring a special trip to the tip. The type of rubbish collected was mainly ancestral. The actual dumping of trailer loads of waste was not apparent most years (except for the plaster) although there was a lot of what seemed to be rubbish discarded by unthinking travellers.(drink bottles,maccas wrappers,ect.)
    Friends of Rokeby Crossover would like to thank first and foremost the Gippsland 4WD Club for digging in and coordinating a very rewarding club day. Also, Gippsland Metal Recyclers did a magnificent job picking up scrap metal skips left for the operation, and we thank them also for picking up all the material that couldn't fit in the skip bins. Thank you to Baw Baw Mini Skips for their assistance with domestic rubbish collection, and also to the 4WD Club member who provided their machinery for the day. Graeme Stapleton, from Warragul Wrecker, generously loaned one of his large tandem trailers for the occasion, which was a great help. The D.S.E. donated an unlimited supply of quality leather gloves.

  • CENTRAL HIGHLANDS TRAILBIKE INITIATIVE:

    A program set up by the D.S.E. to form a strategy to tackle the ever increasing problem of motorised vehicles in the parks and forest areas. In late 2004 a series of workshops were conducted throughout Victoria to ascertain the full extent of the problem and to gain an insight from all forest user groups and those individuals affected by bikes as to the best result for all parties concerned. From here a strategy paper was formulated and presented to various committees around the state for their feedback and amendments. The state government has funded the implementation of this initiative to the tune of five million dollars and although this will be administered by the D.S.E. the project committees have a vital say in the development of their particular areas. Our area of concern covers from Tarago State Park through to the eastern boundary of La Trobe State Forest plus the Rokeby/Crossover regional park and various pockets of the surrounds. Currently the committee is initiating procedures to establish a Motorbike unloading area on Latrobe river road and a horse unloading area off Whitelaws track this will be done in conjunction with a few track closures in the vicinity of these areas (necessary because of the environmental damage and degradation and the fact that we cannot actually find any-one who now uses these particular tracks.) Another vital part of this initiative will be the setting up of an area for junior riders to attend and learn the art of trail-bike riding and the responsibilities that go along with it.
    For more in depth information log onto the D.S.E.

  • TOWN AND RURAL COMMUNITIES COMMITTEE:

    This committee was set up by the Baw Baw shire to bring together representatives from all areas to discuss "what the shire can do for us" and let all the different communities know what is happening in other areas of our shire, thus, forming a network of communication, co-operation and idea sharing so that the whole of the shire can come together and benefit each other. One of the most vital steps here was the formulating of a five and ten year visionary plan for each of the towns and communities represented, this was done by public consultation and the results will go a long way towards what projects and initiatives the shire undertakes in the future.

  • Green Corp Project

    In 2009 RCFG co-ordinated a Green Corp Project. This involved organising activities and training for twelve young people which helped them to achieve a Cert 1. in Land Care. Activities included working in the surrounding park and private land planting trees. They learned to collect native seeds from the Seed Bank Organisation and spent a two days learning how to build a dry stone wall. Several of the participants were able to gain full time employment and or full time training before the completion of the program.

  • Shaping the future

    RCFG members have been involved with project. When you go on a journey you work out where you want to go and how you're going to get there. If you don't, you could end up anywhere. BawBaw2050 - putting the pieces together is a program to work out where we're going to work out what we want Baw Baw to be like in 2050 and what we have to do to get there. Once we've agreed our favoured future and the role everyone can play in helping get there, we'll be in the best position to deal with our present issues and make the most of our opportunities. The end vision must be what the community wants for the future and it will be used to shape Baw Baw over the next 40 years. It's a very important project for us all. Council is hosting this program with the support of the Victorian State Government (through the provision of a Victorian Community Support Grant).

  • Projects of an ongoing nature

    1. Each year RCFG run a Community expo at the Neerim South annual Show. This gives other community groups a chance to advertise their activities.

    2. Hawthorn Bridge restoration and re-development.
    3. Rokeby to Crossover Rail Trail.
    4. Restoration of Crossover trestle bridge .