We are pleased to announce that the Macedon Ranges Field Naturalists is now incorporated. This allows us to act independently of the council, apply for grants and insure volunteers and event participants. Thank you to the Macedon Ranges Council for getting us to this point, especially Tanya Loos and Krista Patterson-Majoor.
Now that we are an independent organisation it also means we cannot rely on the Council to pay for our running costs. We will now rely on grants and membership fees. So with that in mind this is a call-out for membership. Membership fees are:
$10 per person per year, or;
$25 per household per year
Events will be free for members but non-members will be charged for some events.
To keep things simple all memberships will expire on July 1 each year. Memberships paid from now will last until July 2025. In subsequent years any memberships paid after March will be valid until July of the following year.
To become a member, please deposit the appropriate fee into the following bank account:
Account name: Macedon Ranges Field Naturalists
BSB: 633 000
Account number: 179 813 175
Include your name or some other identifying text in the transaction reference/description and send an email to macedonrangesfieldnaturalists@gmail.com with the following information:
Membership category: Single Person ($10) or Family ($25)
Full Name
Postal address
Telephone number(s)
Email address
Additional members (for Family membership)
Also quote the reference number you used to pay. If you are unable to use this method please contact us and we’ll organise an alternative for you.
Other news
Logo competition
You will notice that we do not yet have a logo and we need to rectify that! So get out your paint brushes, pencils, digital stylus or whatever else you create with and come up with a design. Submit your design to macedonrangesfieldnaturalists@gmail.com. The MRFN committee will decide on a shortlist out of which the membership will vote for a winner. The winner will receive a $50 book voucher and 5 years free membership of the Macedon Ranges Field Naturalists. Shortlisted entries will receive a year’s free membership. The winning logo will be used in all future MRFN marketing materials, including the web site and event banners. Entries close on April 30 2024.
Some ideas to help get you started:
- iconic species of flora, fauna and fungi in the region (e.g. Snow gum, Clover Glysine, Phascogale, Wombat, Antechinus, Sugar glider, Powerful owl, Dead man’s fingers, Mycena Interrupta, etc)
- iconic geographic features (e.g. Mount Macedon, Hanging Rock, etc)
Regular meetings
Along with our regular field events we hope to start running regular meetings with guest speakers. These speakers will come from many walks of life and we hope they will also come from within our membership base. These talks will be quite informal and need not be very long so if you think you have something others in the group may want to hear about please let us know at macedonrangesfieldnaturalists@gmail.com and we’ll put you on the agenda.
Bendigo Bank grant
We are pleased to announce that we have been given a small grant from the Romsey/Lancefield branch of the Bendigo Bank for running events. These funds will go towards some things such as banners for event entry locations, boot washes and first aid kits. Thank you to the Bendigo Bank.
The Bendigo Bank is a great supporter of the local community. Also keep an eye out in the local papers for other Bendigo Bank grants and scholarships, for instance the tertiary scholarships. We encourage you to watch your local papers if you know of someone who would be a worthy recipient. Also see https://www.bendigobank.com.au/community/scholarships/.
Macedon Ranges Field Naturalists 