By Alesha Capone
BILLY Buttons, Lemon Beauty-heads and Kangaroo Apples are among the many plant species which artist Catherine van Wilgenburg loves seeing at the Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre in St Albans.
As well as owning the Living Colour Studio in Yarraville, Ms van Wilgenburg is the convenor of the Friends of Iramoo, a group devoted to preserving the natural beauty of the grasslands.
The painter said she treasured the 35 hectares of Western Volcanic Plains grasslands left at the Iramoo site in St Albans and Caroline Springs, since humans began using the land for food production more than a century ago.
However, a team of dedicated volunteers is regenerating the landscape with indigenous grasses and plants.
“This is a fantastic site; it’s starting to build as a bike and walking trail all through the West so people can go and appreciate the indigenous grasses, plants and birds,” Ms van Wilgenburg said.
“That’s what we’re trying to do, bring the land back to the way it was like before European settlement.
“This is the land that has really influenced my painting.”
Paintings created by Ms van Wilgenburg, inspired by the indigenous presence in the landscape at Iramoo, have recently made the finals of the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Ms van Wilgenburg said one of her fellow volunteers once saw 16 black cockatoos in one day at Iramoo.
Volunteers keep the centre’s community garden, native nursery, potting shed and discovery centre working.
They collect seeds and grow plants, flowers and grasses until they can be replanted onto the volcanic plains.
“This is about protecting and maintaining this landscape,” Ms van Wilgenburg said.
“It’s like the country in the city, the bush in the city. Once you get tuned in, you go, ‘Wow, it’s amazing’.”
See www.iramoo.org for more information.
