Badger Creek lost a passionate and caring member of the community on 27 July as longtime Healesville Environmental Watch Inc (HEWI) member Maureen Bond passed away, aged 88.
Maureen, a dedicated environmentalist, spent decades working on revegetation projects along the Grace Burn, Watts River, Queens Park and Coronation Park. The township of Healesville and surrounding regions will be worse off without her.
Maureen was a dear friend to the Mountain Views Mail, often contacting the newspaper on upcoming HEWI events and taking the time to share the success of recent events.
Maureen’s friends at HEWI compiled the following words to pay tribute to her:
Maureen Wilma Bond nee Fox was born 30 December 1931 in Melbourne and attended Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School. She commenced a science degree at Melbourne University, but this was put on hold after her marriage and the demands of family life.
She moved to the ACT for three years for her husband’s career, before returning and commencing work as the school’s science and technology manager. It was when house-sitting for a friend in Chum Creek that she first came to love the Healesville region. She eventually bought a house in Badger Creek and created a lovely native plant garden.
If you walk along the Grace Burn or Watts River, take a moment to remember this dedicated local environmentalist. For 25 years Maureen organised many of the revegetation projects that restored the health of these waterways so platypus and other species could thrive.
These events involved hours of organisation – can you imagine trying to coordinate 40 primary school students, teachers, parents, 30 corporate volunteers, Melbourne Water and Council staff to plant over 2000 seedlings in just one morning? They were always successful and enjoyable. Engaging students was very important to her and Healesville Primary School students learned the important connection between their plantings and the health of local waterways.
Upon retirement, Maureen became a full-time volunteer as an environmental advocate and was the secretary for HEWI for 15 years. She ran an office and organised events such as fundraising film nights, responded to community inquiries, produced a newsletter and wrote countless letters, submissions and funding applications. The events she organised always had well laid out refreshments, beautiful native flowers from her garden and well-prepared displays.
She believed in the value of community education, was a proficient botanist and enjoyed HEWI nature walks focusing on orchids, fungi, nocturnal wildlife and successful habitat restoration. Hours of her time were spent reviewing planning documents and draft policies from all levels of government.
In the many agendas she organized for HEWI’s meetings with Councillors, the breadth of the issues she covered was amazing, as was her knowledge of these issues which led to the astute questions she would ask. A proud moment for her was the renaming of the Don Road drain as Wirrup Yaluk (Blackfish Creek), after years of lobbying. As a founding member, she was also delighted when the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum won their recent court case to further protect the local forests.
Maureen was a strong advocate of networking and the sharing of ideas. As HEWI’s secretary, she supported and helped establish groups such as Healesville CoRE and Plastic Bag Free Healesville. She participated in activities of the Mammal Survey Group of Victoria, Vic National Parks Association, the local Greens party and film society.
We will miss her energy, dedication to protecting and restoring the environment and ability to ask the key questions. We hope future generations will be inspired to follow her example.
Maureen’s family and friends look forward to celebrating her life at Badger Weir in the near future.
