GVEG was founded in 1990 as a result of a small group of people deciding that local people needed a way to focus their environmental concerns close to home.

Since then, GVEG has been involved in many issues with a regional flavour, and has won widespread respect among all three levels of government, agencies and the general public as an active, well-informed, dedicated and progressive environment group. We are noted for our willingness to co-operate with others, but at the same time we are a strong group, and refuse to compromise our principles for the sake of expediency.

At one time, the Northern Plains, including the Shepparton area, was a thriving ecosystem, principally comprising woodlands of box trees, under storey and native grasses, periodically flooded by overflowing rivers.

The region was settled by Europeans in the 1860s and progressively cleared for agriculture and settlements, so much so that there is now as little as 6% of the original pre-European tree cover remaining.

(That is over 95% destroyed)

Most of that is in Barmah Forest. There is only .03% of intact bush with larger trees, under storey and grasses left in the Northern Plains. In terms of acreage, there is less than half an acre of intact bush-land for every 100 acres that is cleared.

We have to restore the balance if we, and other living species, are to have a future in the Goulburn Valley. We are as much a part of the environment as any other animal, and dependent on it to sustain us.

Biodiversity is crucial for that.

GVEG tries hard to protect what remains of the .03%, and works to rehabilitate other areas of the 4%.

We regularly hold activity days at which our members and other volunteers work to restore the natural environment—at times we plant trees, collect seed from native plant species to propagate and plant, and clear unwanted weed species.

We also have less vigorous ways to be involved; we regularly conduct spotlighting walks, and general meetings at which we hear from guest speakers. If GVEG is to be successful in the task it has given itself, It needs local people to be involved.

For themselves, for future generations, and for the other living things that share the Goulburn Valley with us.

Are you one of those people?

Great social movements frequently begin in small ways. The campaign for civil rights for black Americans, for example, is said to have been sparked in the 1960s by a tired Rosa Parks, who ignored the existing law and refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. By not standing, she figuratively took a stand against racial prejudice, and it provided a spark for millions of others to follow suit.

Barking Owl - Endangered Species

The Goulburn Valley Environment Group (GVEG, pronounced ‘jeevej’), while not exactly on the scale of the civil rights movement (yet!) has also blossomed from a humble beginning, and similarly owes its existence to a determined lady - Shepparton’s Barbara Leavesley. In 1989, Barbara, a secondary school lab technician, and her husband Dennis, a hospital pathologist, decided to act on their many years of concerns about the world they would be leaving their children and grandchildren, and GVEG was conceived. A gathering was organised at the Shepparton library, and they spread the word among anyone who they thought might be interested. Interestingly, the principal of Barbara’s school had had similar thoughts, but nothing had come of them. He came along that night, as did I, told about it by a friend. About a dozen people were there, and the GVEG name was established.

It took a few more meetings before the format of the new group was established, and aims and objectives agreed on. The new group was to tackle a wide range of issues relevant to local people, pretty much as they emerged, but probably the most important features of the group were to be its non-confrontational nature, and its credibility. That meant that the group recognised that it would get nowhere, in a socially and politically conservative area, if it adopted a radical profile. Instead, it resolved to work with other organisations and political bodies at all times, and would only depart from that policy if that was found to be impossible. At no time would it relinquish its independence. Related to that was the need to be credible. If the group took a stance or made a statement, it had to be well thought out, reasonable, and scientifically credible. GVEG was officially born in May 1990, when the constitution was ratified and the first committee was elected at the inaugural Annual General Meeting. Fittingly, Barbara Leavesley became the first president.

The structure worked out was that as well as the eleven-person central committee, and the general membership, action groups could be formed. An action group, comprised of two or more people, could be established by members whenever they wanted to tackle a particular issue. The issue could be a long-term, ongoing one, such as recycling, or aimed at achieving a specific task, for example developing a walking tour of Gemmill’s Swamp. Once that task is accomplished, the action group could disband - or go on to something else. We also decided to become a member group of an umbrella body, the Conservation Council of Victoria, now known as Environment Victoria (E.V.)

With this three-tiered form in place, the group has taken on a vast number of issues in the years since (listed below). Some have been wins for us and the environment, others resulted in a compromise, and some we simply haven’t got what we wanted at all. Overall however, we have done a lot of good for the local environment, and represent the only collective environmentalist voice in the Goulburn Valley, particularly within the City of Greater Shepparton. In 1995 we also suggested the establishment of a formal alliance of the environment groups within the Goulburn-Broken catchments, and this body, the Goulburn Broken Environmental Alliance, now meets regularly to discuss issues of mutual importance.