Local critters make the cut

By Lachlan Ellis

Two local photographers will have their work featured in an upcoming book published by the CSIRO, including many animals from Moorabool Shire.

Set to be released in February, ‘Wildlife of Victoria’s South-West’ by Dr Grant Palmer and Jules Farquhar will feature photos from Moorabool’s own David Whelan and Bernie McRitchie, including creatures such as the echidna, eastern brown snake, and even a white morph grey goshawk, the only bird of prey in the world to be entirely white.

Mr Whelan said it was a thrill to have his and Mr McRitchie’s work published by the CSIRO.

“We’re both super excited, it’s great. I met Grant Palmer at a Moorabool Environment Group function about six years ago at the Mechanics Institute. Late last year, he put out a request on Facebook post for photos for this book on the fauna of south-west Victoria, and I contacted him. I sent him some samples of my work and Bernie’s work, and it went from there,” he told the Moorabool News.

“We’ve got all kinds of photos that’ll be in there, about 40 photos each. Bernie’s got a great photo of an Australian fur seal on the beach in Portland, I’ve got a lot of birds, a lowland copperhead I photographed up on Ingliston Road in Ballan, and lots of different species of birds, and some introduced feral animals like a fallow deer I took down at Rowsley.”

Mr Whelan said Moorabool Shire was a fantastic place to capture photos of wildlife.

“We’re very lucky around here – there’s so much wildlife and so many landscapes in Moorabool, if you look for it and open your eyes to it. Sometimes with our modern, busy way of life, you’re not really thinking about that kind of thing,” he said.

“We feel like if we’re opening people up to seeing something they’ve never seen before, we feel like we’ve made a bit of a difference. Some of the photos I took were in Lake Wendouree, and places across Moorabool Shire, like Bacchus Marsh, Ballan, Rowsley, Balliang…so most of our photos were taken fairly close by.”

Wildlife of Victoria’s South-West will be available in paperback form for $49.99 on the CSIRO Publishing website.

Mr Whelan has also offered for him and Mr McRitchie to sign copies of the book – you can contact him at www.wildpix.com.au/contact to arrange a signed copy.