FIVE generations of Elizabeth Fraser’s family have lived on her Pakenham Upper property.
A love of the bush, native wildlife and botany is in her blood.
One of her most treasured memories is going on walks with her father and aunt, who knew about the native landscape.
“I loved going for walks with my dad and aunt. They knew the bush well. They would be able to point out things to me and I’d be buzzing with questions,” she said.
It’s no surprise that at 63 years of age, Mrs Fraser is enjoying her retirement, spending time looking after her property.
But she’s keeping busy.
“I’m vice-chair of the Cardinia Environment Coalition and secretary of the Deep Creek Landcare Group.”
It’s her third year working with the CEC and her fifth year working with the Deep Creek Landcare Group.
In her retirement, Mrs Fraser is also looking after a property her aunt purchased in 1979.
It’s now known as the Harbury Reserve in Pakenham Upper.
Mrs Fraser’s aunt donated the land to the not-for-profit organisation Trust for Nature, who look after private land to protect native flora and fauna.
“My aunt bought bush properties and she donated all of the land to the Trust. Now, I organise an annual working bee at Harbury,” she said.
Since her aunt and father passed away, Mrs Fraser has covenanted their Pakenham Upper property.
Harbury Reserve is just down the road and it’s still a comforting place.
“I’ve retired now and my passion hasn’t changed – I like nothing better than to go down there and dig around,” she said.
It’s lucky that she has the time to enjoy bush properties.
After studying nursing at the age of 18, it was an easy decision to go into the medical profession that guaranteed an education and a pay cheque.
“I did a botany degree when I was young, and then I thought I’d work in botany. But I’d also studied nursing. Back in those days, you learned on the job.”
But her heart would always be with studying and learning about native plants.
Mrs Fraser is amazed by the unique species of fungi growing in the Harbury Reserve, so much so that she can rattle off the scientific name, the unique growth patterns of the various species of fungi in the reserve and the way they look different when the light hits them.
She’s full of stories and most relate, in some way, to her love of the Australian bush.
“Some people go to Harbury and you can walk out covered in leeches. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea,” she said.
But a few leeches wouldn’t faze her.
Despite staying in the nursing profession for more than 40 years, her heart was always outdoors.
“The botany side of things was always a passion. This property has been in the family such a long time. They were interested in English botany,” she said.
Since then, Mrs Fraser has worked hard to attract native animals back to the property.
She said most of the trees and plants on her property were non-native.
It’s a different story now, with king parrots, lyrebirds and a friendly wallaby calling the house a home.
“We have a wallaby that comes into the garden. It’s a beautiful wallaby and a couple of days ago, it spent the whole day lying out in the sun. We’ve planted a whole lot of natives and it comes up and eats them,” she said.
Going for bushwalks is one of Mrs Fraser’s favourite past-times.
“We hear the lyrebirds in the morning. There’s nothing more stunning than walking in the bush and hearing a lyrebird performing. Hearing those wonderful vocalisations is just magic.”
And on a property that sits atop the hill and overlooks Pakenham, most would be impressed with the view.
“The question for me is how do we get people to be interested? We all need to know about the environment. And to think that we have land that has not ever been lived on. How precious is that?”
In October, Mrs Fraser is working with the CEC to try and start up a friends group in Beaconsfield.
She’s concerned that with the 170 hectares of vacant land at the Beaconsfield Nature Reserve.
“The CEC has a lot of public land that it looks after, which is a challenge. We have a great relationship with the shire. We want a friends group up and running so that the Beaconsfield property can be used more.”
Throughout the years, her husband Ian has been of great help.
“My husband is a fantastic support. If we had work one day, he would look after the kids. With Landcare he comes along to tree planting. And he’s volunteered at the CEC nursery,” she said.
And even though the bush can be unforgiving, Mrs Fraser wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We were here through the Ash Wednesday fires. My youngest son was 5 months old on that day. The gas and fuel corporation were digging a 12-foot trench in the property and we jumped in there. My dad and husband saved the house,” she said.
But despite the danger, she’d rather live among nature and away from the hustle and bustle.
“That’s what I say to my kids, dying in a bushfire is better than living out your days in a nursing home,” she said.
