Pre excursion visit

After a few hours up at work this morning I went out to Creswick for a pre-excursion visit to Creswick Forest to walk the La Gerche Track.  The track takes about an hour to walk and features trees that were planted by John LaGerche which are now well over one hundred years old and tower over the landscape. They were planted by Creswick's first forest bailiff - John La Gerche. The track  highlights the impacts of mining on the forest and La Gerche's efforts to rehabilitate the land. La Gerche experimented with a diverse range of conifers and deciduous trees from the Northern Hemisphere as well as some Australian natives.

La'Gerche worked in the Creswick State Forest between 1882-1897. In that time La'Gerche planted over 100,000 trees. La'Gerche encountered trouble with many illegal wood cutters and wattle bark strippers who were cast as enemies to the great work La'Gerche was achieving in the forest. He would often sleep in the forest at night to prevent the theft of young trees.

I'm taking the kids (along with Emily) who told me about it for a walk and an explore on Monday.

 ( I also called into the Creswick Market which was the best one I've been to. the next one is on 20th June) 

La Gerche statue.