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Support“When you are standing on the beach, draw a long, straight line in the sand. Mark off one-metre intervals, which will represent 100 million years of time. On your timeline, place some major local events: for example, the Waratah limestone formed in the early Devonian Period about 400 million years ago; Wilsons Prom granite magma crystallised below the surface and the Liptrap mudstone was deposited at around 419 million years.” – Walkerville Coastal Geology, a walk from Walkerville North to Bird Rocks by Gary Wallis.
Gary Wallis was fluent in the geological timescale for Gippsland that spanned 540 million years to the present day. He understood the different timescales that we inhabit – our human lifespan, the multi-century lifecycle of a forest, the geological eras where humans and dinosaurs are squished into a tiny little blip in the greater scheme of things.
“Gary dreamed big and had the energy, intellect, drive, patience and wisdom to mould his dreams into reality.”
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A field geologist, teacher, scientific consultant, beef and dairy farmer, rock specialist and lyrebird fanatic, Gary was an ecological visionary with a lifetime love of the South Gippsland bush and an encyclopaedic knowledge of local geology, flora and fauna.
Gary lived enveloped by stone. His home ‘Eagle Rock’, which he built with late wife Joan Wallis, sits perched upon a hill in Fish Creek with panoramic views of Wilsons Prom. Gary studied South Gippsland geology for most of his life, and the structure is an ode to his rock obsession; it is encased by sandstone sourced from the quarry across the road. Inside, collections of rocks, shells, maps and natural artefacts spill from the study and onto surfaces throughout the home. Both Gary and Joan shared expertise on the local natural environment, and books on the topic they either authored or contributed to line the shelves.
Although Gary was a respected local school teacher and geological tour guide, his most recent work was with Fish Creek-based group, Prom Coast Ecolink. Their focus is to grow an idea Gary seeded as a graduate in the 1970s to strengthen a network of wildlife corridors through South Gippsland. This network would ultimately link Cape Liptrap Coastal Park with the Strzelecki Ranges via the Hoddle Range, enabling safe passage and genetic diversity for local wildlife populations, as well as improving soil and water health. The corridors, or biolinks, also have the capacity to connect with Park Victoria’s Wilsons Prom Sanctuary project. ‘The Prom’, Gippsland’s much-loved national park, is set to become a 50,000-hectare conservation sanctuary, a major project supported at both a state and federal government level.
When Gary first conceived the idea of a biolink network 40 years ago, he originally named it the Lyrebird Link as the core proposal was to protect the remnant Superb Lyrebird population in South Gippsland. A subject close to his heart, he advocated for such a network in various roles for the remainder of his life.
His passion for geology and mapping enabled him to read the terrain and notice connections between landscape and vegetation zones. Gary was able to see natural linkages within landscape formations that could serve as corridors between patches of remnant bush. His science and bushcraft background gave him insight into the soil health and water purity benefits of retaining and strengthening natural vegetation.
In practice, Gary noticed the improved farm yield when he preserved strategic areas of his working farm for nature and safeguarded these spaces from grazing livestock. The Wallis family were founding members of the Fish Creek Landcare Group and, through their farm, they demonstrated how caring for land and primary production can integrate. They planted thousands of trees, and their farm not only remained economically viable, but it thrived.
With this acumen, he could see the broader potential for the region to be environmentally robust in tandem with productive farming. It was a vision where economic and ecological wealth would flow from farmland protected and enhanced by adjoining vegetation. Through landscape-scale intergenerational change, this situation would mutually benefit locals, farmers, ecotourism operators and the natural environment on a grand scale.
Gary dreamed big and had the energy, intellect, drive, patience and wisdom to mould his dreams into reality. A strategic advisor, landholder liaison, map maker, historian and local encyclopaedia with a lifelong focus on the local landscape – he is irreplaceable.
Gary’s vision will continue through the work of Prom Coast Ecolink in connecting people with nature, documenting the natural treasures we have and advocating at all levels for the sustainable and flourishing coexistence of agriculture, tourism and nature in Gippsland.
If we consider our line in the sand, the mark of our recent human activity – a period that has driven an unprecedented decline and loss of species and ecosystems – would barely be the size of a single grain.
Gary’s bestowment to us is perhaps that we should be humbled by the fragility of humanity's presence on the Earthly timescale, to consider the eons before us and the possibility of what lies ahead.
After all, what’s another million years in the sand?
Vale Gary Wallis, December 13 1948 – May 8 2024.
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Discover the group carrying forward Gary's vision of a connected nature corridor in South Gippsland at promcoastecolink.org or @promcoastecolink.