Ms Robinson has made significant contributions in her career to conservation and the environment, which have earned her an OAM and a Member of the Order of Australia medal.
Living on a farm in the Warrenbayne area in the late ’70s, she began noticing an issue with areas of patches of grass where nothing would grow.
“Myself and my neighbour, Angus Howell, discovered that there were areas in our paddocks where the pasture cover had gone off, exposing the soil,” Ms Robinson said.
“We noticed that sheep were rolling in it.”
They had discovered the soil was suffering from dryland salinity.
“We took the matter to the then Soil Conservation Authority in Benalla and discussed it with them, and we got the community together,” she said.
With the help of the soil conservation committee, they discovered the cause of the issue being the over-clearing of trees.
“At the time, and in the years before, it was part of a government grant to make space for farming and paddocks,” she said.
In the late ’70s, the Warrenbayne Boho Land Protection Group was formed, with the salinity issue becoming one of the first focal points for the group.
They were one of the first groups of its kind to be formed in Victoria, and when Vic Landcare was established in 1986, the group became officially a part of the Landcare movement.
Ms Robinson has also served on the first state and national Landcare advisory committees.
After leaving Warrenbayne for Melbourne in 2000, she continued her conservation efforts and the bigger issue of climate change, which she focused on during her time in the Northern Territory as a manager of climate change and environment for Darwin.
Now she is back in Melbourne, and looking forward to coming back to Warrenbayne for the meeting.
During the night, Ms Robinson will be touching on the history of the group and the future of the Warrenbayne Boho Land Protection Group.
“It’s nice of them to ask me to speak,” she said.
“I’m going back to the home country.”
The general meeting will take place on Friday, October 6, at 7.30pm in the Warrenbayne Hall. All members of the public are invited to join the evening.
For more information on membership and the event, you can email the secretary at wblpgsecretary@gmail.com
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