Journal of the Australian Native Plants Society Canberra region (Inc)
ANPS Canberra Field Trip: Yarram, May 2026
By Jeanette Jeffery; Photos by Jeanette Jeffrey: JJ; and Gail Ritchie Knight: GFK unless otherwise stated
The Australian Native Plant Society, Canberra (ANPSC) holds field trips regularly throughout the year, or as frequently as members are willing to plan and lead one. This winter 2026, two members organised a trip for us in May centred around Tarra-Bulga National Park in Victoria. We were not expecting much in flower but knew the Gippsland forests, tree ferns and fungi would please us. And they did not disappoint.
Tarra-Bulga National Park is part of the Strzelecki Range and is one of 4 major cool temperate rainforest areas in Victoria.
Eucalyptus regnans (Mountain Ash), Northofagus cunninghamii (Myrtle Beech), Atherosperma moschatum (Southern Sassafras) all grow to a majestic size here. The Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle) and A. melanoxylon (Blackwood) and Olearia aspera (Hazel Pomaderris) have matured after logging from 1890–1945. Now the forest floor is covered with ferns and fungi. These challenged our ID skills but were very enjoyable.
The website iNaturalist is very useful — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=-38.4273958697085&nelng=146.5677564802915&swlat=-38.4300938302915&swlng=146.5650585197085&view=species&iconic_taxa=Plantae,Fungi for the species of flora and fungi which has been sighted in Tarra-Bulga Visitors Centre carpark.
If you are curious about the fungi you see during our wetter months another interesting website is https://fungimap.org.au. In July they are holding the 2026 Great Aussie Fungi Hunt.
The route we took to Tarra-Bulga National Park was the Grand Ridge Road through impressive native East Gippsland Forests.
Plantations of Pinus radiata and Eucalypt were evident among undisturbed wet sclerophyll forest.
We stayed in Yarram, a pleasant community town surrounded by dairy and logging industries. Nearby we found Won Wron State Forest. This was a very sandy, gently sloping environment with Banksia serrata and Eucalyptus muelleriana the dominant trees with huge Xanthorrhoea australis. To our delight Acacia suaveolans and Epacris impressa were blooming and Acacia paradoxa and A. oxycedrus showed many firm buds. Also seen was Pimela (a rice flower), Styphelia humifusa Cranberry Heath, Clematis and remaining seedboxes of Thelymitra (Sun Orchard). An unusual Hakea was Hakea ulicina with sharp, flattened ‘linear’ leaves and smallish fruit in the leaf axis.
Epacris impressa; Photo: Jean Smith
In the spirit of a field naturalist trip, we enjoyed coastal walks and birdwatching along the boardwalks of the Gippsland Lakes Ramsar sites. These are large, shallow coastal lagoons separated from the sea by the sand dunes of the Ninety Mile Beach. Interestingly the entrance to the sea at Lakes Entrance was made in 1889.
Our visit to Port Welshpool coincided with a low tide of about 2 metres and the emergence of a barrel of crabs. (According to Google that is the collective noun for crabs). They were roaming the exposed sand along with White Faced Herron, Pacific Gulls and Common Gulls. Closer to the shore the sand was covered with mangroves, glasswort among other marine plants.
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