While the three-day Field & Game Australia National Carnival required a heavy focus in the lead-up to the event at the end of October, the hunting and conservation focus remained strong.

In late October, FGA’s hunting and conservation manager Glenn Falla along with FGA board vice-chairman David Anderson and board member Trent Leen attended the unveiling of a monument at the Heart Morass property, near Sale, hosted by Bug Blitz Trust program director John Caldow.

The new structure honors the four founding trustees of the Hugh D.T. Williamson Foundation – Denis Tricks AM, Martin Carlson OAM (deceased), Harry Carrodus and Malcolm Menelaus. The monument honors the foresight and endeavors of the trustees of the foundation, which was created with the goal, among others, of supporting and strengthening communities in Melbourne and rural Victoria.

The foundation played a major part in the negotiations for and acquisition in 2006 – and beyond – of the properties that now constitute the Heart Morass property, in partnership with Field & Game Australia and West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority.

Hugh D.T. Williamson Foundation’s current chairman Stephen Newton was also in attendance to speak at the unveiling and was treated to a tour of the Heart Morass property by caretaker Gary “Pud” Howard.

Commissioned and paid for by Denis Tricks AM at the end of 2021, the monument was created by local Stratford sculpture artist Gavin Roberts in March this year.

On the day, Gavin spoke to the crowd, explaining that he at first wondered how hunters could indeed contribute to conservation. Beginning his project in the week leading into duck season opening, he soon learned and said that many hunters arriving in camp dressed in camo, offered help to build the sculpture.

Gavin’s opinion of hunters was completely reversed by the end of the project and he now understands perfectly why we are referred to as Australia’s most surprising conservationists.