FORAY – Foray among Fungi In Bega Valley NP

Foray Among Fungi in Bega Valley National Park
The Kingdom Fungi is a kingdom of conundrums. Who are these curious organisms and what exactly are they doing out there in the landscape?
Although little known relative to animal and plants, fungi are fundamental to forest health and resilience. They create and stabilise soils, nourish and interconnect plants. They provide us with food and beverages, textiles and building materials, medicines and more.
As we wander through the forest we’ll search for fungi, learn to identify them, and explore questions around their natural and cultural histories.
How do we differentiate the desirable from the deadly?
How can fungi help us ‘read’ the history of the forest?
And how might fungi wobble the assumptions we use to understand nature?
We’ll discuss these ideas and your questions as we hunt for fungi in this fungal hotspot.

For the full listing of events, please see here.

BOOKINGS

DATE: Tuesday 24 June

TIME: 12pm – 2:00pm

LOCATION: Bega Valley

COST: $45

BOOKINGS

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP – Focus on Trees

Focus on Trees – Tree Photography Workshop

Large old trees are vital keystone structures in rural and urban landscapes. However, the value of these trees is often overlooked in planning such as road and fire management. Documenting these trees visually is important both as a scientific record and in drawing attention to their significance and conservation.

This workshop specifically focuses on assisting participants to improve both their technical and creative skills in photographing trees. Tree photography provides many challenges and each of these will be discussed and techniques for overcoming them demonstrated throughout the workshop.

This is a very hands-on, interactive workshop combining theoretical, critique and practical sessions. It begins with a discussion of participants’ interest in photographing trees as well as any challenges or issues they may have experienced. This is followed by a session where participants’ pre-submitted images will be constructively critiqued by the group (during which participants are free to remain anonymous), followed by a field trip to put techniques into practice.

 

FULLY BOOKED

DATE: MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2025

LOCATION: Inglewood

TIME: 10:00am – 4pm

FULLY BOOKED

SURVEY – Mt Canobolas Fungus Survey

Fifth Mt Canobolas Fungus Foray & Survey

The famous Mt Canobolas Fungus Survey is on again this autumn!

The fungi of Mt Canobolas and the surrounding area are little known. Only very scant and mostly anecdotal records exist. Fungi are an important part of these ecosystems especially in creating and stabilising soils, nourishing and interconnecting plants, as a food supply for animals, and underpinning the health and resilience of the mount.

This aim of the foray and survey is to equip participants with fungus identification skills and the basic principles and protocols for surveying fungi in the field, and to build on the data collected at previous surveys.

Following an introductory overview we will work in groups to survey the fungi of the field sites using field guides and other resources to use in the field.

The full autumn 2025 workshops and events listing can be viewed here.

BOOKINGS OPEN 1 APRIL

SATURDAY 10 MAY 2025

LOCATION: Mount Canobolas National Park – Federal Falls, Orange NSW 2800

BOOKINGS OPEN 1 APRIL

 

 

TALK – Funga Obscura

THE DARK WEB – A FORAY IN FUNGAL REALMS

Like the online dark web, the clandestine workings of fungi in the subterrain are also hidden. Mycologists – scientists who study fungi – are starting to make sense of how they operate, but the detail of their activities and the players involved largely remains a mystery.

Although little known, the roots of almost every plant in the Australian landscape are intimately entwined with fungi. Fungi not only help plants access water and nutrients but also increase their resistance to drought and disease. They build architecture in soils, aerate them, and allow water to gently percolate to deeper horizons.

In this highly interactive seminar with ecologist, mycologist, photographer, Dr Alison Pouliot, we’ll explore these unruly fungal renegades and how they contravene the frameworks we use to understand life, but also how they might inspire the innovative thinking needed to navigate an uncertain future.

Alison will also share some stories from her adventures during the writing of her new book, Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi. 

Bookings are essential – phone the library on 6333 6281 to secure a seat.

Copies of Alison’s books will also be available for purchase.

BOOKINGS

DATE: THURSDAY 1 MAY 2025

LOCATION: Bathurst Library, 70-78 Keppel Street, 2795

TIME: 6pm

FREE TO ATTEND BUT PLEASE REGISTER HERE

 

TALK & CONVERSATION – 1st Tuesday Book Club

Puget Sound Mycological Society

First Tuesday Book Club

Alison will join five other authors (Christian White, Anna Ciddor, Amanda Hampson, Bo Kitty and Christine Newell) as part of Dymock Bookshop’s First Tuesday Book Club meeting.

Tickets are $40 each and include entry, a welcome drink, and a selection of canapes served prior to the presentation. Plus, a FREE reading copy from Dymock’s free book selection, donated by the authors’ publishers.

Alison’s new book, is both about fungi, and the photography of fungi. The title – Funga Obscura – unites the two. Through her stories we’ll cross continents and ecosystems, navigate lichen-covered landscapes, crawl in the fungal undergrowth, scale glacial extremes and duck between rainforest shadows.

See here for further forays, workshops and other events.

BOOKINGS

DATE: TUESDAY 1 APRIL 2025

LOCATION: Village Cinemas Rivoli, 200 Camberwell Road Hawthorn East, VIC 3123

TIME: TUESDAY 1 APRIL 2025 6:15 PM – 8:30 PM AEDT

COST: $40 each and includes entry, a welcome drink, and a selection of canapes served prior to the presentation. Plus, a FREE reading copy from Dymock’s free book selection.

BOOKINGS

BOOK TALK – Funga Obscura

Book Talk: Funga Obscura–Photo Journeys Among Fungi

Alison’s latest book is about fungi, and the photography of fungi.

The title – Funga Obscura – unites the two.

Beginning in elemental landscapes of ice and rock, the book traces the evolutionary path of fungi as enablers of life on land, and creators of soils and forests.

Crossing continents and ecosystems, we navigate lichen-covered landscapes, crawl in the fungal undergrowth, scale glacial extremes and duck between rainforest shadows.

Please join us at Fullers Bookshop to hear some stories of her adventures in the photographing and writing of the book.

Signed copies of Funga Obscura and Alison’s previous titles will be available for purchase.

Bookings open soon at the Fullers’ events page.

For the full listing of further launches and events, please see here.

BOOKINGS

DATE: TUESDAY 10 JUNE 2025

TIME: 5:30PM–6:30PM

LOCATION: FULLERS BOOKSHOP, 131 COLLINS STREET, HOBART, TASMANIA

BOOKINGS

BOOK LAUNCH – Funga Obscura

Book Launch: Funga Obscura

Alison’s latest book is about fungi, and the photography of fungi.

The title – Funga Obscura – unites the two.

Beginning in elemental landscapes of ice and rock, the book traces the evolutionary path of fungi as enablers of life on land, and creators of soils and forests.

Crossing continents and ecosystems, we navigate lichen-covered landscapes, crawl in the fungal undergrowth, scale glacial extremes and duck between rainforest shadows.

Please join us to celebrate the launch of her book, hear some stories of her travels in the photographing and writing of the book, and enjoy a glass of bubbles.

Funga Obscura and Alison’s previous titles will be available for purchase.

There’s no charge to attend but please register.

For the full listing of further launches and events, please see here.

FULLY BOOKED

DATE: FRIDAY 14 MARCH 2025

LOCATION: – RADIUS ART GALLERY, 76 MAIN ROAD, HEPBURN SPRINGS VIC 3461

TIME: 6:30PM–8:00PM

FREE TO ATTEND BUT PLEASE BOOK

BOOKINGS

LUNCH & TALK – Cafe Champignon

MUSHROOM LUNCH & TALK

Café Champignon: Lunch, Talk & Conversation 

Following in the French tradition of Café Philosophique, Café Champignon brings the curiosities of the Kingdom Fungi into active conversation.

While enjoying a fabulous fungus-inspired lunch Alison will introduce us to the wonders of the Kingdom Fungi. She’ll share her experiences across hemispheres in pursuit of fungi and their followers.

We will also launch Alison’s new book, which is both about fungi, and the photography of fungi. The title – Funga Obscura – unites the two.

Through her stories we’ll cross continents and ecosystems, navigate lichen-covered landscapes, crawl in the fungal undergrowth, scale glacial extremes and duck between rainforest shadows.

You’ll also have the opportunity to purchase signed copies of Alison’s books, The Allure of Fungi, Wild Mushrooming, Underground Lovers and Funga Obscura.

This event if part of the Strathbogie Festival of Fungi. You might like to catch some video highlights from the last festival at this link. 2025 promises to be an equally magical festival. See you there!

Further workshops can be viewed at this link.

FULLY BOOKED

DATE: SUNDAY 25 MAY 2025

LOCATION: Northern Republic 17 Kirkland Avenue West, Euroa

TIME: 12 midday to 2:30pm

COST: $66.50, includes lunch, talk and conversation

BOOKINGS

FORAY – Meeting with Mushrooms

MEETINGS WITH MUSHROOMS

What are all those fungi doing there in the landscape?

How do they help ecosystems function?

And which are delicious and which are deadly?

This workshop introduces participants to the diversity, ecology and curiosities of the Kingdom Fungi, specific to fungi found in the region but also within wider Australian and global contexts.

It includes an interactive session on the basics of fungus identification, where participants will get to handle, examine and identify various fungi.

Participants will also learn to recognise the various diagnostic characteristics used to identify fungi in the field. Fungi will be discussed in regard to their ecological roles and also cultural aspects such as edibility and toxicity and the importance of fungi in biodiversity conservation.

We will then partake in an exciting foray through various local ecosystems to search for species of interest.

Participants are encouraged to bring along mushrooms for identification at the workshop.

Further workshops can be viewed at this link.

 

FULLY BOOKED

DATE: FRIDAY 4 APRIL 2025

LOCATION: – YEA, VICTORIA

TIME: 10AM – 4PM

COST: 145- includes lunch and refreshments

FULLY BOOKED

WORKSHOP – Fungus Discovery Workshop

FUNGUS DISCOVERY WORKSHOP & FORAY

As part of the fabulous STRATHBOGIE FESTIVAL OF FUNGI please join us again for this signature workshop to discover all things fungal.

Relative to plants and animals, the diversity and significance of fungi is little known. Yet fungi are vital in creating and stabilising soils, nourishing and interconnecting plants, recycling nutrients, retaining and filtering water, restoring environmental damage and essentially underpinning ecosystem health and resilience.

In this workshop you’ll be treated to a display of amazing fungi collected from the region and further afield and learn about the basic principles of fungus identification, their ecological significance, and cultural aspects  such as edibility and toxicity and their use in land restoration.

Following an interactive indoor session around the specimen table, we’ll then head to Mount Wombat on an exciting hunt for fungi.

You might also like to catch some video highlights from the last festival at this link. 2025 promises to be an equally magical festival. See you there!

Further workshops can be viewed at this link.

FULLY BOOKED

DATE: SATURDAY 24 MAY 2025

LOCATION: Strathbogie Memorial Hall, Main Street, Strathbogie, VIC

TIME: 10am – 2pm

COST: $28-

BOOKINGS