WORKSHOP – The Third F

Workshop – The Third F

Fauna and flora are well recognised as part of biodiversity and conservation, but the Third F – the Fungi – are finally receiving more attention. In this workshop you’ll learn about the vital role of fungi in soil, plant and human health.

In this workshop we’ll use fungi as our starting point to learn about the vital architecture they provide in soils and the alliances they form with plants and animals. We’ll discover, up close, how fungi recycle vital nutrients, completing the cycle of life.

Following an interactive indoor identification session around a specimen table we’ll head to the field to the hunt for fungi and their kin. You’ll learn to recognise not just a variety of fungi but the vital clues that help us understand forest histories and health.

The forest is an archive of histories. The interactions of organisms are recorded and mapped in tracks and traces. But how do we read them? And what do they tell us about soil and forest health?

This event is sponsored by Torquay and District Landcare.

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

BOOKINGS: Lesley Evans: laevans1@bigpond.com

DATE: SATURDAY 14 JUNE 2025

TIME: 10:00am to 4:00 pm

LOCATION: Coastal Forest Lodge, Corner of Forest & Gundrys Roads, Bellbrae (enter off Forest Rd).

COST: Free for Torquay & District Landcare members, $35 for non-members. Morning tea and lunch provided. Limited to 20 participants.

BOOKINGS: Lesley Evans: laevans1@bigpond.com

FORAY – Mushroom Rendezvous

Foray – Mushroom Rendezvous

Fungi appear in all manner of guises from mushrooms to puffballs, to corals, to jellies and even kookier forms.

As we wander through the diverse habitat types of the Coastal Forest Lodge bushland, we’ll explore and examine a great range of fungi.

Participants will learn the basics of finding and identifying fungi and their associations with plants and animals.

Don’t forget to bring along your camera or magnifying glass if you have one.

This event is sponsored by Torquay and District Landcare.

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

BOOKINGS: Lesley Evans: laevans1@bigpond.com

DATE: SUNDAY 15 JUNE 2025

TIME: 10:00am to 12:oo noon

LOCATION: Coastal Forest Lodge, Corner of Forest & Gundrys Roads, Bellbrae (enter off Forest Rd).

COST: Free for Torquay & District Landcare members, $35 for non-members. Morning tea and lunch provided. Limited to 20 participants.

BOOKINGS: Lesley Evans: laevans1@bigpond.com

TALK & LAUNCH – Fabulous Fungi

Book Launch, Talk & Conversation: Fabulous Fungi

The earth’s rapidly changing climate and environmental issues have come into sharp focus through the demise of charismatic megafauna and the ‘biodiversity crisis’.

But what about stinkhorns and slime moulds?

How do fungi and their kin get our attention when they’re overshadowed by more ‘popular’ organisms?

Over the last three decades, Alison has trawled through forests around the world, working both with fungi and their followers. She has been actively involved in fungal research, education and conservation.

In this talk Alison will share some stories of her adventures during the writing and photographing of her recent book, Funga Obscura – Photo Journeys Among Fungi.

Alison’s books, The Allure of Fungi, Wild Mushrooming, Underground Lovers and Funga Obscura will be available for purchase.

For the full listing of events, please see here.

This event is hosted by the Friends of Mallacoota.

BOOKINGS OPEN SOON

SAVE THE DATE!

DATE: TUESDAY 17 JUNE

TIME: 7PM

LOCATION: Mallacoota Mudbrick Pavilion

COST: $10 including supper

SAVE THE DATE, BOOKINGS OPEN SOON

FORAY – Foray among Fungi in Mimosa Rocks NP

Foray among Fungi in Mimosa Rocks 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: FRIDAY 20 JUNE

TIME: 1:00pm  – 2:30pm

LOCATION: Tanja Lagoon Camp, 142 Haigh’s Road, Tanja, NSW, Australia

COST: $45

BOOKINGS

BOOK LAUNCH & SOIREE – Cafe Champignon

KEYNOTE: Café Champignon: Book Launch & Soiree

Following in the French tradition of Café Philosophique, Café Champignon brings the curiosities of the Kingdom Fungi into active conversation. In this interactive seminar and discussion Alison will introduce us to both the science and aesthetics of fungi. She’ll share her experiences in the field with conservation groups and rangers, First Nations people and farmers, scientists and artists and others to ponder these curious organisms through multiple lenses. In particular, we’ll explore how we might navigate the tensions between ecology, aesthetics and conservation.

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.

Afterwards, you’ll enjoy a light supper and there will be drinks available for purchase and the opportunity to purchase signed copies of Alison’s books, The Allure of Fungi, Wild Mushrooming, Underground Lovers and Funga Obscura.

For the full listing of events, please see here.

BOOKINGS

DATE: FRIDAY 20 JUNE

TIME: 6PM – 8PM

LOCATION: Bermagui Community Centre, 3-5 Bunga St, Bermagui, NSW, Australia

COST: $25

BOOKINGS

WORKSHOP – Encounters with Fungi

gunning

Encounters with Fungi – Workshop & Foray

This highly interactive four-hour workshop with both theoretical and practical components introduces participants to the diversity, ecology and curiosities of the Kingdom Fungi, specific to fungi found in region but also within a wider Australian and international context.

It includes a 90 minute session around a specimen display table where participants will learn the basics of fungus identification, fungal ecology, and the natural and cultural history of fungi. Fungi from the local area will be displayed, discussed and examined.

Following the indoor session we’ll partake in an exciting two hour foray through various local habitat types to search for species of interest. Participants will learn to recognise the various diagnostic characteristics used to identify fungi in the field and understand their ecological significance in local ecosystems.

Participants are encouraged to bring along specimens for identification.

For the full listing of events, please see here.

BOOKINGS

DATE: SATURDAY 21 JUNE

TIME: 1O:00–3PM

LOCATION: Dalmeny Community Hall

COST: $80

BOOKINGS

WORKSHOP – Encounters with Fungi

Encounters with Fungi – Workshop & Foray

This highly interactive four-hour workshop with both theoretical and practical components introduces participants to the diversity, ecology and curiosities of the Kingdom Fungi, specific to fungi found in region but also within a wider Australian and international context.

It includes a 90 minute session around a specimen display table where participants will learn the basics of fungus identification, fungal ecology, and the natural and cultural history of fungi. Fungi from the local area will be displayed, discussed and examined.

Following the indoor session we’ll partake in an exciting two hour foray through various local habitat types to search for species of interest. Participants will learn to recognise the various diagnostic characteristics used to identify fungi in the field and understand their ecological significance in local ecosystems.

Participants are encouraged to bring along specimens for identification.

For the full listing of events, please see here.

BOOKINGS

DATE: SUNDAY 22 JUNE

TIME: 11:00–3PM

LOCATION: Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden, Deep Creek Dam Rd, Batemans Bay NSW 2536, Australia

COST: $80

BOOKINGS

FORAY – Beatrix goes Bonkers

Foray: Beatrix goes Bonkers – Women, Mycology, History & the Future

This exciting female foray introduces participants to the Kingdom Fungi, in the context of the history of women’s knowledge of mushrooms.

Women are thought to have been crucial keepers of fungal lore across cultures and throughout the centuries. They knew which mushrooms could cure and which could kill. It’s been said that some philandering husbands may even have met their deaths with a deadly mushroom meal courtesy of their wives.

Interest in fungi has hit an all-time high, but in 1155 Hildegard von Bingen was already writing about them in her herball, Liber Simplicis Medicinae, some in a code that has never been fully deciphered.

Who were the pioneering female mycologists?

How did First Nations women find underground truffle fungi in the desert?

And can you name the Australian woman who has discovered at least 20 new species of fungi?

In this interactive foray, Alison will share stories of the trail-blazing women behind important mycological discoveries and those who are leading the way today and open it up to your stories as well.

C’mon ladies, don your boots, grab your magnifying glass, and come and help us find mushrooms!

For the full listing of events, please see here.

BOOKINGS

DATE: MONDAY 23 JUNE

TIME: 10:00–12:30PM

LOCATION: Tanja Lagoon Camp, 142 Haigh’s Road, Tanja

COST: $45

BOOKINGS

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

SEMINAR – Fungi

Talk with the Wisconsin Mycological Society

Alison will be returning to the Wisconsin Mycological Society to give a talk on fungi and more details will be revealed soon.

She will also be launching her two new books, Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi, and Mushroom Day, both with Uni Chicago Press.

More information soon!

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

SAVE THE DATE!

DATE: TUESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2025

VENUE: Waukesha State Bank Community Room

MORE INFORMATION AND BOOKINGS SOON.