Im working at the tennis but it's almost over now.
Little desert is a great place to go for a couple of days herping and I met a great mentor there.
Years ago,when I was about 15,(mid 70s)I used to go and stay with the ranger and his wife who had a house behind Kiata pub.
Kieth Hately was a very kind and passionate man and he was nice enough to let me stay with him on a few occasions and showed me the sand monitors, legless lizards, geckoes, bluetongues and dragons and other animals and birds that he shared the park with.
I would sit entranced as he spoke of the animals he loved.
Keith was a renowned ranger and naturalist with extrodinary knowledge of the natural history of the Little Desert and in many ways contributed to the Bolte government abandoning its plans to develop the area for agriculture.
We can now thank Keith for being the reason so much of the Little Desert became a national park.
In Febuary 1967 Keith was appointed the park ranger after being a volunteer ranger for the Kiata Lowan National Park for many years.
In 1939-1940 he carried out detailed measurements of temperatures in the breeding mounds of mallee fowls and many other interesting and important studies about many other species, including legless lizards and goulds sand monitors.
He died September 1st 2005 aged 94.
Im going fishing at Balnarrang tomorrow but next time you go pm me.
(Homer whisper) I think he talking about you Glen