Greys/megabats indigenous to Australian continent/Gondwana Landmass. Recorded presence in Victoria since 1880's.

1984: 200 greys settle in Fern Gully in Melbourne's Botanic Gardens. Human made `Fern Gully` provides perfect megabat habitat.

1986: Numbers grow to 1000 through increased migration. Habitat loss in NSW and Qld, increased food supply in Melbourne, good MBG microclimate and habitat, and climate change thought most likely reasons.

1986-1995: Slow increase of bat numbers. Still promoted in by MBG as `magnificent creatures` and `worlds most southerly flying fox colony`…

1995: Ecology Australia Pty Ltd commissioned to study the grey colony in the MBG and to recommend management strategies.

1996: Ecology Australia Pty Ltd submits its 1995-96 study of the MBG greys. It concludes that `…the long-term persistence of the colony at Fern Gully is an important management objective` and notes that they are a popular feature of the Gardens.

1999: Grey headed flying foxes listed as Vulnerable to Extinction under the Federal Dept of Environment's Action Plan for Australian Bats

2000: Greater numbers of greys begin to arrive in Melbourne; they navigate down the Yarra River and roost in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens. The RMBG initiates a public campaign to rid the gardens of bats. Adopts a `zero bats in the MBG` policy.

May 2000: Gardens trials use of harp trap. Kills 100 greys over several months. This has no effect on overall numbers.

Cull halted following Humane Society International's move to list species as threatened with extinction under the Threatened Species Act.

August 2000: Melbourne's Humane Society for Animal Welfare begins to lobby Melbourne's Botanic Gardens.

January 2001: Humane Society for Animal Welfare Activists begin protest actions calling on the gardens to explore non-lethal means of managing the bat situation.

Midnight protest outside gardens Director Dr Phillip Moors home with flaming torches; activists call for him to `leave them [the greys] alone`…TV and newspaper coverage.

January 13/2001: RSPCA president Hugh Wirth says `cull the bats` in Herald/Sun newspaper.

January 25/1/ 2001: Gardens convenes expert panel to discuss bat issue. Two of fourteen participants believe that culling will be effective as a solution.

Sherryl Garbutt 25/1/ says that cull may go ahead even if bats listed as endangered.

Febuary 2/2001: The Minister for Conservation and the Environment, Sheryl Garbutt, receives the Final Recommendations of her Scientific Advisory Committee to List the greys for protection under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.

Sheryl Garbutt controversially rejects the advice of her Scientific Advisory Committee.

February 14/2001: Humane Society for Animal Welfare stage protest outside Sherryl Garbutt's office at the Dept of Natural Resources and the Environment building.

March 2001: Fourteen new species added to nations endangered species list including eight species of bat. Web-site: http://austrop.org.au/ghff

March 15/2001: Humane Society for Animal Welfare holds protest in the gardens. TV coverage.

March 20/2001: Victoria's Wildlife Care Network creates website http://avoca.vicnet.au/~wildnet to promote an alternative view of the situation and to educate the public.

March 23/2001: Gardens permit to shoot greys renewed until August 2002.

March 27/2001: Gardens Director Dr Phillip Moors issues a media release stating that the gardens will begin killing greys. Hires company Wildpro to shoot greys as they sleep. Refuses to state how many are killed.

March 28/2001: HSAW President, Lawrence Pope, interviewed on Today Show about the bats in the MBG. HSAW receives hundreds of calls in support of protest.

April: 2000: Experts on website http://austrop.org.au/ghff slam the gardens. Bat and ecological authorities marshal national and international support.

April 2/2001: Activists begin tent protest vigil camping on RMBG grounds. Vigil receives TV and newspaper coverage.

April 3/4/2001: Australian Democrats Senator for Victoria Lyn Allison supports opposition to gardens; visits and addresses media on greys. National TV and newspaper coverage.

April 4/2001: Bat population in gardens halves due to cool weather.

April 11/2001: 10.30pm Shooting commences; greys observed shot on the wing. Shots fired over covert activist's head.

HSAW activists rally at 11.30pm and storm gardens - shooters chased out. Tent `vigil for non-violence` abandoned. Perimeter and covert monitoring intensifies.

April 12/2001: Animals Australia Glenys Oogjes, HSAW Lawrence Pope, Animal Liberation Director, Patty Mark, combine to hold memorial service for the greys have died in the gardens over the past two years. TV coverage.

April 15/2001: Second bat discovered dead with gunshot wounds; HSAW storm gardens 12.30am; Gardens Director Phillip Moors home besieged by vocal HSAW protesters at 2am. ABC TV and local TV coverage and all newspapers.

April 16/2001: Bat placed on parliament house steps; Gwen Parry-Jones and Kathy Davis from Wambina Bat Conservation Society, Gosford NSW, arrive and participate in media TV coverage.

April 19/2001: Australian Museum Director Mike Archer and thirty five other scientists sign letter to Federal Minister asking for intervention to save greys and to stop MBG killing further.

April 24/2001: HSAW holds protest at botanic gardens. Gardens director Phillip Moors' office under siege for two hours. Media coverage 3 TV stations.

May 1/2001: Federal Minister for Environment, Senator Robert Hill, asks Sheryl Garbutt to `please explain` why she has allowed the gardens to kill greys.

May 2/2001: Sherryl Garbutt announces establishment of a taskforce to explore options. It is to report to her by the end of June.

May 5/2001: NSW Scientific Committee Final Determination recommends the greys be listed as a `VULNERABLE SPECIES` under the Threatened Species Act.

May 10/2001: Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator Robert Hill, receives an open letter to protect grays from another fifty scientists and conservationists calling for federal protection for the greys.

May 11/2001: Australian Conservation Foundation slams Conservation and Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt for not listing the greys as advised by her Scientific Advisory Committee and for undermining the integrity of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

May 12/2001: Humane Society for Animal Welfare holds protest in Fern Gully…receives TV coverage…police threaten to arrest activists.

Female activists followed back to their cars and video filmed by gardens security firm FBIS.

May 13/2001: Activists subjected to abuse by FBIS; one has car tyres slashed outside gardens. Large scale barbed wiring of gardens perimeter fences.
Activists continue to maintain covert and overt monitoring of gardens.

May 15/2001: Resignation of Dr Martin senior member of Sherryl Garbutt's Scientific Advisory Committee; says Garbutt's position scientifically invalid and undermines Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

May 16/2001: Unknown activists chisel gardens director P. Moors name out of the stone Honour Board at the gardens. Signs spray painted with Moors Murderer, Save the Bats, Bats = Biodiversity, and the like…MBG under constant harassment.

May 16/2001: Activists harassed by FBIS outside gardens; activist threatened with a guard dog.

May 18/2001: FBIS receive legal notice from HSAW lawyers to cease harassment. Harassment abates.

May 19/2001: MBG Board members and corporate financial supporters contacted by HSAW members and activists and asked to reconsider present course of action and attitude regarding the greys.

June 8/2001: HSAW negotiates with gov't authorities. Agreement reached.

June 15/2001: MBG Director Dr Phillip Moors issues media release; culling in MBG over.

June 18/2001: HSAW receives gov't guarantee that culling over and that if considered again will be made public knowledge in the form of a media release.

HSAW will continue to monitor the well-being of the greys and will actively educate the public as to their plight, ecological role, needs and nature.

If any attempt is made to harm them, HSAW will intervene to ensure their safety.