Month: November 2024

Acacia podalyriifolia

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Acacia podalyriifolia

Many of the green spaces in this suburb have more grass than tree cover. But Alice Mawson Reserve is thick bush. I spent an hour or two meandering through, and when I emerged I was greeted by a couple of kids on their scooters. “Isn’t it great in there?” they yelled enthusiastically. “Did you see any spiders or snakes? Did you see any koalas? Did you see any lizards? How big?”

I pulled out my sketchbook and they exclaimed over it. The boy said excitedly “I draw too! Every day!” Then they were off on their scooters. The whole interaction made me smile. A couple of nascent nature journalers, perhaps?

glass house mountains

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glasshousemtns

The Glass House Mountains are a group of thirteen hills that rise sharply from a plain on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The mountains lie within the traditional lands of the Jinibara and Gubbi Gubbi people. First Nations Australians hold a rich legend surrounding these mountains, with Mt Beerwah being especially significant as the “mother” of the range.

Both Indigenous groups request that visitors refrain from climbing Beerwah and Tibrogargan out of respect for their sacred importance, a call they have voiced publicly since the mid-1990s, to little avail. In Gubbi Gubbi tradition, climbing Mt Beerwah is believed to bring bad luck.

My daughter and I did not climb Mt Tibrogargan—we circumnavigated its base, and saw some really cool invertebrates, flowers, and birds, as well as views of more distant mounts.

Wareamah

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cockatoo island

Spent a lovely day on the largest island in Sydney Harbour with Liz and Chantal, sketching and chatting up a storm.

Cockatoo Island/Wareamah has rich history, cultural significance, and expansive views of the Sydney’s iconic harbour. It served as a penal colony starting in 1839, housing convicts who worked on constructing the island’s facilities, including silos and dockyards. From the late 19th to the 20th century, the island was one of Australia’s largest shipyards. It played a significant role during both World Wars, where naval vessels were constructed and maintained. The shipyards eventually closed in 1992, but the island has since been revitalised as a public space. Definitely worth a visit—I hope to return another time.

Sydney wildlife

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harold reid

Alectura lathami

There’s an active brush turkey nest in my friends’ front yard, right below the verandah. It’s a huge mound of mulch and leaf litter, several metres wide, which the male tends daily with much scratching and shifting of the plant material as the eggs incubate deep inside.

Brush turkeys are not exactly beloved in suburban gardens, as they steal every bit of mulch they can find. Once one starts building a mound, it’s pretty much impossible to get it to stop.

If the chosen location is really inconvenient, you can try to redirect the bird’s attention to a different part of your garden by creating a compost mound. The brush turkey might be drawn to this spot and eventually adopt the compost mound as its nesting site. Good luck!