Green Space Our Place - Our Volunteers Voice - Issue 24 - September 2019

Green Space Our Place

Our Volunteers Voice

Green Space Our Place

Blazing the Tracks ‘n’ Trails

Bike trails for the south side

Curator retires after 31 years ISSUE 24 SEPTEMBER 2019

Front Page: Tracks ‘n’ Trails (from left) volunteers Patricio Lizana and Peter Hunt with GSOP Volunteer Support Officer Christian Cluver.

Back Page: Down ‘n’ Dirty / Tracks ‘n’ Trails volunteers planting out the newly installed Rainforest Boardwalk, Cairns Botanic Gardens.

From the Editor

In this issue: • From the Editor - Page 2 • Volunteer Profile - Barry Muir Page 3 • Blazing the Tracks ‘n’ Trails Pages 4-5 • South Side Mountain Bike Club - Formalising bike trails for the South Side - Pages 6-7 • Colourful fruits of the Wet Tropics Rainforest - Tom Collis Pages 8-9 • Jalarra Park - Diverse and rich community - Pages 10-11 • Did you know...? - Page 11 • Leaving behind a legacy David Warmington retires Pages 12-15 • Around the Gardens Acting Curator Charles Clarke - Page 16 • ‘Working to Save the Reef’ talk Lorraine Smith - Page 17 • Cockatoos and their cousins: intelligent cacophonous characters - Jennifer H Muir pages 18-19 • Feathered Friends - Striated Pardalote - Page 19 • Critters in the Gardens - Dr David Rentz AM - Pages 20-21 • Stinkhorn Fungi - Barry Muir Pages 22-23 Editor - Volunteers Supervisor, Louisa Grandy Proof readers - Michelle Walkden and volunteers Sandy Long, Jenn Muir Contributors - Botanic Gardens Acting Curator Charles Clarke; Volunteers Barry Muir, Jenn Muir, Dr David Rentz AM, 2 Lorraine Smith, Tom Collis and John Peter.

Welcome, With a team of four Green Space Our Place officers this year we have been able to continue building rewarding and healthy opportunities for the community and also provide extra support for weekend groups.

In July, we held a Jalarra Park Family Day to promote and acknowledge the volunteers for their hard work in clearing weed along the creek - see Pages 10-11. This proved to be a great success and also encouraged further community members to register.

Supporting the South Side Mountain Bike Club has been of great benefit to the community, with plenty of work done over the past few months to create safe tracks for bike riders - see Pages 6-7.

Cairns Botanic Gardens curator David Warmington retired after 31 years and has left a legacy behind - some photos from his long career and read his parting words on Pages 12-15.

Due to David’s retirement, we have a new writer for the ‘Around the Gardens’ column, acting Curator Charles Clarke who provides an overview of the Botanic Garden’s achievements and plans - Page 16.

Thanks to our regular contributors; we once again have some interesting articles on the tropic’s flora and fauna. Enjoy reading.

Louisa

Barry Muir has been a great supporter of the Green Space Our Place (GSOP) program, volunteering with the Down ‘n’ Dirties, sharing his knowledge at the Volunteers Information Sessions and contributing to this magazine, yet it wasn’t until I’d had time to sit down with him, did I begin to realise the extent of his experience!

Barry has led an interesting life with a variety of career paths.

“I was a foster child and was raised by my aunt and grandmother in Perth in the 50s and developed my interest in chemistry at the age of eight. There was an exhibition in a shop with a man in a white coat surrounded by glass beakers, Bunsen burners, flasks and test tubes and it caught my attention. Gradually I changed to biochemistry when I was 12 and then my interest in plants and animals evolved into biology.”

At the age of 17, Barry applied for a job with the Australian Geological Survey (AGS) as a cook’s assistant to a drilling crew in Alice Springs.

“I lied about being able to cook and also told them I was 20, and got away with it because I was tall for my age.

“Starting about 100km north-west of Alice Springs, we began drilling holes every 10km along the Tanami Track, a track that runs across the Tanami Desert from Alice Springs to Ruby Plains Station near Halls Creek via Yuendumu, Rabbit Flat, and Billiluna.

“It soon became apparent that I didn’t have a clue about cooking when I couldn’t even boil water and after a week I traded places with a line-man.

“The line-man’s job is to work with the surveyors who worked out where we were and take exact latitude and longitudes of where each hole was drilled. He was to drag a special chain made of links of a certain length through the bush following a line set up by the surveyors. At the exact distance required by the surveyors the next drill site was marked out: no laser range-finders or GPS in those days, it was all done by sun and star-sightings.

“It was during this time I developed a great respect and appreciation of drillers, bulldozer drivers and similar manual labourers. They were rough; their language heavily laced with expletives and not known for their personal hygiene.

This was totally offset by their willingness to muck in to do any job, no matter how

Louisa Grandy nasty, their generosity and their support if you were feeling down or lonely or hurt yourself.”

At the end of the expedition, which had lasted three months, Barry was invited by one of the line-men, Aboriginal man called Shorty (because he was so tall) to join him and his family who lived at a bush camp called Yargarri in the Little Sandy Desert near Lake Disappointment.

Barry lived off the land with the family for three months which, was one of the best experiences of his early life.

“The people accepted me immediately and called me ‘ari’, a corruption of Barry.

They then set out to teach me all about their lives, initially using Shorty as a translator.

“They taught me how to track animals, how to throw a spear, how to find food and what to look for if in need of water.

“The adult men would go hunting using spears and rarely came back without a kangaroo or Bustard (Plains Turkey) and the older boys would collect lizards, mice and other small critters. The women and girls would go foraging for tubers, bulbs, berries and seeds which were either directly edible or could be eaten after some preparation such as grinding and cooking.

“Even the kids were involved and would sometimes catch a lizard and eat it raw on the spot, which didn’t appeal to me at first but after a couple of weeks I got used to eating plant material mixed with sand and meat that was still squirming.

“We didn’t always have full bellies and sometimes would go for a day or two without much to eat but we were warm at night with kangaroo skins and the water supply from the soak seemed endless.

“They also set out to teach me Nung (or Ngng), which they spoke and which I later found out was a local version of Pintjatjarpa. A very musical language but hard for me to grasp because I had trouble with the ‘ng’ and ‘dj’ sounds and the fact that they spoke at such high speed. I learned to speak it slowly, but they had to slow right down before I could understand them.

“When Shorty and I headed back to Newman several of the men and women and girls cried. So did I. I had learned a huge respect for the traditional Aboriginal way of life, their knowledge, survival skills and friendliness.”

Barry Muir sharing his knowledge with Sarah

When he returned, Barry gained work experience as a bottle washer in the the university’s zoology department and his interest in zoology grew from being surrounded by the ongoing discussions. It was soon after that he took up studying both zoology and geology.

“Part way through my studies, the mining industry collapsed so I changed from a zoology/geology major to botany as there were plenty of jobs in forestry and agriculture, so I finished up as a botanist.

“I’ve worked as a laboratory technician at the University of WA and as a botanist for the WA Museum studying wheatbelt conservation reserves. I then worked for WA National Parks managing environmental aspects such as fire, weed management and recreation planning. I then joined a consulting company doing minesite impact assessment, rehabilitation work and pollution management. Some of that work was in Indonesia and the Philippines and was great experience.

In his mid-40s, Barry and his wife Jenn established a consulting firm “Muir Environmental” and this took them to various places conducting environmental studies for minesites and developments in Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia.

“Jenn and I both agree that the highlight of both our careers was consulting and juggling several very different jobs at the same time and being sent overseas to exotic places at somebody else’s expense!

We have so many stories to share from this experience.”

Now Barry spends a great deal of his time studying tropical fungi, sharing his findings with Brisbane Museum and his knowledge with fellow volunteers. His presentations for the GSOP program and Friends of the Botanic Gardens Cairns always attract a large audience.

3

Russell and Rob lifting out an old set of steps.

Peter taking out a broken step to be replaced.

Peter, Rob and Joanne satisified with another step replacement job well done!

Patricio, Peter and Rob tamping cold mix between steps.

4

Patricio and Igusti adding a pre-fabricated step on the Red Arrow Track.

Liliana and Hiromi building a new bench.

Peter, Russell and Aude - pre-fab steps are very heavy work.

Kea, Joanne, Dave, Hiromi and Sarah laying cold mix between steps on the Red Arrow Track

Blazing the Tracks ‘n’ Trails

The Tracks ‘n’ Trails volunteers are a tough bunch, and revel in sweating it out on the hillslopes of the Botanic Gardens Arrow Tracks each Wednesday in all weather conditions.

The tracks have received a beating this year with the extended wet period, bringing with it a challenge to keep them open and safe. Our volunteers have risen to this challenge and have achieved some incredible results, which has been well received by the track users.

So far this year they have laid over 180 square metres of cold-mix, made and installed 29 timber steps and 22 pre-cast concrete and stone steps. They have also carted hundreds of decomposed granite bags up the tracks for resurfacing and silt trap construction, along with the extensive general maintenance that goes with our exciting and physical program.

BEFORE

AFTER 5

South Side Mountain Bike Club

South Side Mountain Bike Club volunteers widening the bike trail.

Tamping down the dirt on the track surface.

6

Improving the climb up the hill.

Formalising bike trails for south side

South Side Mountain Bike Club (SSMBC) and Green Space Our Place (GSOP) have partnered to formalise existing bike trails and develop new trails on the south side of Cairns.

The area is located behind the Walker Road Sporting Precinct and more specifically, along Blackfellows Creek and behind the West Edmonton Reservoir.

In the progress of this trail development, the SSMBC has slow-cleared the area surrounding the creek of invasive weeds, debris and assorted rubbish with working bees being held during the week and also on weekends.

Cr John Schilling (left) with Daryl Blain, president of the South Side Mountain Bike Club.

Existing trails have been cleared and new paths forged with the culmination being a kids’ trail known as “Elephant Ears” being officially opened on June 23 with a children’s social day and ride fundamentals clinic. More recently an XC Loop was mapped out and transformed into a ridable loop for more experienced riders.

These trails are just the beginning of what is hoped to become a much larger trail network for the south side of Cairns. The vision is to continue to formalise and extend the existing trails, repair neglected tracks and develop new, more advanced trails as well as re-vegetate the cleared river area with native flora.

Formalising the existing south side bike trails.

Patricio lends a hand.

Cr John Schilling (centre) worked alongside the community on the bike trail.

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Northern White Beech Gmelina fasciculiflora

Pink Jitta Fagraea cambagei

Tar Tree fruit Semecarpus australiensis

Native Olive Olea paniculata 8

Fibrous Satinash Syzygium fibrosum

Davidson’s Plum Davidsonia pruriens

Blue Flax Lily Dianella caerulea

Velvet Leaf, Callicarpa pedunculata

Blue Quandong, Elaeocarpus angustifolius

Colourful fruits of the Wet Tropics Rainforests TOM COLLIS

In the Australian bush it is mainly in the rainforest that you will find trees with lots of different colourful fruits. There is a good reason for this and it is due to the way plants spread their seeds. Some plants, such as grasses, have very light seeds and use the wind to carry them to another place. Plants in the mangroves have seeds that float to aid in dispersal. With these methods of dispersal, colour in seeds or fruit is unnecessary.

In the dense rainforests of the Wet Tropics many plants rely on animals to spread seeds away from the parent plant and the bright colours of the ripe fruits attract the attention of wildlife such as Fruit-doves, Fruit-bats, Musky Rat Kangaroos, Bush Rats and Cassowaries.

Many bird species eat the fruit and pass the seeds, undamaged, through their digestive system to another location. Fruits with large seeds are often carried to a different place where the fruit is eaten and the seed discarded. Rainforest plants are so dependent on animals for seed dispersal that nearly 70 percent of Australia’s rainforest plants produce fleshy, colourful fruits that are edible for birds and mammals.

Rainforest plants have evolved traits to prevent animals from eating the immature fruits and often contain chemicals that make unripe fruit poisonous or unpalatable. Another method plants use to ensure the seeds are fully developed in a fruit is by camouflage. Many unripe fruits are green and well hidden among the green foliage in the rainforest. As the fruits ripen

Cape Tamarind Toechima daemelianum they change colour and are easily located by birds and mammals.

Fruits eaten by birds are generally vibrantly coloured red, orange, yellow, blue or white, whereas bat-dispersed fruits are often duller colours such as brown.

Although the colourful rainforest fruits provide food for wildlife many fruits are extremely toxic to humans. It is advisable, therefore, to avoid eating any rainforest fruits without expert advice. The bright orange fruits of the Tar Tree, Semecarpus australiensis, for example, are eaten by Cassowaries but are very poisonous to humans.

9

Jalarra Park

Cr Linda Cooper (centre) acknowledging the efforts of the Jalarra Park volunteers at the family day event.

Diverse and rich community

A social time for all at the Jalarra Park Family Day event.

Face painting was popular with the younger crowd.

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The Jalarra Park Family Day event, held on Sunday 21 July in Stratford, was a great success in promoting the park and acknowledging the efforts of the volunteers over these past few years and their work to rejuvenate the seasonal creek area.

The morning event was attended by about 100 participants ranging in ages from babes in arms to retirees, as well as newcomers to the area and long-time residents. It was an excellent snap-shot of the diversity and rich community in our region.

A fig tree was planted by Cr Linda Cooper to provide morning shade for the new playground. There was also a sausage sizzle and face painting.

Especially popular was volunteer Rob Jago’s tour of the significant trees in the park. About 25 people followed Rob as he identified the trees, talked about their characteristics and enlivened the tour with some historical and cultural aspects.

Following Rob’s tour, the GSOP program had an influx of new volunteers wanting to sign up for the Jalarra Park group (pictured right).

This event was a wonderful example of how collaboration between council and community enriches our lives.

Volunteer Dr Bob Jago (right) talked about the park’s flora and fauna.

Jalarra Park volunteer Bridget weeding Singapore Daisy.

Jalarra Park volunteers, Les and Hazel following a morning of weeding.

The Jalarra Park Family Day event attracted new recruits to the volunteer group pictured with our regulars weeding on Sunday 18 August (and right).

DID YOU KNOW...?

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Not all frogs spend their ‘childhood’ as ‘free-swimming’ tadpoles. The endangered Northern Gastric-brooding Frog female of rainforest ro ef e streams carries her tadpoles r T White-lipped in her stomach, and the resulting froglets are expelled through her mouth.

Nursery-frogs and Whistling-frogs eggs are laid on moist earth and fully-developed froglets emerge.

Some stream tadpoles have large sucker mouth-parts that enable them to cling to rocks in fast-flowing streams. This reduces tadpole losses that would otherwise occur in fast-

JENNIFER H. MUIR

flowing water, particularly during floods. Many tadpoles would be swept away, but those with the strongest ‘grip’ have a better chance of clinging on and surviving to breeding age.

Even then however, as with all nature, only some young will ever reach adulthood. Life is tough ‘out there’. It enables the best, strongest genes to be passed on to following generations, increasing the chances of survival of any given species.

Australia’s Wet Tropics, a narrow reasonably continuous area of rainforest between Cooktown and Rollingstone (north of Townsville), has 42% of Queensland’s frog fauna. The rainforest within the Wet Tropics is home to 17 species of frogs.

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Watkins Munro Martin Conservatory opens in 2015

Leaving behind a legacy Cairns Botanic Gardens curator David Warmington retires after 31 years

thought this is where I would like to be! About a year later, I returned as a gardener on Dunk Island planting out exotic fruit trees and palms with my friend Jeff Crowe.

David was farewelled at a special afternoon tea on Wednesday 10 July, attended by staff, volunteers, and the many botanical friends he had met over the past three decades. Following are the words he shared at his send-off.

This was the grounding and start of my interest in tropical plants both native and exotic.

So it has been an amazing role to have had as the curator of these gardens however there comes a time when one needs to make a change and move on. I’m 65 next month and want to make the most of my retirement.

The director, Jim Malcolm moved out to Martyn Street and I moved into the big office in the red brick house and the rest is history.

I returned to Gladstone, my home area, working in the landscape nursery industry. My break came when I took up the position of technical officer for the Gladstone Botanic Thank you all for coming to say farewell. This is definitely Gardens. This was a new garden starting from the absolute beginning with no infrastructure (buildings, pathways one of the biggest steps I’ve made in my career. irrigation, bridges, or roads) let alone plants. It was a great Some people would say that 31 years is a long time to be experience! in the one job and yes, I would agree with them. However, this has been no ordinary job – a unique job – the only wet North Queensland was still calling and about five years later tropical botanic gardens in Australia (at the moment) and I saw a job advertised for the deputy director of Parks and also one of the finest tropical botanic gardens in the world Recreation for Cairns City Council.

- it was a job not to be taken lightly.

Not long after I arrived there was a restructure (one of many It hasn’t been the type of job that you easily switch or over the years) and I ended up with the Botanic Gardens change employers for better conditions. Unlike some other precinct. When the dust settled (in this case, probably when professions, to be the curator of a Botanic Gardens, you the rain stopped) and I looked around, ‘I thought, this is not too bad, this is what I love, what a great opportunity’. may just have to wait until someone retires!

How I became Curator of Cairns Botanic Gardens I studied for a Bachelor degree in Applied Science in Rockhampton in the 70s. Jobs for a professional biologist were few and far between then and apart from the country being in a recession the environment wasn’t of huge concern.

There probably wasn’t a great interest in the Botanic Gardens in those days. We started the Friends of the Gardens and began doing a few projects and events. I think this was the first real step to engaging the community and the Council.

With the amalgamation of the Mulgrave Shire and Cairns City Council, Sugarworld became part of the Botanic I decided to do a motorcycle tour of north Queensland. Gardens. I’d like to acknowledge Ian Lindsay who was the Reaching Mission Beach and looking out to Dunk Island, I Director of Parks and my supervisor at the time. Also to Fran 12

Exploring Borneo - Licuala orbicularis

With a Nepenthes rajah in Borneo

Lindsay, a councillor at the time representing the Edmonton Thank you area and now president of the Sugarworld Friends and a Over the years we have had, and continue to have, very huge supporter and watchdog of the Sugarworld Garden. positive and flattering comments about these Gardens and I I arrived here in 1988, the year the Wet Tropics were listed know that everyone who is associated with them also hears on the World Heritage Register and became involved in these comments and are very proud to be part of this place. the excitement and new discoveries with our native flora, It is that passion at all levels that makes this place what it is, joining with the Society for Growing Australian Plants to so I must sincerely thank everyone past and present, mayors, learn about our own unique flora. councillors, CEOs, managers, staff, Friends and volunteers I was to experience the wave of excitement when collectors who have all contributed to make the Gardens what they of palms, gingers, heliconia and rare fruits were still are today. scrambling to get a seedling of the Purple Mangosteen or At this point I must say that Cairns Regional Council has a seedling of the Sealing Wax Palm. Now there are Purple been a great employer. We are always well resourced and Mangosteen fruit lying on the ground, driven over by trucks well trained with great work conditions and a safe work and cars and only the very best picked and eaten. environment. We are also given opportunities to progress Today we have some 7,000 accessions in our database – our careers through study assistance. that doesn’t mean that they are all still here. This reflects I would like to pay particular appreciation to the staff on the the diversity of plants that we have introduced. We have ground. They are the ones making these Gardens a pleasure lost a lot of plants over the years too for various reasons to be in; working in the heat, rain, mosquitoes and also, of – cyclones, dry times, pest and disease and even neglect of course, ideal weather conditions. their special requirements.

Under the leadership of the two ‘Daves’, Mr Parsons and Mr Paschetto, we have a well-resourced and highly skilled Science and Education Our work here has not been limited to these Gardens. Plants team of horticulturalists looking after this great asset. have been sent to many other organisations nationally and We have some very knowledgeable staff with Charles Clarke, internationally for scientific and educational purposes. a world authority on pitcher plants who will be acting in my

We recently sent Breadfruit trees to the National Maritime position; Ben Allgood, a walking talking palm encyclopaedia; Museum in Sydney for an exhibition on the ‘Mutiny on the Chris Thompson, a heliconia and ginger enthusiast; Peter Valmadre, who has been growing orchids all of his life; Bounty’ that opened in August.

Sonja Powell, who knows every plant, sprinkler head and We have even been able to help the gorillas at Werribee rock disguised as a valve box in the Flecker Garden; Dean Zoo. In their natural habitat they eat a particular ginger and Austin, with his team able to respond to any crisis at the without that they develop a heart condition. I was contacted drop of a hat; Robert ‘Crowie’ Obah, who has been here about five years ago to see if we had the plant. As there were almost as long as I have and knows the place like the back none in Australia, seed was sourced from botanic gardens of his hand; and all the people around the place. And, of in Edinburgh, Scotland and Bonn in Germany. The nursery course, everyone else who makes up the Botanic Gardens team has since grown the plant and are in the process of team. bulking up numbers for the zoo and happy gorillas.

Continued Page 14-15 13

- Peter Shanahan, retired interpretive officer has probably encouraged, engaged and entertained every school kid in Cairns over the years with his amazing stories of plants and animals, and he is still doing it as a volunteer! Last year Peter provided his educational talks to about 32 school classes; that’s about 800 students.

And of course, all the other Friends functions. With President Val Schier providing support and direction there is a great future ahead.

There have also been past employees who have made a huge contribution. Long-term employees such as Steve ‘Jacko’ Jackson and Keith English - both nursery men playing a key role in the development of the plant collection.

I’m sure the collection of plants will continue with the enthusiasm of the current team. I’ve only one piece of advice – plant the right plant in the right place.

Pinnacle of horticultural achievement - the first flowering of the Amorphohallus titanum.

The plant collectors In North Queensland we have been fortunate to have had a number of plant collectors travel the world in search of the best of the best tropical plants over the years. People like Alan Carle, Arden Dearden, Bill Beattie and the late Richard Trapnell to name a few. They have risked a great deal to do this but I’m sure had a great time doing it.

I recall a young clean-shaven bloke in suit and tie coming into our very small library (at that stage) looking for books on Palms of New Guinea. He would soon ditch the suit and tie to travel the remote areas of New Guinea and come back with documentary videos, palm seeds and amazing tales. Many would know I’m talking about Michael Ferrero – now known around the world for his passion for plants, knowledge and astute memory. This man is the walking, talking Botanical Encyclopaedia.

A special thanks to the Green Space Our Place team Louisa Grandy, Sarah Gosling, Christian Cluver and Sarah Olds and the volunteers, who have made a huge contribution as they happily go about their work. Watching them destroy a 10 cubic metre pile of mulch or restore a weed infested site is an amazing sight. And the mountain man Christian, who has the ‘highest’ paid job in Cairns, sees no job too big or too small; a human machine.

Michael has made a huge contribution to these gardens over Marcelle Kentwell, thank you for your assistance in the earlier the years, having worked here a number of times over and times, especially in setting up the shop and procedures for bringing in new plants when returning home and giving the Visitor Centre in 2011 and Ann Chalmers, for continuing public talks on his travels. on with your cheerful greetings and directional information So what have been the great moments? to our visitors at the centre.

Definitely the flowering of the Amorphophallus titanum. This Thank you to the Friends of the Gardens members past is the pinnacle of horticultural achievement for any botanic and present - I know our Friends of the Gardens group garden. and while it was the expertise of Amorphophallus is the envy of many a botanic garden in Australia. I look specialist Steve Jackson, it was the Cairns Botanic Gardens back and think about the contribution that they have made; that was on the news locally and nationally when this plant it’s not just their incredible financial contribution but also flowered. Then, later it held the Australian record of the the community awareness and sense of ownership for the tallest inflorescence at 2.83m.

Gardens that has been generated.

The construction and opening of the Watkins Munro Martin In particular, the Friends’ quiet achievers like: Conservatory in 2015 was another huge event for me.

- Judith Pederson who is keeping our library organised; Looking back on the records, the Friends of the Gardens - The Gardeneers, who religiously and happily turn up every week to propagate plants and sell plants. The money they raised has allowed us to purchase many rare and expensive plants over the years;

started raising money for this in 2003 based upon a concept plan by Anton van de Schans. Anton is another person I would be remiss not to mention as he had a big influence on these gardens though his collections, knowledge and advice.

- Lee Ross and Norma Wright, who took on the Friends Anton now works at ‘Gardens by the Bay’ in Singapore. garden tours and were the first “Down ‘n’ Dirty” volunteers; And thanks to Peter Shanahan (retired at that point as - John Seale, every Tuesday has a line-up of birders following president of the Friends) for successfully negotiating further him around the precinct to see if they can spot some of the with council to eventually make funds available.

140 possible species; 14

Today we have a facility housing an amazing display of tassel

ferns, pitcher plants, understory palms, aroids and orchids; I think I could comfortably say the best public display of tropical plants in Australia.

What am I going to do?

Everyone asks me this question each time I say I am retiring. Firstly, I must look after my health – as you all know you’re not going to enjoy life without it.

Cairns is home and I have no intention of pulling up stumps and relocating. I have a very close friend who lives in the Hinchinbrook area and look forward to spending more time with her and exploring that region of North Queensland. We intend to do some ‘Grey Nomading’ at some stage – I am now qualified for that position!

I also look forward to some slow travel into the Northern Territory, northern WA, and do the Savanah Way; I see that sign on the highway going home and think I must do that one day. I also look forward to some travel in South East Asia. And of course, spending time with family like my son Ryan and two grandchildren who live in New Zealand.

David with Nigel Tucker from Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service which donated rare and threatended native trees to the Gardens.

I’ve got a nice little boat that will get me offshore on a good day, that needs more regular use! And I’ve got a long list of house and gardens projects I’m looking forward to getting into. So that should keep me busy!

But it’s not all about good times. I would also like to give and to help others less fortunate. I haven’t decided where or when. I will just allow that to unfold.

One thing I can say is there has never been a dull moment! I wish you all the best in your careers and hope when you reach retirement you are physically, mentally and financially healthy and can enjoy that last stage in life.

Cheers, David

David with Mayor Bob Manning at the opening of the Conservatory.

Teams from the Cairns and Lae botanic gardens and the Australian Tropical Herbarium met to discuss ways of collaborating with the Lae Botanic Gardens and the Forest Research Institute in Lae.

Living the dream!

Amid cyclone destruction. David saw a number of cyclones during his time as curator.

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Around the Gardens ACTING CURATOR CHARLES CLARKE

2019 is a momentous year for Cairns Botanic Gardens, with the retirement of David Warmington, the gardens’ curator for 30 years.

In his time here, David built the gardens into one of the world’s finest tropical displays of ornamental plants, with significant collections of a number of plant groups, such as palms, heliconias and gingers.

The end of one era ushers in the start of a new one, and we are well placed to take advantage of the wonderful legacy that David leaves us.

Our goal is to continue to strive to make the Cairns Botanic Gardens ‘world-class’, and while we have already ticked many of the required boxes, there are numerous challenges ahead.

The first of these is to appoint a new curator. I am very honoured to act in this role while the search for David’s replacement proceeds and, while doing so, I am carrying forward some projects that are already underway, in addition to developing some new ones for this financial year.

One major project that was completed just before David retired was the construction of a new rainforest boardwalk through the lowland swamp forest, complete with new interpretive signage at the northern end of the path, adjacent to Collins Avenue. The new structure is built largely from composite materials and is expected to last much longer than the previous wooden boardwalk. The new version is also wider than the old one, making it easier for groups to pass each other.

The aim of the boardwalk is to provide a relaxing, immersive experience in a patch of remnant lowland swamp forest – a vegetation type that once occupied much of the built-up area of the city of Cairns. By taking their time and walking slowly along the path, we hope that visitors will be able to spot birds and other animals along the way, and appreciate a habitat that is not normally accessible, due to the fact that it is flooded for much of the year and muddy for most of the rest of it.

Such a substantial project has, of course, resulted in damage to plants adjacent to the boardwalk, and we are grateful for the help of the Green Space Our Place staff and volunteers who have done extensive replanting along the boardwalk at the worst-affected sites. If all goes well, these plants will grow quickly to close the gaps and in a couple of years it will be hard to see where the disturbances were.

One challenge that we have encountered this year has been in the nursery, in the form of a very poor flowering season for our orchids. Last year, we had an excellent flowering season from June to September, but by comparison this year we are seeing fewer blooms and earlier flowerings.

The good news is that many of our plants are now in excellent health, after several years where they were affected by a variety of diseases. It’s not unusual to have a poor flowering year when we have a big, extended wet season. The fact that we are still getting good falls of rain in early August is testament to how wet this year has been. So, all we can do is appreciate the orchids that are flowering and make sure they are all in good nick, in the hope that we can have a better season in 2020.

Despite the relatively poor showing by the orchids this year, the conservatory display is performing very well and, as always, the gardens are a delight to be in at this time of year, so enjoy the last few weeks of cooler weather before the temperatures start to climb again!

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‘Working to save the Reef’ talk It isn’t news that coral bleaching has seriously affected large sections of the Great Barrier Reef over the past few years. Some sections are slowly recovering naturally. Others are not. And this is where research scientists like Katie Chartrand of James Cook University come in.

Katie’s field is in the ecology and photo-physiology of tropical marine organisms in coastal habitats at risk.

Previous work on coral photo-physiology and larval recruitment success in the Caribbean enabled her to get back into coral research on the Reef last year.

She is now co-leading a project to increase coral larvae settlement in the northern Reef. This research is one of six innovating ideas funded by the Federal and Queensland Governments. The methods used will include rearing millions of coral larvae with improved performance and uptake of the symbiotic algae required for coral survival before the team settles the larvae directly on affected reef areas.

To find out how the project is faring come to the Friends of the Botanic Gardens guest speaker night on Wednesday 11 September when Katie will talk about the work she and her team are involved in.

The event, to be held in the Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, starts at 6pm with a light supper: $5 for FOBG members; $10 for visitors.

Lorraine Smith FOBG PR & Publicity Officer

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Cockatoos and their cousins: intelligent

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Many cockatoo and parrot species are considered very intelligent with a well-recognised capacity for play. It is believed they have time to play because much of their food is easier to find than that of most other bird species, thereby allowing them spare time on their hands, or rather, their feet.

To many of us, it looks like these birds get much enjoyment out of life. There are numerous stories of their play.

I’ve seen a group of a dozen Galahs (which are cockatoos) taking it in turns, in pouring rain, to spin around and down the wet guywire of a power pole making much noise about it. Each Galah flew to the top of the guy-wire and spun all the way down, usually closely followed by the rest of the ‘mob’. They would stop before hitting the ground and fly, in turn, back to the top screeching and squawking and keeping the ‘conga line’ going. Thus there was a funny, repetitious, colourful and cacophonous, continuous line of pink and grey feathers rapidly spinning down the wire. Some Galahs paddled their feet in puddles of water, after a good spin, to cool their tootsies.

We often see Corellas playing by hanging upside down, flapping their wings and screeching loudly, presumably having a great time.

First, you hang upside down and give the world a ‘cheeky grin’ and some squawks and screeches … then you let go and fall down….then you flap up and grab the branch again ... then you repeat the fun….all over again.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos also play and screech cacophonously, raising their beautiful yellow crests, and sometimes their wings, in great excitement.

In northern Australia, normal social units of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are pairs or small parties. However, in southern Australia, large flocks congregate after the breeding season.

When they inhabit open country, these intelligent birds have a ‘sentinel warning system’. A few watch from trees while the rest of the ‘mob’ is feeding on the ground. When the ‘sentinels’ 18

Palm Cockatoo

Galah

notice danger, they screech loud warnings to the flock, which immediately takes off with much raucous outcry.

Corellas (of which there are several species and races), Sulphurcrested Cockatoos, and Galahs are quite widespread through much of Australia.

Black-Cockatoos (Australia has several species) delight in snipping off eucalypt nuts, pine cones, and other suitable objects such as twigs, deliberately dropping them onto cars or metal roofs, to make a loud noise, usually accompanied by much screeching and fun. They obviously enjoy this as they keep repeating the action.

This is clearly intelligence and the birds have learned to do this for their own gratification and enjoyment.

On the northern Cape York Peninsula, male Palm Cockatoos have learned to use tools. As a part of their courtship display, they drum on their specifically chosen dead tree trunk with a stick or large seed pod that they hold in their foot, while pirouetting around the top of the trunk. Thus the Palm Cockatoo has learned to use a tool – its own ‘drumstick’ and a tree ‘drum’. This implies the ability of this species to learn and knowingly utilise the benefits of such an action.

Palm Cockatoos also have a great penchant for communal play that includes upside down, wing-flapping, crest-raising performances.

The Palm Cockatoo pictured, perched in a Beach Almond tree holds, in its left foot, one of the fruits to extract the seeds for ‘breakfast’.

Human speech in some parrots is well known. The African Grey Parrot is considered one of the most intelligent birds on earth.

Its ability to remember and speak long, meaningful phrases of human language, such as lines of poetry and swear words (innocently); remember numbers and know how to count; to understand and answer questions; and to obey commands, is well known.

Unfortunately, this has made this parrot species very appealing

cacophonous characters Feathered Friends JENNIFER H. MUIR as pets, and around 20 per cent of the wild population is taken every year, with many individuals dying in transit. The threat to this species by this human desire and the resulting pet trade is very concerning.

In New Zealand, another highly intelligent parrot species, the Kea, delights in screwing off the valve caps of car tyres, and putting its beak down the valve to release the air, enjoying the wonderful wind in its feathers as it blows onto its face; while the tyre goes flat.

Keas also love to pull the rubber strips out of car windscreen wipers and door frames, and many a car has been visited upon by these mischievous little rogues.

They are often called the Clever Clown of the New Zealand Alps, and are known to be rather feisty.

New Zealand’s Kea is one of the other most intelligent birds on earth. It can solve logical puzzles, for example, pushing objects in a certain order to reach food. And these birds will work together (collective intelligence) to achieve a certain objective.

But, perhaps the most wonderful story of all was, again, thanks to a Kea. One early morning in New Zealand some campers carefully closed everything in their tent and zipped up the front to prevent unwanted access.

When they returned that night they found the front zip had been almost fully opened, and when they went inside they found opened containers and a mess of flour and honey on the tent floor and walls. Then in the torchlight they saw a small, round whitish ’ghost’ sitting stock-still at the back of the tent amidst all the chaos. When the campers got closer, they realised it was a Kea that had got into first the honey and then the flour.

The resulting picture was a very unhappy Kea with all its feathers ‘glued’ together with honey and coated in white flour! That’s one cheeky Kea that came ‘unstuck’ due to its own intelligence and mischief.

Little Corella

Andrew Silcocks

Striated Pardalote The Striated Pardalote is one of Australia’s smallest birds. The combination of their size and habit of foraging among foliage in the canopy of Eucalypt forests means they’re often difficult to spot. However, their distinctive notes — sometimes rendered as ‘pick-up’ or ‘pick-it-up’ — readily betray their presence.

The name ‘pardalote’ means spotted, but not all pardalotes have spots, with the Striated Pardalote being the odd one out, though in the treetops it’s hard to tell.

Striated Pardalotes have quite a specialised diet, feeding mostly on ‘lerp’ — sugary deposits left on the surface of gum leaves by sap-sucking insects called psyllids. They also eat other invertebrates in the treetops and manna from eucalypts.

Around Cairns, Striated Pardalotes usually nest in tunnels dug into vertical surfaces: creek banks, roadside cuttings, termite mounds and even the sides of wheel ruts or holes dug by pigs. They also nest in tree hollows (though that’s more usual down south). At the end of the tunnel, they build a cup-shaped or domed nest of bark and grass, where they lay up to five eggs. Like many hollow-nesting birds, their eggs are white, with no spots or blotches, as camouflage is unnecessary in the darkness.

Though they are small, some Striated Pardalotes undertake long-distance movements, even across the sea, but they don’t reach as far north as Cairns. In north-eastern Queensland, Striated Pardalotes don’t migrate, though they may make some local movements, and they can be heard in the treetops throughout the year.

JOHN PETER BirdLife Australia 19

2. A mantispid, Euclimacia nuchalis, with a strong resemblance to a wasp.

3. Euclimacia nuchalis, with slightly dierent colour pattern but distinctly wasp-like.

4. Mantis octospilota, a large common mantis showing the forelegs.

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Critters in the Gardens DR DAVID RENTZ AM

Mantis or Mantispid

1. A common large mantid, Hierodula majuscula

A good example of convergent evolution DR DAVID RENTZ MA

Almost every time we run a light sheet we encounter mantispids. To the uninitiated, they look like praying mantids with lacey wings. But they are completely unrelated to the mantids.

carried around for a time, an action called phoresy. The mantispid larva may wait for the female spider to put down an egg case, then occupies it. During their time on the spider the larva may feed on haemolymph of Mantispids are member of the order Neuroptera, the the spider. The mantispid larva dines on the spider net-winged insects that include lacewings, antlions eggs. The tiny mantispid larvae are called triungulins. and the like. They undergo complete metamorphosis, Australia is rich in mantispid species. Some look like that is, they have an egg, larva and pupal stage. lacewings, others have a strong resemblance to large Mantids on the other hand are members of their own wasps (2, 3). Because they are parasites, and the variable order, the Mantodea (1). They undergo incomplete quality of the ‘food’ of the host, some individuals of metamorphosis, that is, the little mantis looks similar the same species may be much larger than others. to the adult. During its maturation it undergoes a Convergence is obvious when comparing the forelegs number of moults, each stage looking a little more of both mantids and mantispids. Convergence is like the adult. There is no larval or pupal stage. Female defined as the independent development of similar mantids produce an oĂśtheca, a frothy case containing features in unrelated organisms. The forelegs of a number of eggs. both mantids and mantispids have evolved to look Mantispids have a more elaborate life history. Many are parasites of a variety of other insects, especially spiders. The very young mantispid larvae search for a host, or they may burrow through the silk of a spider egg sac. The larvae may also attach to a spider and be

very similar. They serve the same function in both organisms. Both mantids and mantispids are predators and use the forelegs to capture prey insects (4). Further information can be found on my post: http://bunyipco. blogspot.com/2012/11/mantids-or-mantispids.html

21

Phallus rubicundus

Stinkhorn Fungi

Stinkhorn fungi are so named because most of them produce a foul smell to attract flies and other insects that then carry the fungus spores to new places where the fungi can grow.

Starfish Fungus

Orange Crinoline

BARRY MUIR

ring expands, slides downwards and stretches to form the very delicate and attractive crinoline ‘skirt’. The purpose of the skirt is unknown, but it may help to attract insects. The spore mass forms in sponge-like pits on the head. It smells Recent research in Japan has found that spores are not like dog faeces and thus attracts blowflies and other flies. often carried on the feet of flies because flies constantly While many fungi species are directly necessary to maintain clean their feet. They ‘taste’ through them and would not the health of the rainforest and many of our food plants, be able to find food if their feet were dirty! Most spores are the primary aim of fungi such as the Stinkhorns is recycling. carried undigested in the gut of the fly, having been picked They decompose cellulose and other plant and animal up accidentally while the fly feeds on sugary substances in materials and convert it back into simple substances that the spore goo (called the gleba). can then be used by plants, soil animals and other fungi.

Some Stinkhorns are very common in the Cairns Botanic Other information and pictures of Stinkhorns were Gardens. They mostly grow on beds of mulch, especially presented in Issue 12, September 2016. within the first year after the mulch has been laid. Decay Since then three other species of Stinkhorn have been of the woody material has just started and the mulch is still found in the Gardens. The most spectacular of these is rich in complex sugars. These complex sugars are necessary Colus, the Cage Fungus. This has only been found once, for the fungus to form fruit bodies and the occurrence of near Saltwater Lake. fruiting depends on how quickly the fungus can convert the Equally attractive is a small, undescribed species of Mutinus fungus with beautiful blood-red tops and brilliantly white sugars to energy. stems.

The real fungus grows as threads called hyphae which occur amongst the mulch and litter, and what we see above ground Another species called Phallus rubicundus occurs from time to is the fungal fruit body, like an apple on a tree. When soil time around the big Teak Tree just near the Conservatory, and weather conditions are right and there is enough sugar and in the Tropical Fruit Gardens near Saltwater Lake. available from the mulch, the Stinkhorn hyphae produce an Phallus rubicundus stems have an unusually high content of ‘egg’ about the size of a marble or ping-pong ball, depending manganese, iron and potassium, though the reason for this on species. The ‘egg’ has a gel just below the outer skin is uncertain. Flies are attracted by the bad odour but when which is important in creating an osmotic differential their feet touch the brown, spore laden mass at the top (the (water pressure) with moisture, and this causes the fruiting gleba) the taste sensors in their feet detect sweetness. structure to be ‘pumped up’ and expand rapidly. Studies The vibration caused by the fly’s proboscis causes the gleba here in Cairns have shown that the Crinoline Stinkhorn can gel to change to a liquid. Spores are then siphoned up with grow from a new ‘egg’ to over 200mm tall in just 12 hours; the liquid gleba and dispersed by the fly. The liquid then over a millimetre every five minutes! reverts to a gel when vibration ceases.

The commonest Stinkhorns in the Gardens are the A species that almost certainly occurs in the Botanic Crinoline Stinkhorn and the Orange Crinoline. Each of Gardens, but has not yet been found, is the fabulous Starfish these has a ring around the upper part of the stalk and the Fungus so keep a lookout for it.

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Crinoline Stinkhorn

The Cage Fungus

The undescribed Mutinus

Stinkhorn ‘eggs’

JOIN THE FRIENDS

Friends of the Botanic Gardens, Cairns Membership details - phone 4032 3900 or email info@botanicfriendscairns.org.au After joining you can support the Friends in many ways; as a committee member, in the Friends Shop, as a tour guide or assisting with events.

Friends of Sugarworld Botanic Gardens Contact Fran Lindsay frantastic10@bigpond.com

Newsletter Contributions: Please submit articles (must be volunteer or nature based) by first week of August for the next quarterly publication in September.

Email: l.grandy@cairns.qld.gov.au Please note articles are subject to editing.

Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with all events or visit our websites: - Green Space Our Place - Cairns Botanic Gardens - Friends of the Botanic Gardens

Green Space Our Place

• Tuesdays - Cattana Wetlands Jabirus 9am-noon • Tuesdays - Esplanade ‘Sandpipers’ 9am-noon • First Tuesday of the month - Friends of McLeod St Pioneer Cemetery • Wednesdays - Botanic Gardens Down ’n’ Dirty volunteers 9am-noon • Thursdays - Stratford Nursery 9am-noon • Thursdays - ‘Weedbusters’ 9am-noon • Thursday (once a month) - Sugarworld Gardeners & Friends • Fridays - Saltwater Creek ‘Salties’ 9am-noon • Wednesdays and Fridays - Tracks ‘n’ Trails 9am-noon • Children’s Nature Activities Program - Little Taccas • Visitor Enhancement Volunteers - rostered hours to suit • History Tour Guides - Tuesday and Thursday 10am • Plant Collection Database volunteers - hours to suit individual Interested in becoming involved with your local park, reserve or tracks in your community? Contact us to register as a Council volunteer and be involved in beautifying your park (enhance planting, weed management, litter clean-up), reporting on issues (graffiti and vandalism, anti-social behaviour, maintenance issues) and building community participation (networking activities) with Council support.

If you are interested in supporting any of our weekly groups or volunteering in your local area contact Volunteers Supervisor Louisa Grandy 4032 6648 or email greenspaceourplace@cairns.qld.gov.au 23

Green Space Our Place