JUNE 2026 Activity Details - Friday meeting, and the Sunday outing to the upper reach of Hodgson Creek

CLUB MEETING: 

Date & Time: 7 pm, Friday 5 June 2026

Speaker: Dr Penelope Mills, Entomologist and Scale Insect Expert. From an early age Penny was fascinated by insects, and was involved in several research projects during her final year of undergraduate study at UQ. Her Honours and PhD theses focused on the biology, taxonomy, systematics and evolution of several species-groups within the gall-inducing scale insect genus Apiomorpha (Coccomorpha: Eriococcidae). 

Title: Australia’s Fascinating Gall-inducing Scale Insects 

Summary: Scale insects are plant parasites related to aphids and belong to the order of true bugs (Hemiptera). Many of the species in Australia induce galls: abnormal growths found on plants due to an irritant that causes an immune response from the plant. Australia is home to a high number (c. 10%) of the world’s known gall-inducing scale insect fauna. In this talk Dr Penny Wills will focus on several of the main genera present in Australia, especially those that occur in the Toowoomba region. 

Venue: St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba. The speaker's presentation is followed by official business and supper. 

  

CLUB OUTING: 

Date: Sunday 07 June 2026 – Kearney south and upper reach of Hodgson Creek, Toowoomba

Meeting Time: 8.30 am

Where: at the end of Kearney Street

Description: 

Upper reach of Hodgson Creek
Photo: M. Simmons

This excursion in south Toowoomba will take us along the upper reach of Hodgson Creek show-casing recent housing expansion south of Kearney Springs and the TRC’s management of new parks and gardens. 

Activities: From our meeting place we will walk to the Carly Hibberd Park and along the creek before returning to our parked cars for morning tea. Our walk will then take us further west along Hodgson Creek before returning back to our cars for lunch. There will be an opportunity to walk part of Kearney Street to note the extensive TRC native plantings.

Come along and enjoy the walk and talk with friends. 

Level of Fitness: This is all easy walking (Grade 1) with mild undulations. 

Facilities: toilet facilities at Carly Hibbard Park

What to Bring: Bring morning tea, lunch, a chair, water and sun protection. 

All welcome. 

Fungi, Hodgson Creek walk
Photo: M. Simmons

Part of Hodgson Creek walk 
Photo: M. Simmons

    

March Outing Report - parks in North Toowoomba 14 March 2025

 Adapted from the TFNC April 2025 newsletter report of B. Gundry.

TRC Parks of North Toowoomba

McKenzie St Lookout, Toowoomba

This outing had been rescheduled courtesy of the much vaunted Cyclone Alfred. The Field Nats assembled at Horn Park on a fine dewy morning, heralding a warm day to follow. Others joined in as the morning progressed. (Dr. Alex Horn had donated this land to Council in the early 20th Century.) Our attention was first drawn to 6 to 7 Black Kites Milvus migrans, just soaring above the trees adjacent to the Bridge Clubhouse. We could ascertain no reason for this aggregation, other than that they were also enjoying their early autumnal morning ….

Our second stop was at the end of Henry Street to visit a huge Moreton Bay Fig just inside the former Rifle Range Reserve. This tree was planted by Eric French prior to his enlistment in the AIF in 1916. He survived the war but lived the rest of his life as a dentist in Brisbane. I was surprised that it was such a huge tree for its 110 years.

Hoop Pine
Araucaria cunninghamii
at Boyce Gardens

Our morning tea break was at Woodward Park in Alfred Street, followed the top of North Street, a newly renovated park, Bunya Park on the corner of Geoffrey and Mackenzie Streets …. The name was inspired by the Bunya pines planted by Duncan Munro who developed the property in the 1880s. The park now showcases pines in the Araucariaceae family; the Bunya Pine Araucaria bidwilli, the Hoop Pine Araucaria cunninghamii and the Norfolk Island Pine Araucaria heterophylla, as well as several other pines.

A drive to the very northern end of Mackenzie Street brought us to the eastern edge of the
range where the waterfall from the end of Rifle Range Road was still trickling after the recent rain ….

Lunch was relished in the shady gardens overlooking the original pool and water feature of Boyce Gardens. Not everyone took the rainforest walk, but with the recent UQ and Boyce Trust upgrade with historical markers, it concluded a warm sunny day enjoyed by all.

All photos: B. Weller

March activity details - Friday 14 March 2025 and Sunday 16 March 2025. Parks across North Toowoomba

CLUB MEETING: Friday, 14th  March, 7 pm - 

Golden-shouldered Parrot country

St. Anthony’s Community Centre, Memory Street, Toowoomba.

“The Golden-shouldered Parrot, a retrospective on its discovery and field research” presented by Mark Weaver. During the 1970s and 1980s, Mark was based in Cairns as a District Wildlife Ranger. While there, he undertook numerous field trips into the Cape York Peninsula region 

and became involved in opportunistic field research on this endangered parrot.

CLUB OUTING: Sunday 16th March 2025. Parks in North Toowoomba

Meeting Time: 8.30am

Where: Horn Park in Stuart Street

Description: A tag-along tour which will include the Rifle Range, Mt. Lofty, several small parks and finish in the recently upgraded car park off Range Road at the Boyce Gardens. Morning tea along the way and lunch in the Boyce Gardens. 

Activities: This outing will be to some of the Council Parks across North Toowoomba. This will enable people a chance to assess Council plantings and to make suggestions about the vegetation and management of our large and small parks.

Level of Fitness: easy access and easy walking for all

What to Bring: suitable clothing and footwear for walking in the bush, sunscreen, insect repellant, water, morning tea and lunch, chair, and the usual naturalist stuff of your choice; binoculars, camera, field guides, notebook, etc.