Over 20 Field
Naturalists and visitors were present at Redwood Park at our outing on 08
April. We were met by Hugh Krenske who kindly opened the gate for us to drive
our cars into the park. Most members went with Hugh to the picnic area where he
talked to them about the work being done by Friends of the Escarpment Parks to
clear Redwood Park of weeds and to maintain trails. Down at the creek, a Lewin Honeyeater was
bathing and several birds were seen, including Spangled Drongo and Eastern
Yellow Robin. More were heard including Eastern Whipbird. One of our young
visitors, Emily, aged eight, when writing down what birds she had seen,
referred to a “roofus wissler” but we knew what she meant! She also wanted to
know where LBBs were in the bird book. Unfortunately, LBB stands for Little
Brown Bird [that is the polite rendition!] and there are so many we could not
identify which LBB! It was very good to have three small children with us for
the outing. I did not go on the trek to the creek so I am not familiar with
what plants and animals were seen. Several members stayed at the picnic area
for morning tea while others remained at the gate.
From Redwood
Park we travelled to Postman’s Ridge via Murphy’s Creek Road to the residence
of Mrs Ruby Jensen whose property is a dairy and mixed farm. It is right on the
banks of Oakey/Gatton Creek and was affected by the floods of 2011. Although
the house was not badly affected, the property suffered from flood waters
running through the area. Here, we saw small birds, such as Willie Wagtails,
Double-barred Finches and Blue-faced Honeyeaters. Diane Pagel found a wolf
spider’s hole with resident spider. Mrs Jensen’s property has several mature trees
including Pecan and Macadamia nut trees while the banks of the creek have the
usual vegetation found along creek banks in the area. A flowering vine over the
entrance to the garden had attracted a lot of bees, including natives. The
large bird bath in the garden usually has several species of birds in
attend-ance but of course, they were all elsewhere that morning!
On the way
from Postman’s Ridge to Murphy’s Creek, we drove over the works being carried
out for the Second Range Crossing and saw the new alignment of the Postman’s
Ridge Road which joins the Warrego Highway at the Helidon Spa. At Murphy’s
Creek, we had lunch at Jessie’s Cottage. The cottage is maintained by the
Murphy’s Creek Neighbourhood Association and we are grateful to the women from the
Association who showed us through the cottage which is now a small domestic
museum and a repository of the area’s local history. Jessie’s Cottage was the
home of Miss Jessie Taylor until her death. It was built in the late 1890’s and
is a good example of a cottage of that era. It is very small and has an unlined
ceiling. Jessie lived there all her life and rarely, if ever, left the
township, having looked after her parents and a brother until their deaths.
There is a memorial at Jessie’s Cottage to the animals and birds which were
lost in the 2011 floods. This takes the form of a sandstone birdbath with
animals and birds carved into it. These floods impacted the township of
Murphy’s Creek very severely with loss of life and property. I spoke about the history
of Murphy’s Creek and the importance of the Main Railway Line to the area in
earlier times.
After lunch,
members visited the cemetery at Murphy’s Creek to view the carvings on the
monuments by John Montgomery, who owned a property on Lockyer Creek where he
had a sandstone quarry. He was a master mason and the carving on several of the
headstones is exquisite. There is a small patch of scrub albeit mostly exotics
beside the cemetery and small birds are usually to be found there.
This outing
was slightly different from our usual outings as there was more about the
history of the area than botany and birdwatching! Our three young visitors
[Emily and twins Abby and Milly, aged 5] were asleep by the time the car
reached the railway crossing from Jessie’s Cottage, according to their mother.
My thanks to
Sandy Eastoe for setting up the visit to Redwood Park and to Mrs Ruby Jensen
and the team from Jessie’s cottage.
(Report by Jan Veacock)
Photos from Redwood Park taken by Francis Mangubhai
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| Flowers of Hoya australis |
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| Love flower (Pseuderanthemum variabile) |
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| Native bamboo |
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| Flowering Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia) |
Bird and Butterfly list for the April Outing (Compiled by Al Young)
Redwood Park – Birds: Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Bar-Shouldered Dove, Fan-tailed
Cuckoo, White-throated Treecreeper, Striated Pardalote, Large-billed Scrubwren,
Brown Thornbill, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Whipbird,
Varied Sittella, Crested Shrike-tit, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush,
Black-faced Monarch, Spectacled Monarch, Rufous Fantail, Willie Wagtail,
Spangled Drongo, Varied Triller, Satin Bowerbird, and Red-browed Finch,
Double-barred Finch.
Redwood Park – Butterflies: Caper White (Belenois
java).
Ruby Jensen’s Property at Postman’s Ridge – Birds:
Striated Pardalote, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Lewin’s Honeyeater,
White-naped Honeyeater, Rufous Whistler, Magpie Lark, Willie Wagtail,
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Olive-backed Oriole, Pied Butcherbird, Torresian
Crow, and Silvereye.
Jessie’s Cottage, Murphy’s Creek – Birds: Rainbow Lorikeet, Brown Honeyeater and Pied Currawong.
Jessie’s Cottage – Butterflies: White-banded Plane (Phaedyma shepherdi).
Murphy’s Creek Cemetery – Birds: Superb Fairy-wren, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Rufous
Whistler, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie and Pied Currawong.
Murphy’s
Creek Cemetery – Butterflies:
Chequered Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus),
Lesser Wanderer (Danaus petilia) and
Monarch (Danaus plexippus).
