Swan blogs have moved

Swan blogs have moved

The swans, including Scooter, will now appear on the Huon Valley Nature Blog. If you're following Scooter, there's a new post there today. I won't be alerting again from this blog.

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New Blog

New Blog

I've set up a new blog to take all the Huon Valley Nature items, and in general separate them from the bushwalking or "bush" items. Maybe I also need a fungi blog? Dunno, never mind. Here's the new blog.

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Quick Book Review - Created from Chaos

Quick Book Review - Created from Chaos

A very interesting book has appeared, Created From Chaos - a geological trail of 100 sites in Tasmania, by Peter Manchester. This book provides a wealth of information about 100 sites of geological interest near roads in Tasmania. It uses photos, diagrams and text to explain the geological history of Tasmania. Each site is easily findable and close enough to a road that most people will be able to go and see what Peter is talking about. I found it hard to put down, as I have visited many of the places included. I found the book in Fullers in Collins Street, Hobart. Look for the distinctive cover (see photo) on the Tasmanian display just to the right inside the front door.

The book is split geographically, providing a tour of Tasmania starting in Launceston (where Peter lives), proceeding to the northeast, east coast, south, central highlands, northwest, west coast and the Bass Strait islands. Many of the locations will be quite familiar to those who have driven around Tasmania, and anyone with an interest in the natural world around them will find a site near them which Peter illuminates more clearly - unless, I suppose, you are in fact a geologist already.

The book has a few drawbacks which you need to accept prior to the expenditure of $60.00 on this paperback, and these appear to arise from being self-published and probably without professional editing (Peter says he did the formatting, production etc). In my opinion, the book could have done with a very thorough edit. It has spelling, grammar, punctuation and layout mistakes. It uses inconsistent typographical conventions, and looks overall like a slightly dodgy Word document. The emphasising of text is done a wide variety of ways, for example, and differing font sizes are sometimes inexplicable. The photos are sometimes too small for sufficient clarity, and could have been made larger if the text had been made a little smaller and was better laid out. Most of the photos however, clearly show what is intended, even if I would have preferred them to be a little larger. A small number of photos do appear to have had very significant changes made to their aspect ratio, which is unacceptable in a documentary setting. In effect, I am unsure which others might have been altered, presumably accidentally, which means I am somewhat uncertain about the actual appearance of some physical features. Page layout, photo and diagram size and placing, and the spacing of text away from images is very inconsistent, and is the sort of thing that happens in my own Word documents until I carefully make sure it is correct. You may also find the writing style a little strange, but it is sort of pleasantly conversational - I found it a bit like David Leaman on steroids.

Despite these drawbacks, the book is very useful, and I'm glad Peter published it. However, $60.00 for a solid paperback should buy a little more quality and consistency in presentation than this, and maybe we can hope for that if a second edition is produced. Overall it represents a huge amount of knowledge and effort now available for people to use in viewing the Tasmanian landscape and learning more about its natural history. Despite my disappointment with the book's production values, the information it contains is superb.

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Remarkable Cave

Remarkable Cave

I tried to find some good information about Remarkable Cave online, as the bits of info from brochures and signs is fairly sketchy. Having failed to find much, I read my books. There I found some good info. I'll put this up for now, but I need to read more, get some better pictures, now I know what I'm looking for, and also get inside the cave.

Most of the solid information I have found about Remarkable Cave comes from the work of David Leaman. This comes from his books The Rock Which Makes Tasmania (Review here) and Walk Into History In Southern Tasmania.

The cave was originally called “Remarkable” because of the way there appeared to be a map of Tasmania if you stood inside and looked through the cave at the right angle. You can see this clearly as you stand on the viewing platform.

Now, to make the cave more interesting, it has two entrances from the sea-end. Two separate caves have joined up. I recall walking through the cave many years ago. I think at that time access to the floor of the cave was less restricted. The viewing platform these days tends to discourage venturing further. I didn’t clamber down, as the sea was washing into the cave rear, and there was little point. However, when you can walk through the cave it is very interesting. I’m trying to find photos from all those years ago.

David Leaman’s view is that the cave is quite unremarkable (“run-of-the-mill”). He’s speaking as a geologist. His view is that the intrusion of the dolerite, the rocks it intruded, and the effects that intrusion has, is what makes the area remarkable. I suppose most tourists would disagree, but the rocks are very interesting. They can be seen clearly from a number of vantage points. I think there is also much to be seen inside the cave, so I’m keen to return when the tide is low enough.

In summary, Leaman says the following:

Most of the rocks here are Triassic sandstones. These were intruded by Jurassic dolerite. The intrusion can be seen clearly around Remarkable Cave. The top of the intrusion and its contact with the sandstone can be seen in the cliffs and shore platforms around the area.

The sandstone in contact with the dolerite as it intruded displays “exquisite and intense folding”. The easiest place to see this is from the lookout below the car-park, looking south to the cliff below. Leaman says that if you can walk through the cave, then there is more folding to be inspected. Dolerite of course forms many major nearby features; Mt Brown, Cape Raoul, Cape Pillar etc

The question is whether the folding occurred at the time of the intrusion, or when the rock was laid down. There is no firm answer. A previous doctoral thesis (Powell, 1967 - Studies in the geometry of folding and its mechanical interpretation) had suggested that the folding was caused by the heating of the rock with hot liquids and gasses related to the intrusion. Leaman thinks this is unlikely, and that the sandstones were folded soon after they were deposited, when they were poorly compacted. They were then overlaid by more sandstones, and then later intruded by the dolerite. The dolerite intrusion has altered (metamorphosed) the sandstone by heat. Leaman notes that the distorted sandstones are also intruded and cut by the dolerite suggesting that the folding existed before the intrusion of the dolerite.

Interesting place anyway.

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Big job ahead for the Huon Valley Council

Big job ahead for the Huon Valley Council

Now that I know what I'm looking for I can see that the Erica lusitanica infestation on the Arve Road actually extends for about half a kilometre along the roadside. I think this would be quite a job to remove, and I suspect it won't get a look-in, being a "low-priority" weed.

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Erica lusitanica (Spanish Heath)

Erica lusitanica (Spanish Heath)

Peter Franklin has been campaigning to get the Erica lusitanica infestations on the Arve road dealt with for a few years. Anyway, they're still there.

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About 450m west of Bennetts Road (Geeveston 1:25,000 Map, Ref 862217) there is a sizeable infestation in a creek depression, as well as along the side of the road.

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There's another one on the inside of the corner where the Arve Rd turns left and Lidgerwood Rd joins it from straight ahead (Geeveston 1:25,000 Map, Ref 879225).

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The State Government's management plan, I note, is not very positive about eradicating this weed. However, this location is near to the WHA, and perhaps it would be good to have a go. The Huon Valley Council considers (PDF 855KB) Spanish Heath to be a priority 4 weed, and as such I think it's unlikely they'll do anything. They seem to have this site and others on their map of weeds. The map of low priority weeds in their plan is like a nasty rash!

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Adobe Lightroom Adventure to Tasmania

Adobe Lightroom Adventure to Tasmania

This site is worth a look. Lots of nice photos, especially of the Tasmanian bush.

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Anaconda! (Review)

Anaconda! (Review)

Not really about the bush, but related. Having to go to a soccer match at Bellerive this morning, I ventured a little further to Cambridge, where the Anaconda store has just opened. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! So had everyone else. Looked like about 45 minutes in line for a checkout. When I heard them ask for IT to come to the checkouts, I knew it was only going to get worse. So, deciding that I wasn't going to buy anything, I wandered around. In summary, they have a vast amount of stuff, but most of it is cheap crap. The good stuff you'd buy to rely on costs about what you'd expect to pay in the city, and they only seem to have one good brand in any category. It's harder to find too, because it's concealed amongst all the dross. If you want a cheap family tent, or some standard camping gear for occasional use, it might be cheaper than elsewhere. If you want good quality gear, and especially if you want a choice of good gear, keep going to those places up Elizabeth St. You could have got a bargain today, but if time was money, you'd have lost all your gains in the queue.

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Mountain Bikes on Mt Wellington

Mountain Bikes on Mt Wellington

Lydia Marino, the Wellington park ranger, responded quickly to my query about mountain bikes on Mt Wellington. There's a $180 on-the-spot fine which can be imposed, and this would be done if they caught riders on the Pinnacle Track or ZigZag Track. Obviously it's difficult, because there isn't a whole lot of resource for patrolling the mountain. Sounds like the rest of us need to keep an eye out. The response was a little more encouraging than I expected, but clearly they can't watch everyone all the time.

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Winifred Curtis

Winifred Curtis

Found this interesting site from the University about Winifred Curtis.

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Missing Link Found!!

Missing Link Found!!

A good many years ago, when John Cleary was in the Tasmanian Parliament, there was talk of building a road between the Huon and Derwent Valleys. It wasn't the first time, nor the last. There were already "roads" of sorts over the back of the Wellington Range, but they were mainly passable to trail bikes and 4WDs with good clearance. You can walk up Jeffreys Track for example, towards White Timber Mountain, but it would be very difficult in a 4-wheeled vehicle.

What they said they were looking for was a tourist link road to enable tourists to visit the Huon and then drive behind the Wellington Range into the Derwent Valley. I recently came across John Cleary's promotional pamphlet during a tidy-up. I've reproduced it here, so you can read what they intended.

You can see that one of the alternatives in Option 3 was a Judbury - Plenty Link. I think though, that the paragraph which reads "...any final decision will hinge on the Federal Minister's agreement for any route through the World Heritage Area" implies that the route across the corner of the Snowy Range was what they intended. I could point out that as well as linking two beautiful tourist destinations, it would also have linked the Huon/Weld forestry area with that in the Styx/Florentine very directly.

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At the time, there was a deal of concern expressed that while the stated intention was to build a tourist road, the real intention was to build roads to enable greater extraction of trees. Of course, our politicians acted as if they were shocked that we could doubt their motives.

Now, what many people don't know is that the Judbury - Plenty alternative in Option 3 was built a good many years ago, but some years after the time of this pamphlet and attendant debate. It isn't actually drawn in on the map in the pamphlet, despite being canvassed in the text, and I'm not sure why. (As I wrote that, I became suspicious. Terrible isn't it?) Out past Judbury, there's a road heading up the hill. It has often had a locked gate on it, but must be receiving forestry traffic again now. The photo shows the sign saying the road is closed to traffic.

The road was built as part of the connection between the Weld/Huon/Picton, Southwood (Also see here and here.) and New Norfolk. There was talk that it cost $4m. I found out about it because a friend was engaged on surveying the route. It was built with almost no publicity, and initially was open to traffic. I drove over it once to Plenty. It was a very good quality road, well built, but for lengthy stretches was made with quite coarse gravel. I suspect it would have worried the tyres of small cars. It's only there for forestry operations, not tourism. Surprise, surprise.

Anyway, the road isn't shown in the roads in the data held at the List and presented on the net. It isn't shown in Google maps as a road. It is however clearly visible in the Google Maps Satellite view.

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All in all, I'd like to know how the government justifies spending millions of dollars building a road over a high range of hills, but doesn't make it available to benefit the tourism that was the original motive for such a road. The existence of the road has been carefully ignored by government, if not actively concealed, since it was built. A letter to the editor of The Mercury just a few years ago, demanding that such a road be built, stood uncorrected by government. It hasn't been included in official maps, and is closed to the public. In fact it's just part of your hidden subsidy to the forest industry, and you can't use it.

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Free lecture

Free lecture

James Boyce, author of Van Diemens Land, is giving a lecture at the University on Tuesday night.

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18 March History and Classics Free Public Lecture

Celebrating New Tasmanian History Writing - Lecture Series
1. Dr James Boyce, Van Diemen's Land: How the Tasmanian Environment Shaped Convict Culture, Tuesday March 18.
......
All lectures start 6pm, Centenary Lecture Theatre, Sandy Bay Campus.
Further Information: Lyn Richards, 03 6226 2298

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Book Review: Van Diemen’s Land by James Boyce

Book Review: Van Diemen’s Land by James Boyce

As someone who enjoys the Tasmanian bush, particularly its accessibility, cleanness, and wildness, the concept of Tasmania as being different and comparatively special is important. On most measures I just think the rest of Australia can’t compare, but the things which make our state special are sometimes not obvious, even to those who live here, and they are so easy to destroy or degrade. Here we have a history book which actually makes some interesting observations about how we might relate to our situation today.

This is a very interesting book, in which James Boyce throws new light on the early white settlement of Tasmania. He makes the distinction between “Van Diemen’s Land” and “Tasmania” very clearly. He says in the introduction that his hypothesis is “the character of the island which became the enforced home of over 72,000 sentenced criminals (42 percent of the convicts transported to Australia) does matter. The fact that protein-rich shellfish were there for the taking , that wallaby and kangaroo could be killed with nothing more than a hunting dog, and that abundant fresh water and a mild climate made travel by foot relatively easy, does change the story. The convict’s hell was, thank God, a human creation alone. This book is about the tension produced by siting the principal gaol of the empire in what proved to be a remarkably benevolent land. It sees this paradox to be at the heart of early Tasmanian history, and to have important implications for the nation as a whole.”

Boyce shows how early Tasmania was quite unlike early New South Wales. He points out that the Van Diemen's Land settlers were probably the healthiest people in the British Empire, and this arose from the nature of the land they had settled. Life in early Van Diemen's Land was, while not always idyllic, quite unlike the way we imagine it from our understanding of later history – for example, under Governor Arthur, or as portrayed by Marcus Clarke in For The Term Of His Natural Life. Eventually the authorities realised that the life of the convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land appeared to be better than that which they left behind. It didn’t seem to be a punishment at all.

The view of Tasmania as cold, wet, poor, backward and unimportant continues today. When you read Saul Eslake’s assessment (Talk transcript here) of Tasmania from the point of view of his economic and social data, it can seem a little bleak, although much improved from the deep dark days of the Gray administration. I sat in a room where Saul’s view was presented to a senior manager from Canberra. She took it all in, understanding the implications of some of the negatives for particular segments of the population, but at the end waved her hand out the window at the tremendous view of blue sky and fluffy white clouds behind a sunlit Mount Wellington, speechlessly implying “well yes, some of those things aren’t great, but look where you live!!”

Our value as a state, a people, as communities, is not measured by our wealth, our sophistication, our adoption of new technology and the ways of the “mainland”. Tasmania really is a little different, and Boyce suggests some of the ways this difference developed and perhaps remains.

It just isn’t quite the way it’s seen. We have our problems, but we also have the compensations that come from living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The original Eden was brought undone, often in evil, corrupt and incompetent ways. How true that is of today.

The violence towards the aboriginals, and the poor whites, is all in this book. Boyce makes the interesting suggestion that one of our major environmental problems was caused by our racism. He offers the opinion that the reason the trees no longer grow properly in much of the southern midlands is the possum population, a population that was kept in check by the aboriginals. Once they were gone, our trees had no hope.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s easy to read, interesting and challenges us to see Tasmania in a different light.

Here's a link to an extract.

Here's Richard Flanagan's review of the book in the SMH.

Henry Reynolds' review is here.

Published by Black Inc. Books (www.blackincbooks.com) Melbourne 2008

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Haughton Forrest and Mt Wellington

Haughton Forrest and Mt Wellington

This beautiful view of Mt Wellington behind Hobart, painted by Haughton Forrest in 1886, hangs in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. I especially like his rendering of the snow in the gullies above where the Zigzag Track now runs. It's worth a visit to see for yourself. The original is 86.7 x 183 cm and is very impressive.

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EucaFlip - "Book" Review

EucaFlip - "Book" Review

I found this marvellous little identikit for Tasmanian eucalypts, called EucaFlip. It's by Rob Wiltshire and Brad Potts, and is a "Life-size guide to the eucalypts of Tasmania". I was taken by the thought of a "life-sized" guide including the Eucalyptus regnans, so I bought it on impulse. Crikey!! It's only the leaves and fruits that are "life-size". I was dudded! No seriously, this little fold-out is great. It's small and lightweight, and folds out like a map. It seems to have all the Tasmanian eucalypts. (I'm not exactly the utlimate expert, although I do know those eucalypts confuse us by producing naughty mixed species, intermediate between some of the main ones.) It's also covered in plastic and is quite stiff, so it looks like it'll tolerate my usual "care" when out walking. The pictures are great, very clear, and life-size. No guessing: "that picture looks like about 3/4 of the size of that gumnut!". It has a short key based on the number of buds per umbel. Each species guide has life-size pictures of the leaves, both juvenile and adult, plus the buds and capsules. Some include the flowers. For each species there is also a small distribution map and a picture of the bark. All are in vivid colour. The overall impression is very attractive (can I just say my photo of part of the cover doesn't do it justice, it's very well produced, lush and glossy). I got it at Angus and Robertson in Burnie, but I assume it's available lots of places. It was $10 there. Incidentally, A&R in Burnie have a good Tasmaniana section, better than their Hobart shop, and better than Fullers. This guide is published by the School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, and CRC for Forestry.

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Mining at Cox Bight??

Mining at Cox Bight??

I got this in my email from an anonymous correspondent, with a bit more info than was on the TV the other day (I think it was TV). Bit of an issue though, the thought of a new tin mine being established at Cox Bight - slap in the middle of Tasmania's South West WHA - is like some weird joke anachronism. As the correspondent points out, the government does appear to have moved quite sneakily on this.

-----------HERE IS YOUR LETTER FROM AN ANONYMOUS SENDER-----------

Dear friend,

You've received this e-mail because you are a friend of Tasmania's South-West wilderness, particularly the famous and beautiful South Coast track.The Tasmanian government is planning to allow a mining company to explore for tin along a 15 kilometre section of the track. The 35-square kilometre area stretches from Melaleuca to Cox Bight. The exploration could include helicopter-supported drilling in what is a critical habitat for the endangered Orange Bellied Parrot. The exploration will bring maybe $80,000 worth of investment to the state. If mining were to proceed it would impact severely on the World Heritage area and would be visible from many areas of the track and beyond.Cynically, the Tasmanian government announced its plan on the Sunday before Christmas, in the last lines of a press release issued at 6pm. Make up your own mind - read the Tasmanian government press release here.

http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=22789

The approval process is being handed by the Tasmanian Minerals Council. Details of the proposal are somewhere on their website, but good luck finding them. Objections close in a few days. It will cost you $25 to lodge an objection.

http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/

The Tasmanian National Parks Association is opposed to the plan. They say mining leases in the area should be cancelled as mining ceases. So too does the the WHA's management plan. The area should have been included in the WHA in the first place.

http://www.tnpa.asn.au/

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/wha/managem/managem.html

Paula Wreidt is Tasmania's tourism, arts and environment minister and is responsible for national parks in the state. If you're opposed to mining inside the World Heritage Area, let Paula know.

paula.wriedt@parliament.tas.gov.au

If plans to consider mining inside a national park will affect your plans to visit Tasmania or the South Coast Track, let Paula know that to. Tell her how it might change your plans and how much you would have spend. Tell how many friends you've sent - or would take with you.

Tasmania's wilderness is worth far more than a few thousand tonnes of tin.Pass this message on to anyone you know who has walked or who loves the South Coast Track, or is a friend of the south-western Tasmanian wilderness and urge them to act too ... let Paula know.

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More Hartz Mountains Flora

More Hartz Mountains Flora

Leptospermum lanigerum, Woolly Tea-tree. Photographed on Hartz Plateau 12th January 2008. The area where I took this picture has a lot of water flow amongst the scrub. This plant is described as "Common, widespread in damp places, river banks, montane grasslands and rainforests of west coast where it may become a tree to 18m." (A Guide to Flowers and Plants of Tasmania, Launceston Field Naturalists Club.)
References: ASGAP, ANBG, Uni of Tas, Google Search.

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Melaleuca squamea, the Swamp Melaleuca. Photographed on Hartz Plateau 12th January 2008. There are a lot of these plants along the first part of the track, mostly quite small shrubs. They are apparently widespread in wet heathland between sea level and 1500m, which seems quite a range. They range in flower colour at Hartz from pink-purple through to cream and white.
References: Uni of Tas, CHAH, Google Search.

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Pelican at Franklin

Pelican at Franklin

This pelican was wading along the muddy shore just near Eldercare at Franklin. It's unusual to see a pelican here, I think. I've seen them at Margate and Bridgewater before now, but not here. This is an important wetland habitat, and the subject of some significant conservation efforts. Dave Watts notes in his Field Guide to Tasmanian Birds that they are "Uncommon", but lists the Huon River as a place to see them, so perhaps they aren't that unusual.

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My girl's a corker!

My girl's a corker!

This old song was read to me years ago by Jim Wilson. Some readers may have met the short and bushy Jim when, between public service careers he drove the bushwalkers transport bus to places like Cockle Creek, Scotts Peak and other points west.

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My girl's a corker, she's a bushwalker,
I buys her everything to keep her in style.
She's worth her weight in gold, my coal black baby,
Say boys, that's where my money goes.

When we go walkin' she does the talkin',
And when my arm's around her, how dem miles fly.
She does the cookin', I do the lookin',
Say boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of eyes just like two custard pies,
And when she looks at me I sure get a thrill
She's got a pair of lips just like potato chips,
Say boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of legs, just like two whiskey kegs,
And when they knock together, oh what a sound!
She's got a pair of hips just like two battleships,
Say boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a bulbous nose, just like a big red rose,
And when we camp at night, it really does shine,
She wears silk underwear, I wear my latest pair,
Say boys, that's where my money goes.

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I acquired the words from the Walkers Song Book, compiled by The Kameruka Bushwalking Club and The Hobnails Bushwalking Club, published in Sydney in 1962.

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Grant Dixon's Photos worth a look

Grant Dixon's Photos worth a look

Grant Dixon, well known photographer, has a lovely website. The Tasmanian photos are particularly good, and evoke the same view I often have of the Tasmanian wilderness. Great job!

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