A campaign to ensure the safe future of one of the region’s most historic properties has just been launched on line.

The house, Ninney Rise at Bingil Bay, was built by artist and conservationist John Busst around 1960 and was the headquarters for a series of major campaigns to save the Great Barrier Reef from threatened coral mining and the surrounding scientifically unique rainforest from development.

“In 1995 the Queensland Heritage Register-listed property came under the ownership of Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service but with no conservation management plan for its future, it is felt this could still be uncertain,” said Tully branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (WPSQ) president Suzie Smith.

“It is vital this integral part of regional history is retained for the nation, and for this a conservation management plan is essential.”

Included in the listing is a memorial to John Busst who was a founding member of WPSQ, a member of the then fledgling Australian Conservation Society, and the then Littoral Society (now the Australian Marine Conservation Society).

The beautiful Ninney Rise house which features intricately woven bamboo walls and ceilings stands in nearly two hectares of parklike grounds overlooking Bingil Bay and is backed by Clump Mountain National Park.

“There has been much support for the property to become an interpretive centre celebrating the life and work of John Busst, and with it the saving of much of national significance for the nation,” said Ms Smith.

In October 2012 people gathered from many corners of Australia at Ninney Rise to celebrate the saving, in 1967, of beautiful Ellison Reef from being mined for lime following claims the reef, off Innisfail, was dead.

“This was the birth of the ‘Save the Barrier Reef’ campaign.”

Importantly, this campaign, which was mooted by WPSQ, was also backed by many farmers who did not want to see the reef destroyed for mining.

A keynote speaker on the day was scientist Eddie Hegerl who had scuba dived the Reef during the campaign and was one of the experts able to claim Ellison Reef was not dead, but very much alive.

It was later discovered that the coral lime which would have come from Ellison Reef to be used as fertiliser in the sugar industry would not have been suitable for this purpose.

John Busst, and the heady days of Ninney Rise when the Save the Reef Campaign inspired the nation are often remembered.

As Don Henry, chief executive Officer of the Australian Conservation Foundation, who also attended the celebratory day, pointed out: “The Great Barrier Reef now supports 5000 jobs and attracts $6 billion a year from visitors.”

To sign the campaign for the future of Ninney Rise, the place where it all began, go to https://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/ninneyrise.

Life in the forest has certainly been active, although during the very hot times most birds have been noticeably and sensibly quieter.
Now the air is damper, it is a great time to go “bug hunting”, and also to look out for fungi. The rain has brought many different varieties bursting out of the soil. We have even had a couple of feeds of field mushrooms, though unless you really know what you are looking for fungi should as a matter of course be avoided as some are poisonous. Probably the prettiest fungus we saw was pure white with delicate fluting. These truly are nature’s works of art.
Many insects also come into this category. Because they are small, insects tend not to be noticed much. One has to, as it were, reduce one’s range of focus. Once this is achieved a new and quite different world of creatures comes into view. Jumping spiders, for example, those little arachnids which hunt their prey like leopards rather than spinning a web, come in a vast array of colours and sizes, but all are very small.
Not so small but just as spectacular when closely observed are the dragonflies and damselflies. These too come in a range of colours and are well named, for they are fierce hunters, either catching prey on the wing or hunting it down.
Their larvae (young) which for most species live in fresh water, are also fierce. They feed on water invertebrates and sometimes catch tadpoles or even small fish.
There are believed to be some 150 species of dragonflies and damselflies in tropical north Queensland alone and when this one turned up near the Wildwatch house I could not resist photographing it.
Research told me its latin name is Neurothemis stigmatizans, but it has no popular name. Its wingspan is between 50 and 60 cms.
It was a beautiful velvety red, with patterned wings with clear patches on the ends, and appeared to sit contentedly on a twig, only once turning round, and allowed me to get quite close to photograph it. Perhaps it had recently fed so felt sluggish.
Apparently, it is often seen near still water, which fits as our little creek is barely flowing.

Fire is still very much in the news, with vast areas of this wonderful but vulnerable continent either destroyed or badly damaged. Fortunately, much of our region has had rain, but in many areas where there has been prolonged drought the damage has been catastrophic. When I telephoned a wildlife carer friend in Narrandera in NSW’s Riverina last week it was to learn eight hectares of her farm had been destroyed and she had been rescuing animals which were “near to death”. In the intense heat, despite running sprinkler hoses, she had picked up dead birds from her lawn. The animals she rescued included two adult koalas, one with a just-furred joey. Sadly, the mother koala was too traumatised to care for the joey which despite all our friend’s efforts could not be saved.
“It is something I will remember all my life,” she said.
She has been a carer for more than 20 years and always has a menagerie of several kangaroo joeys plus birds to care for, as well as other creatures such as echidnas.
Her’s was a heartfelt plea to be careful around fire so that it does not get away or become too hot. In the recent wildfires, as well as stock, huge numbers of wildlife were lost. Fires begun by lightning strike are natural, but those connected with human activity such as using hot machines in hot conditions in dry country and high winds are not.
We also heard that a fire raging near the farm we sold to come up here was accidentally lit, probably from a spark off a stone. It was serious enough to make the national news and many sheep were killed or had to be destroyed.
There is a huge amount of fuel still left here from Cyclone Yasi, so vigilance is essential. And please, when there are fires, look out for the animals. It is their lives and their homes which are at risk as well as ours.

PIGEON TREES AND PRAYING MANTIS, BOTH ARE USEFUL IN THE GARDEN

by ANNE WILKINSON.

What a great show this 75th Tully Show was! Even the weather behaved in celebratory fashion and was glorious! What a welcome relief it all was after the horrors of Cyclone Yasi and Queensland’s Summer of Sorrows.

Members manning the WPSQ stand were delighted with the response to both the new presentation and the tree giveaway.

The young trees, grown at Council’s Tully Revegetation Nursery and purchased by WPSQ, were all food trees for the beautiful Torres Strait pigeon whose numbers in the count were down this year from the usual 30,000 to just 5,000.

Hopefully, the reason so many of these welcome annual visitors did not turn up was only because of the lack of fruit for them to eat following Cyclone Yasi. The young trees will take a while to fruit, but should certainly go some way towards ensuring these striking pigeons keep coming to the Cassowary Coast.

It was really pleasing so many people were interested and were willing to plant trees to help – and the region will be more beautiful because of their caring.

Several people asked the best way to plant their trees.

Before planting, soak the young trees, in their pots, in a bucket of water. Addition of seaweed solution, a soil conditioner, to the water is beneficial but not essential. Once bubbles stop rising, the tree can be removed from its pot and planted.

Even if the weather is wet, trees should be watered in well to get rid of any air bubbles around the roots. Mulching will help prevent moisture loss, but the mulch must be kept at least 10 centimetres from the trunk as insurance against stem rot.

Water regularly for the first few weeks and the young trees will get off to a great start.

The thicker leaf cover evolving as trees and shrubs recover from the cyclone is providing not only camouflage but safety for many useful smaller creatures, including the praying mantis, one of every gardener’s “good guys”.

These lively looking insects with the triangular face and big eyes are major hunters and eat only what they themselves catch – usually other insects and bees.

There are several varieties here in the north, the most obvious differences mainly being in their size, though one variety, the leaf mantid, has evolved away from the more usual slim body build and has a body shape resembling a leaf, making it very difficult to spot indeed.

But do praying mantis pray?

In fact, it is the way their front legs are held, resembling an attitude of prayer, which has earned them their name and these legs can shoot out and grab an unfortunate insect with, it looks like, the speed of light. Unlike so many preying species which only suck the juices from their victims, praying mantis actually eat the whole body, visibly chewing it up.

Our naturalist friend Densey Clyne, an expert on many species of insects and author of more than 20 natural history books, kept praying mantis to study for a book she was writing and observed that the only parts the mantis does not eat are the wings. Usually, the victim’s head is devoured first.

Densey also told us that after eating, the mantis cleans itself rigorously, which is what the mantis in this picture by Coquette Point’s Yvonne Cunningham is doing. In fact, contrary to general belief, most insects are clean to the point of obsession.

Mantises lay eggs which are encased in a beautifully woven rigid sack and usually attached to a plant stem. Hundreds of baby mantises are hatched, first as nymphs which resemble tiny miniature adults. Several moults are needed as the nymph grows into an adult. Here in the tropics, adults can live as long as 12 months.

The beautiful egg cases are among nature’s engineering masterpieces and should never be destroyed as literally dozens of these useful hunters emerge from each one. It is often possible to observe this little miracle which will be of enormous benefit in the garden.

Wildwatch is provided by the Tully branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland: enquiries to 4066 5466 or 4066 5650. To contact the emergency 24-hour Wildcare hotline, phone 4068 7272. Phone DERM on 1300 130 372 to report concerns about cassowaries and mahogany gliders.

PICS:

Mantid foot in mouth:

GROOMING: It’s had a meal, now this praying mantis, snapped by Yvonne Cunningham, settles down to clean itself. Insects spend a lot of time on personal hygiene.

Margaret and Suzie enjoy the Tyto Wetlands

On Saturday 23rd June members of the Tully and district Wildlife Preservation Society enjoyed the company of other Wildlife members and friends from Townsville and Ingham at the famous Tyto Wetlands.This wonderful natural resource is within walking distance of Ingham and is a magnet to water birds and bird watchers.