The Berry Camellia and Floral Show

 This show was actually on last weekend and gives a terrific picture of what is in flower during the winter months on the South Coast of New South Wales in Australia. Sadly these events are not particularly well attended as ornamental horticulture loses ground to food production gardening.

Springboarding

 Teaching the sport of springboarding

 In Germaine Greer's book 'White Beech - The Rainforest Years' (Bloomsbury 2014) we are given a remarkable historical account of the timber getting industry in South East Queensland as recalled by Bernard O'Reilly of 'Green Mountain' fame and the dangers associated with the use of the springboard which came to be used because trees were unable to be cut down from the ground owing to their flanged or buttressed trunks, a characteristic of many rainforest trees. The springboard is made of light wood, four foot long and a foot wide and it has at one end a steel tip which is inserted into a horizontal slot cut into the tree and "on this narrow rocking perch the settler swings his razor-edged axe, sometimes twenty or even thirty feet from the ground, then as the tree begins to go, he must descend swiftly, bringing not only his axe but his springboard."(O'Reilly) Many lost their lives or were seriously injured in the process. As Greer explains, "the O'Reilly boys all at one time or another sustained terrible injuries from their own axes. Ped and Herb both severed leg tendons; Pat buried his axe in his abdomen; Norb stitched a cut on his leg with needle and cotton.' By way of variation on the self-injury theme, Mick fell from his springboard and was impaled on a spike."

The wood chopping events held at Agricultural Shows across Australia are a reminder of these timber industry pioneers.

 White Beech timber from the rainforest tree Gmelina leichhardtii (Lamiaceae) It is 'highly resistant to decay in ground contact or in persistently damp or ill-ventilated situations' and in the early 1900's it was used for building frames, as well as flooring, lining, mouldings, joinery and cladding.'

'There is now no White Beech timber to be had anywhere' (Greer)

By Ashley Sewell

Department of Natural Resources Queensland, 1997

'Our Backyard Festival'

Wollongong Botanic Garden played host today to the second annual 'Our Backyard Festival' on what was a perfect sunny warm day. It was a terrific event with lots of fun stuff aimed at young visitors and stalls promoting everything for developing a sustainable productive organic garden.

Living Sculpture

Last year the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli released a CD called Sacrificium, the cover art of which saw her posing as a living sculpture of the greco-roman kind. A fantastic CD of music incidentally even if it caused most grown men to go into a state of shock about what went on all those centuries ago...but that's another story.
It was probably the British duo of Gilbert and George who started the ball rolling on the development of living sculpture in 1970 when they posed at the gallery of art dealer Nigel Greenwood (1941-2004) at his Chelsea, London gallery. Their work was called Singing Sculptures and they performed the song 'Underneath the Arches' continuously. John Kaldor Art Projects bought this work to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1973. Living sculptures have become a fixture at shows and fairs across the country and delight crowds as public art works. Yesterday these young men posed as coal miners and put on a great show.

Local lads in the tradition of Gilbert and George

sublime music from Cecilia Bartoli

Quilts on display

Art quilts which incorporate fabrics using plant motifs can be an inspiration for gardeners and designers. I like to look closely at the combination of colours and intricate patterns. When you photograph them in section you enter into a whole new world of imagination.