RoCk and RoLL from OZ: INXS Spell iT!


The Big, FriendLy, Giant by Roald Dahl


Gum BLossoms: AustraLian GeogrAphic

Dwarf Apple (Angophora hispida)
Dwarf apple (Angophora hispida)
Angophora is the smallest of the three eucalyptus,
 with its 12 species restricted to the eastern ranges
 and coast of mainland Australia
.Flowers: summer
Photo Credit: Bronwyn King

Gum BLossoms: AustrALia Geographic

Red-flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia)
Red-flowering gum (Corymbia ficifolia)
A species naturally restricted to sandy, 
coastal, often swampy sites 
n the far South-Western corner of Australia.
Photo Credit: Bronwyn King

The wOnderfuL CuttLefish


Gum TrEE BLossoMs: AusTRALia GeogrAphic

Rose of the west (Eucalyptus macrocarpa)
Rose of the west (Eucalyptus macrocarpa)
"Macrocarpa" means large fruit – a fitting name,
 as the individual flowers of this species are
 among the largest of all the eucalypts. 
Rose of the west, also known as mottlecah.
Flowers: mainly Spring.
Photo Credit: Bronwyn King

GuM TrEE BLossoms: AustrALia Geographic

Click below:
Australias-gum-tree
Octopus mallee (Eucalyptus sinuosa)
This bushy mallee was only named in 2008
and is known to occur in four populations
near Western Australia´s south coast.
Flowers: warmer months (Dec–April)
Photo Credit: Bronwyn King 

GUm Tree BLossoms: AusTRaLian GEogrAphic

Dunlop's bloodwood (Corymbia dunlopiana)

Dunlop's bloodwood (Corymbia dunlopiana)
This is one of nearly 100 species of Corymbia, a genus mainly restricted to Australia’s tropical north. Named in 1995
Flowers: mainly end of the Dry and into early Wet
Photo Credit: Bronwyn King

A nAturalist Voyage: Charles DArwin in OZ

A FLighTLess BiRd: The CAssoWary

The Cassowary is a very large bird although smaller than an emu or an ostrich. 
Females are larger than malesThe cassowary has a crest called casque on its head, which helps it work its way through the thick forest. The color of the head and neck can change depending on the mood of cassowary!
Cassowary can run 31 miles per hour and jump up to 5 feet in the air. 
They are also excellent swimmers. 
Cassowaries are native of NorthEastern Australia, New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands.
They live in humid rainforests but will venture into palm scrub, grasslandsavanna, and swamp forests.
The cassowary is an omnivore; it usually eats different types of fruit, seeds, shoots, fungi, small invertebrates and insects.¡

The LEafy sEa DrAgon aLso Unique to AustrALia


The Weedy SEa DrAgon: StAte of VictOria sYmbol


An AnciEnt TecHnique: BArk Painting

For thousands of years, the Aboriginal
people of Australia have been painting 
on bark to tell their stories. 
Since the languages spoken by the 
Aboriginal tribes were not written, painting
was an important means of communication.
The artists grind colored rock to form ochre paints 
and use bark from eucalyptus trees for their canvas.
These traditions of bark painting survive in the 
Yolngu people who live in Northern Australia.

A bark painting begins with the slash of a sharp axe.
 Artists make cuts in the trunks of eucalyptus trees, 
then strip away pieces of bark. 

All loose external bark is scraped off the piece 
and its surface is smoothed. Next, they heat
 the bark to flatten it.
Finally, using brushes, twigs, their fingers and
natural pigments they adorn the paintings
with designs handed down by their ancestors.
Monterey Bay Aquarium


CLicK UndR to sEE ArT on TrEE BarKs

Western Arnhem LAnd Pongaponga WOman with PEt POssum, 1922

Glass plate negative - Woman carrying pet opossum on her head while on the march, Pongaponga people, western Arnhem land, Northern Territory, photographed by Herbert Basedow, 1922