New Pride in Convict Ancestry

The fruits of the Wet are becoming apparent. Garden shrubs and trees have pushed out new leaves and shoots. Mushrooms have sprouted from the golf club greens and a severed palm trunk outside our kitch...

Notes on Eucalypts and Barra

During breakfast, Vilis told me, “Yesterday, I heard an interesting program on the radio about eucalyptus trees. They are incredibly adapted for fire. They use it for competition with other tree spe...

New Flag for Australia?

In the night, intermixed with the fortissimo percussion of rain on the metal roof, I heard a sound I could not identify, a sound resembling a deep, burring back-up signal on a vehicle, or some repetit...

Mount Stuart, Townsville

In early morning, Vilis and I drove south and west from Rosslea toward Mount Stuart, the long, rugged peak rearing into the sky behind James Cook University. A black kite flew alongside us for part of...