By Beatrice Hawkins
The new year is well and truly under way and unfortunately we still have had very little rain in this area, in fact in most areas west of the Great Dividing Range. The further west you go the worse it gets with farmers desperate for feed for stock.
As I write this I have had word from family in the Bourke area that they had a really good fall of around an inch of rain in a passing storm. This has put some water in dams and alleviated that problem for a while. They are hopeful of follow up storms to keep things coming along. In fact the fall was so heavy that my nephew, who had been out feeding stock, had to wait for water to subside to get home. When he did, he found his pump under about four feet of water in what had been an almost dry hole – more work!
This weekend in Tamworth to start the country music festival there will be a fantastic event called the Great Australia Roundup raising funds for the Burrumbauttock Hay Runners to take fodder and fun to farmers in desperate need. Their next trip will be over the long weekend to the Quilpie area and a renowned American country music artist will be along for the ride to provide a concert – the “boy from Georgia” might feel the heat in Quilpie I think!
With the water restrictions in place here and things so dry, gardens are really suffering and green lawns are non-existent. I am recycling all my washing machine water via a hose and buckets – it is keeping things going and a big tub in the shower is helping also. Mulching is also in place and helping and the vincas are still flourishing and providing good colour. They really are a tough flower for hard times. I actually do have tomatoes – self-seeded from last year – lovely little sweet yellow ones, yum!
I thought to start the year I would write a little on the various floral emblems of Australia as I was bemused to find how relatively recently they had been officially adopted. I had wrongly assumed they were in place at, or shortly after, federation in 1901.
The national floral emblem, Golden Wattle, although given the honour in 1912 was only officially declared on 1st September, 1988, actually the last to be officially recognised.
Victoria was the first of the states to officially adopt a flower and this was the pink form of the Common Heath on the 11th November 1958.
The beautiful Cooktown Orchid has been officially recognised since 19th November 1959 as Queensland’s emblem and a year later in 1960 the red and green Kangaroo paw was adopted by Western Australia on the recommendation of the tourism office of WA as it is only found growing naturally in that state.
The trend continued in 1961 with South Australia adopting the spectacular Sturt’s Desert Pea on 23rd November, and Tasmania proclaiming the Tasmanian Blue Gum on 5th December 1962. This is the only tree to be an official emblem but was not a popular choice and in 1966 the beautiful flowering leatherwood which is a large shrub to medium-sized tree – endemic to Western Tasmanian forests and a wonderful source of honey – was promoted as an alternative. I think I prefer the Blue Gum as not only is the powder puff white blossom attractive, the leaves are really beautiful and very useful in floral decorations – you get two for one with this choice!!
The waratah was also proclaimed in 1962 by the governor of NSW but had been recognised as the unofficial emblem for many years.
The floral emblems of the territories are Sturt’s Desert Rose for the Northern Territory, officially adopted on 12th July 1961, and the Royal Bluebell for the ACT on 26th May 1982.
Well there is some trivia to start the year!
My wish for all for this year is good rain and an end to the awful drought that is affecting so much of our country. A return to good seasons and green grass would be beneficial to humans and animals alike and of course the gardeners among us would love a reprieve form water restrictions and would not mind, I am sure, having to mow lawns!
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