QUEER HISTORY WALK

She-Oak

Jason described this as a niche plant in that when it drops its needle-like leaves to the forest floor and they break down, the ground underneath becomes very acidic.

This prevents all but a very few acid-adapted plants from growing under or around these trees, protecting them and their environment from being overtaken by other plants or weeds.

Similar plants to do this are coffee (producing caffeine) and tobacco (producing nicotine), which stops other plants growing under or around it.

One plant that can grow under casuarinas is Dianella. Fun fact: Black cockatoos like the seeds of this plant and it is good for a long journey. You can suck on the cones for longevity from the moisture.

Mat Rushes

This plant has two edible parts: the seeds, and at the base or the rhizome. Jason described the taste as bad but he did say you can survive off it.

This plant is long lasting and is great at keeping the soil together via its root system. Dragonflies and Damselflies also use it as a viewing station whilst Praying Mantises lay their eggs on the undersides of the leaves.

Macaranga

Jason described this plant's setup as being in disturbed soil where they can grow quick, and its roots hold the soil together making it great for a sandy area like The Spit.

This plant also provides great shade which creates its own microclimate. And although inedible, when it breaks down, this plant becomes great compost and organic matter for the area around it. But when alive, it is a good bee pollinator plant.

Palm Lily

Broad-leaved Palm Lily or native Cordyline. This plant is neither a palm nor a lily. He explained how these trees grow straight up for sunlight, and when the berries turn red they are very attractive to birds.

He also said that the Indigenous people ate the berries when they were red but also said that he would not recommend trying them.

A bit further around the walking track were some great examples of how these plants thrive without a canopy overhead growing slower because they get direct sunlight already.

Dead Wood

It was a dead tree which Jason explained was in fact a good thing. Not only does the decay and breakdown of a non-living tree create carbon for soil, it also gives mushrooms and fungi a place to grow off where they can create their own vast networks.

Their breakdown essentially becomes food for other things and is why, sometimes, removing it from an environment like this can be detrimental rather than helpful.

Pandanus

This plant has edible fruit and is a great fence or defensive plant as its sharp spear-like leaves or fronds can deter people from crossing boundaries that maybe they should not.

As a native botanical, the base of the leaves can be chewed, and the core of the pandanus trunk has been used by traditional owners to treat stomach pain, diarrhoea, wounds, toothache and mouth sores.

Despite the common name of screw pine, not a pine, though its leaves do grow outwards in a beautiful spiral shape that seems to be where the corkscrew idea comes from.

Brushturkeys

Jason talked about the importance of animal life within an environment like this. Specifically, about the significance of the Bush Turkeys, aka the Australian brushturkey.

They are great for airing out soil when they dig and sort through the layers of earth and leaf litter for twigs for their nest, and in doing so, they help the ecosystem out with generating airflow and variety for the decomposition process of humus, the important leaf litter ecosystem of the forest floor.

Bush turkeys also help move elements through the system.

Dune Plants

We turned at a fork and went from the forest path up to the beach track. Here, Jason pointed out the difference of the sand, sea, and salt on the microenvironment, and how this area was different from the previous area we had just come from.

Near here, Jason came back to the Macaranga and pointed out the three different ways it grew on this side of the dune. Some grew more shrubby, some grew straight up, but overall, on this side in this area, there was more direct sunlight so they grew slow and on the ground.

Between the forest and the sand dunes, Jason pointed out the fleshy stems of Coastal Pig Face. He noted that their leaves were edible as well as their fruit, though salty.