admin – Page 24 – Paluma – our village in the mist

Paluma Dam Spillway Concrete Works – Project Update:

From Councillor Margie Ryder:

Townsville City Council is committed to providing and maintaining $5.4B worth of community assets consisting of water and wastewater networks, bridges, drainage, roads, waste management and spillway maintenance.

Paluma Dam spillway infrastructure maintenance works are ongoing that will see the delivery of protection barrier installed to the foundations of the dams spillways bridge.

Works are now at the stage for the construction of the new protective concrete barrier ‘slab’ that will be poured onto the existing surface. These works will require a convey of concrete trucks that will be using the Paluma Dam access road which will cause traffic delays.

Council will have traffic management in place; however, dependable on weather conditions the unsealed access road to the Dam including the Paluma Dam campgrounds may have considerable delays on the day of concrete pouring.

The Paluma Dam, Concrete Pouring works are scheduled to commence on Thursday, 02 December 2021 and are expected to take one day to complete.

Please be advised that the concrete trucks will be operational 7am through to 2pm. Normal traffic conditions will return post 2pm.

Townsville City Council Update on their Website

Rainforest Tree of the Month, November 2021 – Messmate (Eucalyptus cloeziana)

Although the rainforest around Paluma is extensive, covering over 42km², it forms a narrow north-south band that changes to eucalyptus dominated sclerophyll forest as one travels east down the range or west towards Hidden Valley. The border between rainforest and sclerophyll forest is not fixed, and some studies have shown that the rainforest is slowly expanding and encroaching on the ecologically important sclerophyll habitats that host a number of important species of plants and animals. Late last century there was concern that rainforest expansion might be an ecological threat to adjacent forests but more recent work shows that the rate of expansion is very low, and current climate predictions for destructive cyclones and increased bushfire severity in the region suggest that rainforests are the more threatened of the two habitats.

Some evidence of past rainforest encroachment can still be found along some walking tracks, where there are huge old Eucalyptus trees that would have germinated in open forest have survived the fierce competition for light that characterises rainforest habitats and now stand as anomalous reminders border dynamics. This series has already highlighted two sclerophyll trees that can be found near rainforest margins (Eucalyptus grandis and Syncarpia glomulifera). A third species is the Messmate (Eucalyptus cloeziana).

The track down to Triple Falls from the H-track has some magnificent old messmate trees in an area just adjacent to open forest at the crest of the escarpment. This tree is endemic to eastern Queensland and in ideal conditions can grow to 55m in height. The lower trunk has rough flakey or fibrous bark, but is smooth on the upper trunk and branches. Leaves are lanceolate to ovate 0.2-1.3cm long. Flowering occurs has been recorded in December and January. The mature gum nuts are globose to hemispherical, 0.4–0.7 cm long, 0.6–1.1 cm wide.

Messmate has been logged over most of its range and is now cultivated in plantations. It has been imported to Africa and is one of the more important general purpose hardwood plantation trees in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The species name (cloeziana) was chosen in honour of Francois Cloez, a chemist who originally identified the chemical cineole as the major constituent of eucalyptus oil.

Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver

Rainforest Tree of the Month, October 2021 – Buff Alder

The buff alder (Apodytes brachystylis) is a common understory tree in well-developed rainforests from sea level to 1200m. The genus (around 8 species are recognised) is distributed from Africa through Asia to the western Pacific, but A. brachystylis is endemic to (found only in) north Queensland and is most common in upland rainforests from Cooktown to Townsville.

The leaves have a wavy margin and the leaf stems (petioles) are yellowish with a grooved upper surface. The flowers are small (petals 3-4.5mm long) with hairs on the inner surface.

Left : Buff Alder flower and buds (photo by B. Jago CC by 3.0).
Right: Leaves (Photo by Russel Cumming on Flickr)

None of these features make it easy to spot this species during a casual walk through the rainforest, however, once the fruit drops ) to the ground (November to February) this species is unmistakable. Usually what drops is a very handsome combination of a dark blue-black receptacle (the basal part of the flower) and a bright green carpel (the seed bearing structure that contains the ovaries, stigma and style).

Fallen buff alder fruit. Right image shows examples where only the green carpel remains on the ground.

Tagged buff alder on H-track.
Photo by Will Cairns

Based on my frequent encounters with the fallen fruit on the tracks around Paluma it appears to be quite common around the village. There is a tagged specimen (White Tag Number 16) of the tree about 3/4 of the way down the slope toward the main plank bridge on the H-Track (starting from Whalley Crescent.

Text and Photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver

Rainforest Tree of the Month, September 2021 – Hickory Boxwood

The Hickory Boxwood (Planchonella euphlebia) is endemic to north Queensland. It is a widespread and relatively common tall (~25m), often buttressed tree in established rainforests from 200m to 1200m in altitude. It is also sometimes referred to as Pouteria euphlebia, although this name is now considered to be a synonym .

Leaves are obovate (egg-shaped with the narrow end towards the stem) and 5-14cm long. The undersides of young leaves are covered in fine brown hairs. the species name euphlebia refers to the well developed (“eu”) veins (“phlebius”) on the leaves.

Although common around Paluma, these trees are not easy to distinguish from the appearance of their trunks. There is a tagged specimen (White Tag number 10) on the H-track near the bottom of the slope leading down from Whaley Crescent. However the fallen fruit are easy to identify. The fruit appear from October to December and are fairly common on the ground along many Paluma walking tracks. They are about 1.5.2cm long. globular to elongate and coloured yellowy-orange to red. The fleshy fruit contains 1 to 5 distinctively shaped brown glossy seeds with a pale grey scar along one side. The fruit is reported to be edible in some texts but as always great caution should be taken in sampling any fruit from the forest.

Timber from this tree is suitable for general building and furniture, but it was not specifically targetted by loggers.

Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver

Len’s Anagama kiln fires up once again.

On Monday (September 27th) after months of preparatory work at the potter’s wheel, and a couple of days of hauling wood from out at Hussy Road, Len Cook’s famous wood-fired Anagama kiln has awoken after a year’s slumber and is erupting flames and smoke as it progressively consumes several cubic metres of wood. Len has stacked the kiln with an impressive array of original pots that will slowly be turned into stunning works of ash-glazed art by late Friday.

It will take several more days of cooling down before Len is able to open the kiln to discover how the pots have been transformed. Despite the years of experience that Len has with this process, it’s never certain how the pots will respond to the sometimes whimsical moods of the Anagama. I am sure that there will be some fantastic results, with most pots destined for art galleries, or the shelves of serious ceramic collectors.

Unofficial Notice of Paluma Dam Road Closure (Oct 5th-Nov 4th)

While the Townsville City Council does not have any official notification on their website I have received verbal advice from a council officer that major works to prepare the major potholes and ditches at specific spots on the dam road will commence and October 5th and be completed by November 4th – rain permitting.

Although it is disappointing that earlier advanced written notice of the closure directly from the Council to residents has not occurred, it is very good news that the chronic erosion of the road due to drain and culvert blockages will finally be fixed more permanently than just throwing some fill onto the road. Many thanks to Wilfred Karnoll whose persisentence during repeated phone calls and delayed meetings finally resulted in the recognition of the problem and a promise (soon to be fulfilled if it doesn’t rain) to fix it.

Rainforest Tree of the Month, August 2021 – Yellowheart

Although it is neither common nor prominent among the trees along the H-track, the yellowheart (Fagraea fagraeacea) is both unmistakeble and unforgettable once it starts dropping its ripe fruit.

The yellowheart grows as a shrub to small tree (5-20m) and is endemic to higher altitude (300-1250m) rainforests in NE Queensland. As a tree it has flakey to fibrous bark with a yellowish inner bark when exposed by a blaze.

The leaves are elliptical to ovate and 5-10cm long. The flowers are cream coloured and can be highly perfumed.

F. Fagraeacea leaves (photo by Russel Cumming on Flickr)
and flowers (photo by John Elliot on Flickr)

The genus Fagraea includes about 60 species in the Family Gentianaceae. Although there are no readily accessible (i.e. Googleable) details on any human use for this species, the yellowheart was once considered to be a part of a single, variable species (F. gracilipes) which occurs in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Fiji. F. gracilipes is known to produce durable, workable wood that has been used for canoes, posts and housing. The latex sap from this and several other members of the genus is used as an adhesive.

There is a solitary small tree on the H-track about 100m before the main creek crossing (walking from Lennox Cr) that, for several years, has dropped its brilliant lipstick pink fruit onto the track around August to October. It is just beginning to develop its fruit now, so be on the lookout next time you are on the Track.

Despite its striking assets (brilliantly coloured fruit and perfumed flowers and a manageable size) yellowheart is not commonly cultivated. I have twice gathered the fruit and planted them into pots to germinate so that I could add this lovely small tree to my garden but have had no success so far.

Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver

Paluma History Stories … John Chick

The following account was recently received (via Charlie Allen) from John Chick, an early resident of Paluma and one of a pioneering family that includes his brother Dave Chick, who lives on the eponymously named Chick’s road. Its great to receive these early accounts and the editors of the Paluma.org website warmly welcome this contribution and would love to receive others from people who were (or were related to) are first residents in the village. These stories are also published in our History section of the website.

My Early Memories of Paluma

by John Chick, August 2021

My early days at Paluma started around 1950 as I can recall. My parents Frank and Fran Chick along with my grandparents Jim and Marynne Chick took up a small heavily vegetated jungle block in what is now known as Whalley Crescent. At the time of the selection there was no road access to the property and everything that was needed to carry out the clearing etc had to be carried in by hand from Mt Spec Road at a point which is now the old Police Station block. It took four adults to carry our wood stove up this narrow track whilst avoiding the wait-a-while. As I was only six years old at the time I could not do much but pick up sticks and other small jobs at the direction of my grandparents.

The clearing was a big job and as we did not own a chain saw everything was done by an axe, a long scrub hook and some great fires. The property adjoined an existing block that had a modern brick home on it built by the Kiery family who had owned a Butcher shop on the western end of Flinders Street in Townsville. The property had a beautifully hand crafted aviary just inside their fence line with a large carved log as a viewing bench. The timber for the aviary had been hand shaped with an Adze as was the frame for a gate on the boundary fence adjacent to the cage. Of interest was the fact that the lower hinged end of the gate had been tapered and rested in the dimple of an upside wine bottle set in the ground as a lower hinge.

During the second world war this property was seconded by the US army and used as accommodation for its higher ranks. They must have had some great parties at this place judging be the amount of alcohol bottles, both whole and broken were all hurled over the fence into our block. My Grandmother spent many long weekends picking up very last slither of glass up.

We usually arrived at Paluma on Friday evening and after a big weekend of work would depart mid afternoon on Sunday. One of the most memorable events of the clearing procedure was the eventual removal of a very big tree situated pretty much central in the block. We had been applying fire to the base of this tree for many weekends with timber acquired from the rest of the clearing effort. Then came the Sunday when we were sure that the monster would finally fall on that day, however time ran out on us and we were having to leave for Townsville.

As was the usual, before departing we would visit Jimmy Linton’s shop where dad and grandad would have a couple of quick drinks with Jim and his wife Win. And then it happened; and we missed it; the sound of our nemesis crashing to the ground in the distance was fantastic but it was a shame to have missed the fall after all of the work that went into getting rid of it.

As most will know, you just don’t realise how much wood is in a tree until it hits the ground and you have to dispose of it. My grandmother took to this tree with the same gusto that removed the glass but it did take several months of weekends. Many years later I saw her deal out the same treatment to a very large Tamarind tree that stood in our Queens Rd back yard.

Our weekend accommodation on the mountain was at what was then called the Main Roads huts on the original road down to McClellands Lookout. They were big open plan units with a great fireplace. We had plenty of firewood.

A little further down this road and set back on the northern side was a small building about the size of a large outhouse. This area now appears to be a subdivision. I think this building was originally a munitions store for the US army and then used by Main Roads as an explosives store. The rainforest around and in behind this store was strewn with live ammunition such as 45cal pistol bullets and the common .303 rounds. The yanks did not clean up very well when they left.

The Americans had quite a presence at Paluma with the construction of a couple of radar installations in concrete igloos which have since become homes and water tanks for the town’s supply. When I first saw these igloos, some of the camouflage was still intact and the bats had taken over.

My favourite US leftover was a beautiful big log cabin which was constructed almost opposite the entrance to our block of land. The cabin was quite large with a high pitched roof and open plan design. Each log in the construction was over one foot in diameter. There was a large stone pitched fireplace on the left hand wall with a set of nice glass windows opposite. There was a heavy timber double door entrance and a smaller door at the rear. Straight out of an American movie.

I have fond memories of some of the old characters who had lived on the mountain for many years.

Jim Linton operated the local store which was an old US demountable with low push out panels as windows. It was always very dark in there and on the counter he had a stuffed Quoll on the counter and on the wall was an arrangement of native spears and a couple of boomerangs and a woomera, all collected in the locality.

Mrs Linton operated the local telephone exchange and post office in the back of this building. It just seemed a tangle of wires and plugs to me at the time.

Jim did a lot of tin prospecting throughout the area and I spent many hours wandering up and down local streams with him. The spot that I remember mostly was a little down the track that starts from the igloos and goes down the Blue Gum creek. There was a small creek off to the right of this track where we sluiced for tin and it was quite plentiful. Later on there was a vertical shaft sunk in the middle of this track adjacent to the sluicing point. The doorstops in Jim’s home consisted of two pound milk tins full of alluvial tin. Jim was also responsible for pumping the town water up from the creek behind the village to tanks situated at Lennox Crescent. I went with Jim on several occasions and it was quite an experience to see him fire up that old ancient diesel engine.

The scary man in the bark hut in the clearing. The story of Arthur (Possum) Benham is well known by locals and historians alike. To us young ones at the time, he was a scary man living alone in a very old style in the bush. Whilst we saw Arthur at a distance on many occasions I sometimes regret that I never got to speak to him. His tin workings in the clearing were quite extensive with the water collection channels commencing up near the road and going down to the extensive gullies that he had excavated. The lower end of the excavations drained into a small creek running parallel to the road and we caught many Yabbies in this creek. On the banks above the diggings were several grape vines of the green variety however they were never very productive.

At the head of Benham’s channels up by the road on the right hand side of the entrance to the clearing was the original Paluma school and the teacher was a miss Little whose parents owned the guest house at that stage.

Another local character was Tommy Nutt who owned a small home about opposite the entrance to Benham’s clearing. Tommy had a great collection of minerals and other artifacts from the surrounding area. Tommy’s income was generated by meeting the tourist bus when it arrived several times a week and taking tourists on walks on the local tracks. I was asked on one occasion myself to take a sound recordist from down south out early one morning to record the morning bird chorus as recordings were needed for the burgeoning film industry.

The Smith family lived in the last house on the right on the way out of Paluma towards Running River. They were relatively old when I met them and my brother and I mixed with their sons around the village. One son Russell lived out at the valley for some years and Trevor is now down at Eungella as part of Smith’s Sawmill. The family had been involved in the forestry all of their lives and at one stage also ran some cattle. Another brother I believe is up in the Gulf somewhere.

Paluma had a lot of visitors in those early days and the guest house was always busy. The guest house was owned by Mr and Mrs Bill Little and boasted the biggest combustion stove in the region. Old movies were regularly shown there on Saturday nights. Later on the guest house became a holiday resort for an order of religious nuns from Townsville.

A major milestone for Paluma was the clearing of the land for the creation of a park and the construction of the first community hall which was built with local logs. I recall the Saturday morning that the bull dozer arrived and the felling of the first trees began. A lot of locals assisted with this operation and also the reestablishment of the swimming pool originally constructed by the US army. I had previously walked down this creek from Benham’s end with Jim Linton prospecting for tin. At that time the metal gate at the bottom of the dam was open and the creek flowed through. For some years there was a fish around a metre long living in the pool; this looked like a Queensland Lungfish and no one seemed to know where it came from. Many great bush dances were held in the hall over the years and on one occasion I played the drums there.

As time went by, our little house was completed. Dad had pre-cut all of the frames in Townsville and then transported them to Paluma for assembly. During the week, we also made bricks in Townsville and carted them up in our Vanguard Spacemaster ute. I remember that with all of the other equipment our poor utility could only carry fifty two bricks at a time. When I was young I bought two pine tree seedlings from Magnetic Island and planted one on each side of the gate at the entrance to the property. When I was at Paluma a couple of years ago I noted that in spite of their unfamiliar environment they were now fifty or sixty feet tall but struggling. They did make great Christmas trees for us in the early days.

Power was connected to Paluma around 1969 / 70 and our farther Frank who was an electrician wired all of the homes in the village with the assistance of my brother David who had the task of pulling the wires through the ceilings.

I wonder how many Opossums and Pythons they encountered?.

The little house in Paluma was sold for $30,000 in January 1982 following the previous purchase of forty acres at Blackfriers for development. This block was purchased from Jimmy Heath who was a vegetable grower in the area. The property is on Chicks Road and is now operated as a tree plantation by David and Sharon Chick.

What’s Blooming (and budding) in Paluma – Native Orchids

Paluma gardens have a pretty wide variety of both native and exotic orchids and at least one or two species can usually be seen flowering during most seasons. Over the last month, two striking but relatively uncommon native orchids have flowered around the village: the spider orchid (Tetrabaculum cacatua) and the orange blossom orchid (Sarcochilus falcatus).

Michele has written about the spider orchid previously, but it’s great to see it again in full splendor and flowering at nearly the same time of year (July 20 in 2019 and July 14 in 2021). The orchid flowers lasted only a few days and are gone now, although there might be other speciments around the village or tracks. These orchids have unusual pseudobulbs (“stems”) that are square in cross section.

Orchid names have been in a state of flux recently. While this specimen was identified as Dendrobium tetragonum in the original post this species has been devided into 4 species in the genus Tetrabaculum, two of which can be found in Paluma. The one posted here (T. cacatua or the yellow tree spider orchid) has light yellow to white flower petals with few or no reddish spots and is restricted to forests above 900m). The other one to look out for (occurs below 900m) is T. capitisyork or the blotched spider orchid, which – you guessed it – has conspicuous red blotches on the petals. But for most of us, it’s just a gorgeous flower no matter what its official name is, and I am sure Shakespeare would agree!

The other beautiful orchid in flower at the moment is the orange blossum orchid (Sarcochilus falcatus). This delightful dainty orchid has a white flower with red stripes and yellow margins on the labellum (lower petal). It also flowered at nearly the same time last year. It is endemic to east and southeast Australia and favours cool moist forests. In north Queensland its temperature preferences restrict it to higher altitude rainforests. Although it is listed as being wide-spread and common in Austraian Tropical Rainforest Orchids, I have not seen this before during my frequents walks along the tracks.

Other fairly common native orchids that are currently sending out flower spikes and should be in full bloom during August in Paluma gardens or along the tracks are the rock orchid (Dendrobium speciosum, the slender cane orchid (Dendrobium adae), the buttercup orchid (Dendrobium agrostophylla), and the green catepillar orchid (Plexaure crassiuscula). The first three are described in the 5 easy species article on orchids. The last is illustrated here.

Text and photos by Jamie Oliver

Items for sale by PEEC

ITEMS OFFERED FOR SALE BY PALUMA ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE

Fisher & Paykel Fridge Freezer – 454 litres (broken seal on freezer door)
Fisher & Paykel Freezer
Pine Bedroom Hutch/Dresser

see details here

Process: The listed items are made available for sale by Paluma Environmental Education Centre via Sale by inviting offers (tender) process. Offers must be submitted on the attached Sale by Inviting Offers document.

Timeline: Offers will be accepted from Monday 9^nd August to 3pm Friday, 13^th August 2021. No offers will be accepted after this date. The person submitting the successful offer will be notified as early as possible from Monday, 16^th August 2021 and then invoiced. Once an invoice has been raised, payment by Bpoint or EFT is preferred. Payment should be finalised prior to collection of goods no later than Friday 20^th August 2021. Delivery charges are the responsibility of the purchaser.

Tenders must be submitted via email to:
Gail Gannon – Business Manager,
Paluma Environmental Education Centre,
admin@palumaeec.eq.edu.au

Condition and Inspection of Goods: Goods are offered on an “as is” basis only. Goods can be inspected by arrangement with the Barry Smith, Unit Support Officer from Monday, 9 August 2021. Please phone Barry on 07 – 4770 8528 to arrange inspection

After the Sale: No warranty or backup service is available, either implied or stated. Paluma Environmental Educational Centre cannot and will not provide any support either by way of parts or expertise after items have been removed from the centre.

Conditions: The Department of Education reserves the right not to accept an offer and may set a reserve price. Whilst all care has been taken, the Department of Education disclaims all liability for loss or damage to person or property arising from the removal of the items for offer.