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What’s Flowering In Paluma – Hippeastrum (Amaryllis)

Hippeastrum (Amaryllis family)

A previous post by Colwyn Campbell (27 September) highlighted the commencement of the annual blooming of hippeastrum lilies in many gardens throughout the village. Two weeks on and the hippeastrums are at their very best, bursting into flower in almost every garden. Whether you have one bulb or mass plantings, these beautiful bulbs never disappoint the home gardener.

Hippeastrums belong to the Amaryllis family. They belong to a genus of some 90 species and over 600 hybrids. They are perennial bulbs. The bulbs are usually large and fleshy, producing tall, broad leaves. The large trumpet-shaped flowers come in a vast array of colours, evident in the gardens at Paluma. Hippeastrums are easy to grow. They love warm weather, sunshine or good filtered light.

Just some of the amazing flowers from local gardens are shown in the photos below. Here are our Happy Hippeastrums!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Paluma Profiles – John and Junita Tubman

In ‘Meet A Villager’ for the month of October we introduce you to long-time Paluma residents John & Junita Tubman.

Following the recent opening of the new community hall extension and the ‘John Tubman Room’, it seems fitting to highlight the dedicated and tireless work of John and Junita (Junie) Tubman to the village community of Paluma. This tribute to a very special couple has been compiled by James Jackson.

John and Junie Tubman on 22 September 2018 attending the opening of the ‘John Tubman Room’

John and Junie started visiting Paluma regularly around 1986. They both loved the cool climate and the opportunity to get close to nature. Following a family Christmas in Paluma, they noticed a block of land for sale at 46 Mt Spec Road. According to the then neighbours, Don and Glad Parry, the property was previously owned and occupied by Mr Willowdean, one of the real characters of Paluma. The family decided to purchase the block and build a holiday house.

John was winning Housing Industry Association (HIA) awards for domestic construction and with his building expertise, the Tubman’s and the Jackson’s started construction of a house in 1990 with a modest budget.

Around this time, John and Junie became involved in the Paluma Progress Association, in conjunction with the neighbours on the other side, the McGoldrick’s. John and Junie were soon involved in the Paluma Rural Fire Service, then under the wing of Cec Carpenter.

In the mid to late 1990’s, John and Junie joined a strong force of local volunteers and began the Paluma Rainforest Festival. These were great times with the entire community actively involved. It was from these events that much of the money was raised for the reconstruction of a new ‘Town Hall’. Later, the then Thuringowa Shire Council deemed this hall unsafe and scheduled it’s demolition. It was after the ‘Demolition Fancy Dress Party’ held in the old hall the night before it was knocked down that an idea dawned to ‘just build another one’.

John and Junie were now members of the PDPA, SES and PRFB. John saw the opportunity to bring the three organisations together with a common goal and to build a combined facility. John recognised that by not duplicating facilities and services for the different organisations, there would be major advantages in making all three organisations economically viable. With funds from a grant, PDPA, SES and a donation from the Gleeson Family, John drew plans and started construction of a new Community Hall. He worked relentlessly in driving the project to its successful completion.

By then the Jackson/Tubman family house at 46 Mt Spec Rd was being extended to provide for longer stays in Paluma, now needed to discharge the now substantial local community duties. John and Junie have many SES and Rural Fire Brigade activations under their belt including ‘The Night of Noah’, the ‘Five Acre Block Fire’, many SES Road Crash Rescue activations, at least 10 Search and Rescues and several Helicopter Medivacs. Apart from all these duties, John and Junie still found time to support and volunteer for the Paluma Push Bike Race. In fact, they have volunteered for every Paluma Push to date, with the only exception being this years (2018) event.

With all the work and activities going on in the village, Junie decided we needed something special on the social calendar. As soon as the new community hall was opened with support from the entire community, she organised and delivered the ‘Federation Ball’. It was a sell-out event and and it was soon followed by the ‘Medieval Ball’. Both events were a resounding financial success, but better than that, it proved just what the small community of Paluma could achieve if everyone worked together.

More recently John stood up again and supported the extension to the current Community Hall. With persistence and dedication from Michael Drew and the members of the PDCA, this too has now come to fruition.

These days, John and Junie recognise that it’s time to pass the baton to the next generation of Paluma residents. John and Junie spend their time relaxing in Paluma, playing squash, caravanning and cruising. But, you can’t keep a good builder down and John is again back on the tools building a house.

John and Junie join the long line of dedicated ‘Palumarites’ who have worked hard to progress the village for the benefit of residents and visitors since the 1930’s.

Text by James Jackson & Photo by Michele Bird

Blankets of Love Retreat at Paluma

Last Friday to Sunday (5-7 October) the annual three-day ‘Blankets of Love’ retreat was held at the Paluma Community Hall. Blankets of Love is a quilting group based in Townsville and the main prerequisite for membership is an absolute passion for making quilts. Last weekend’s retreat is the ninth year the event has been held at Paluma. There were 18 participants at this years event, travelling from Townsville, Bowen, Collinsville, Tully and Ravenswood.

For three days, the ladies stitched and sewed, piecing together some beautiful quilts for charity. This years theme was ‘children’s toys’ with each member of the group contributing a block or section of the various quilts. These ‘community quilts’ are then passed on to various charities and organisations such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Palliative Care, the Children’s Paediatric Emergency Unit and various nursing homes. The group recently donated 29 of their quilts to the Glendale Nursing Home in Townsville.

The Townsville Blankets of Love group formed in 2000 after a founding member suffered the devastating loss of a grandchild. Out of this hardship, was formed a truly dedicated and remarkable group of women. Their most important role is to make and provide small quilts which are passed on to social workers at hospitals. The quilts are given to parents suffering the loss of a baby and the hope is that the quilts will assist in the process of saying goodbye to the loved one.

The Townsville Blankets of Love group intends to return to Paluma next year (2019) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their annual retreat. They are a truly remarkable group of women – every stitch a measure of their charity, kindness, compassion and love for others.

Blankets of Love is a charity and welcomes donations of fabric to produce their beautiful quilts. Anyone with fabric or materials to donate can contact Merle Prince on 0438 164 770.

Text & photos by Michele Bird

Paluma Sunday Market

Sunday September 30 was a beautiful fine sunny day at Paluma with a breeze keeping temperatures to about 26 degrees. There were 8 stallholders set up before opening time at 09.00 hrs and thanks to Don Battersby, Ross Hyne and Sonya Bryce, the barbeque was operational before 08.30 hrs.

After a slowish start there was a steady stream of customers in the hall and most also patronised the sausage sizzle. For the first time we were able to take advantage of the community hall extension, with two stalls set up in the new meeting room and people making use of the now extended square verandah.

Stall holders and customers at Paluma Market

The steady flow of customers continued until the sausages ran out at 12.40 hrs and about the same time the crowd in the hall diminished. Nevertheless, the feedback from the stallholders was very positive many, including newcomers, declaring their intention to return with their stalls at Easter. Altogether, a highly satisfactory day which will yield a modest profit that the Paluma & District Community Association needs.

Text & Photo by Les Hyland

What’s Flowering In Paluma – Late September

Hippeastrums are at present bursting into bloom, their large brilliant red flowers, three or four on one stem, are impossible to overlook. In the garden at 70 Mount Spec Road, these large red lilies, planted in a dedicated bed along the front of the house, are already in full bloom giving a fire-like blaze of colour. The hippeastrums in this garden and several others on the southern side of the road, always begin their flowering earlier than in most other gardens. It is possibly because the sunlight touches these gardens earlier in the day than on the northern side of the road, which remains in shade for a good part of the morning.

We will be blessed with the sight of these colourful plants for some weeks and we can look forward to another mass of red in a dedicated bed along the front of 77 Mount Spec Road. Here there are more than 40 plants at present with swelling buds about to burst open.

A Mount Spec Leptospermum is flowering profusely in the rural garden of Les and Lynn Hyland. The tree is slender-limbed with small closely placed leaves. The flowers are small and delicate: only 1.5 to 2 cm across and have white, almost circular petals around a green calyx. At present the tree is swarming with bees. I can find no information about this tree. It is thought to be native to a fairly restricted habitat at high altitude. The best guess I can make is that it may be Leptospermum wooroonoonan (mountain tea tree)? Can anyone enlighten me here?

The loud buzzing of bees alerts one to the many bottlebrush trees and shrubs (Callistemon sp.) currently flowering in gardens at Paluma. One large tree with a dense covering of pink flowers has seen daily activity from daylight to dusk with scores of honey-eaters of several species feeding in the blossoms. Rainbow lorikeets snip off the blooms and leave a carpet of pink bottle-brushes beneath the tree. Bees incessantly work the flowers and many butterflies hover around. This tree appears to be a hybrid/cultivar.

As the flowers of the pink bottlebrush die off, other Callistemons are opening up, with cream or, more spectacularly, red brushes. Little scarlet honey-eaters dart among the branches, difficult to discern from the scarlet of the flowers. Lorikeets and other parrots feast here too, leaving carpets of nipped-off bottlebrushes. It seems wasteful, but is a form of natural pruning.

The beautiful Ivory Curl flower, Buckinghamia celsissima, is again coming into bloom. A splendid specimen grows at the corner of Lennox Crescent and Mount Spec Road.

Text & Photos by Colwyn Campbell

Paluma Range Road – Fire to Flourish

Most Paluma residents will tell you that they never tire of driving the Paluma Range Road. While the road often invokes fear and trepidation for new visitors and tourists, you will very often hear the locals talking animatedly about their observations and encounters along the road, whether it be with native fauna and flora, other road-users, fallen trees, floods and fire. Some long-time residents know the road culvert by culvert – from top to bottom.

Driving the Range Road in the warmer months of the year and during the wet season is always special. Very often there is water cascading down the rock faces adjacent to the road and beautiful waterfalls at the creek crossings. Sometimes the water is even streaming down the middle of the road! If you are lucky you might encounter reptiles such as large pythons, water dragons and freshwater turtles during your drive. In certain months of the year, it is possible to spot migratory bird species such as the paradise kingfisher in particular locations along the road.

Being on the Range Road in the dry season is just as remarkable. With the recent prolonged dry spell in the region, just a few short weeks ago an intense bushfire ravaged the terrain on the lower slopes and foothills of the Paluma Range. Following the fire it was difficult to spot any greenery in the bush and hardly a blade of grass was left intact. It was hard to imagine how the bush would recover from such a devastating blaze.

Less than one month later and the bush is regenerating with a vengeance. Driving the Range Road at the present time is an absolute joy. There are green shoots and new growth everywhere as the bush springs back to life. It is well known that the Australian bush needs fire for regeneration and there are many species of native plants reliant on regular firing regimes to promote new growth and for seed germination. The resilience of the bush and its adaptability to fire is well evident on the Paluma Range at the present time.

Among the many plants springing back to life are Eucalypts of various species, cycads (probably Cycas media) and grass trees (Xanthorrhoea sp.). The cycads are especially beautiful with their new, soft grey-green foliage unfurling from blackened stumps. Understory plants such as pandanus palms (Pandanus sp.), wombat berry (Eustrephus latifolius) and flax lily (Dianella sp.) are rampant with new growth on the charred, hard-baked clay soils and amongst the granitic outcrops.

Flax lily and wombat berry emerge from charred ground

Next time you drive the Range Road make sure you look for the ever-advancing tinges of green as the woodland forest springs back to life. This is ‘mother nature’ at her very best.

Cycad regrowth sprouts from burnt stumps

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

What’s Flowering In Paluma – Paperbark or Tea Tree

Paperbark/Tea Tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia)

There is currently a rather spectacular Paperbark or Tea Tree in full bloom at Paluma on the roadside along Mt Spec Road. The tree is located in front of the residence at 50 Mt Spec Road, opposite the Paluma Environmental Education Centre. It’s hard to miss this tree, because if you don’t immediately see and smell the sweet, honey-laden flowers, you can literally hear the air buzzing with thousands of bees – both native and European bees.

This tree is likely to be a Melaleuca quinquenervia, commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark. This specimen is a sturdy, multi-trunked tree with masses of creamy-yellowish bottlebrush-like flowers. This species of paperbark is native to Eastern Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia. It often grows in damp areas, on the margins of swamps, on floodplains and near watercourses. This specimen is thriving on the mountain top at Paluma!

Not only is this tree a magnet for bees at the moment, it also provides a source of nectar for many honeyeaters. In less than 15 minutes of bird watching at this tree, I observed numerous birds visiting for a feed – Macleay’s Honeyeater, Dusky Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill and Lewin’s Honeyeater.

Make sure you stop on your next walk through the village to check out this superb tree. It’s a ‘hive’ of activity!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

What’s Flowering In Paluma – Clivia or Kaffir Lily

Clivia or Kaffir Lily (Clivia miniata)

This is an addendum to a previous post on Clivia’s which featured the orange flowering variety (previous post dated 30 July 2018).

Since the beginning of spring, clivia plants at Paluma have been blooming and one garden in particular has some superb flowering plants.

Bill and Linda Venn’s impressive garden at the ‘Paluma Rainforest Cottage’ at no. 31 Mt Spec Road features some spectacular clivia’s. In addition to the orange form, there is a beautiful yellow variety with a multitude of blooms. Also keep an eye out for the variety of hippeastrums and other spring flowering plants in this special garden.

A Scaly Squatter – Common Tree Snake

Common Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulata)

After having been absent from Paluma for a short while, I returned home to find a very scaly squatter had taken up residence on my back verandah. A common tree snake was resting comfortably, having wrapped itself around the wooden beam of the verandah above my back door!

This new resident was not particularly impressed with me and was perturbed by the movement and vibration associated with my homecoming. It soon moved off into the pot plants and then back to the rainforest, being harangued by several honeyeaters during its return to the forest.

Common tree snakes are regular visitors to Paluma gardens and homes. This specimen was grey-blue in colour and was probably a young snake, being about 70cm in length. Adult snakes can grow up to 1.8m in length. Common tree snakes are very agile climbers and are usually active during the day. They range in colour from black, grey, green and blue, usually with yellow or paler-coloured bellies. They have excellent vision, which is not surprising considering the large shiny black eyes on this individual. Common tree snakes are non-venomous and they feed mainly on frogs and small lizards. This might explain why the green frog that usually lives on my verandah has disappeared!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

What’s Flowering in Paluma – May Bush

May Bush (Spiraea cantoniensis)

Well, spring is here and there are many plants coming into bloom in Paluma gardens, despite the prolonged dry spell over past weeks. September is always an inspiring time for gardeners at Paluma.

One of the most spectacular flowering shrubs at this time of year is the May bush. It tends to be a rambling shrub with arching branches forming a rounded-shaped shrub. The shrub tends to go unnoticed until it bursts into flower in the spring. Clusters of intricate snow-white double flowers cover the entire shrub, forming a spectacular display. When in full bloom the plants are a great attractant for native bees.

The common name ‘May bush’ is somewhat misleading because it flowers in September and October in the southern hemisphere. The species name ‘cantoniensis’ refers to this plant’s origins in South Eastern China and in the northern hemisphere it flowers in May.

The May bush is easy to grow and thrives in the cool mountain climate at Paluma. Many gardens along Mt Spec Road currently have May bushes in full bloom. Keep an eye out for these spectacular shrubs on your next walk through the village.