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Last Social for 2018 – Tropical BBQ

Last Saturday night (8 December) the annual Tropical Xmas BBQ was held at the Community Hall to close out the Paluma Social calendar for 2018. Up to 20 residents attended the event, with a few people coming and going over the course of the evening.

A sumptuous feast consisting of  BBQ meats and an array of salads and sweets was enjoyed by all. The ‘BBQ-er’ for the evening was Ross Hyne, closely supervised by ‘Mr. BBQ’ himself, Don Battersby. As usual, the Bar and Beverages were expertly dispensed by Les Hyland.

The ‘dish of the night’ was awarded to Jennie Robinson for her very special and unique recipe for ‘sweet but salty’ berry dessert cake! The encouragement award goes to Jim for his very special ‘do-it-yourself cucumber and egg salad’.

It was great to see many people embracing the ‘Tropical’ theme with their colourful shirts and other attire.  We were lucky enough to have two of Santa’s Elves attend as well (Ross & Sonya).

As with all Paluma Social Events, many of us ate too much food, drank a little too much wine and laughed a lot! A happy and fun-filled Paluma time was enjoyed by all.  Merry Xmas!

 

Rainforest Tree of the Month, December 2018 – Glochidion hylandii

Rainforest Tree of the Month (December) – Glochidion hylandii

 Around the world there are up to 300 species of Glochidion.  In the rainforests of tropical Queensland there are 12 with Glochidion hylandii being the one most usually seen in and around Paluma.  It is commonly known as Hyland’s Buttonwood and Pinflower Tree, which can be quite confusing as several other species, very similar in appearance, are also popularly named Pinflower, Buttonwood and Cheese Tree, the last presumably because the fruit is reminiscent of a round cheese.

Glochidion hylandii is a shrub or small tree growing to a height of up to 12 metres, usually to be found on the edges of rainforests or in revegetation areas as a pioneer tree.  The leaves are simple, elliptic and between 30 and 150 mm long with clearly defined veins. Upper surfaces are smooth, or sparsely covered with fine hair while the undersurface is slightly waxy with fine brown hairs.  Flowers, growing in the leaf axils are inconspicuous, being only 2 or 3 mm with 6 green sepals and no petals.

The fruit, about 12 to 15 mm x 8 to 10 mm, is a notable identifying feature of this tree.  Nestling in the leaf axils, the pink and pale green fruit is more reminiscent of a padded cushion than a round cheese.  It is actually a 5 or 6 valved capsule, containing white or cream seeds enclosed in a red or orange aril (fleshy membrane).  Fruiting can occur at any time of year.

Wompoo Fruit-doves eat the fruit of Glochidion hylandii while other species of Glochidion attract a variety of birds such as Double-eyed Fig-parrots, Victoria’s Riflebirds, Silvereyes, Riflebirds and Lewin’s Honey-eaters.

Take a walk around Paluma.  You will see many of these small trees, particularly among the vegetation on the road verges at either end of the village and along the Loop Road.

Article & Photos by Colwyn Campbell

REMINDER: TROPICAL XMAS BBQ THIS SATURDAY

     

  • When: Saturday 8th December, 6.30 pm
  • Where: Community Hall
  • BYO meat, sausages or whatever you want on the BBQ
  • Please bring a salad or sweet to share
  • The Bar will be OPEN with the usual low priced drinks
  • Come and join us for the last Social of 2018
  • EMBRACE THE TROPICAL THEME – WEAR YOUR BEST PALUMA ‘TROPICAL’ SHIRT, PANTS OR FROCK!!!!!

    

Paluma Pioneers

The history section of Paluma.org has been given a significant update with the addition of a new subsection (Paluma Pioneers) highlighting the many people who have lived and worked in Paluma in the past, and whose names have been memorialised the streets, creeks, waterfalls, mountains and other geographic features.

Arthur Benham

Linda Venn, author of “Paluma, the first fifty years” has agreed to write brief biographies of these historical characters, starting with the Benham Family.  Members of the Benham family are commemorated in many of our local place names, for example, Benham’s Creek, Mount Benham, Ethel Creek and Ethel Creek Falls, Benham Falls, Benham’s Track (now a road on some maps), Benham’s Lookout (now closed), Cloudy Creek and Cloudy Clearing. Other place names associated with the Benhams are Prospectors Creek (now Hermit Creek) and Hermitville. There may be others, but these will suffice to recognise the long association of this family with the Mount Spec area.  You can read more about this fascinating and prolific family here.

Telstra Mobile Tower Launch Celebration

Some of the community arrived a bit late for the 10.30 am start time last Saturday 1st December, but all up there were at least 17 residents in attendance to celebrate the provision of a tower giving Telstra mobile coverage over quite an extensive area in and around Paluma. 

Rachel and Joanne from Telstra came up from Townsville and were welcomed by PDCA President Jamie Oliver who acknowledged  the great benefits from the installation, not only in the township, but  as far as the Dam turnoff and quite a way down the Range Road. There is also reception on some of the walking tracks which has an obvious safety benefit – hopefully rarely needed. Lynn Hyland also spoke of the benefit to the PRFB and the SES who have on occasions found that their technology was useless in Paluma due to lack of mobile connection. Rachel replied mentioning that she had not fully realised the extent to which the tower would benefit the area. Participants were presented with a complimentary gift bag from Telstra containing a power pack – a very useful gift !

A scrumptious morning tea was provided by the Rainforest Inn and it was after 12.00 hrs that the group finally dispersed.

Article by Les Hyland

NOTICE TO PALUMA RESIDENTS: Heavy Vehicles on Range Road

HEAVY VEHICLES ON RANGE ROAD, WEEK OF 26 NOVEMBER

Paluma residents and visitors are advised that there will be heavy vehicles using the Range Road in the week beginning 26 November.

The heavy vehicles will include gravel trucks, concrete trucks and other large transport vehicles. The vehicles will be travelling to Gumburu to carry out work on extending the bus turnaround area.

Heavy vehicles are most likely to be encountered in the early morning.

Please drive carefully and be alert for these large vehicles on the road this week.

Telstra Paluma Mobile Tower Launch Celebration

     Paluma Mobile Tower – Launch Celebration

Telstra (Regional Australia, North Qld) and the Paluma & District Community Association (PDCA) invites all Paluma residents to attend a Morning Tea to celebrate the launch of the new Paluma Mobile Telephone Tower.

When: Saturday 1st December 2018, 10.30 AM

Where: Rainforest Inn, Paluma

Morning Tea will be provided courtesy of Telstra.

The PDCA encourages the attendance of Paluma residents, so please pass the word about this upcoming event!

Courtship in the Canopy Continues………

Update on Riflebird Courtship at Paluma

In a previous post (5 November 2018) I reported on the frenetic courtship activity of the Victoria’s Riflebird at Paluma during the height of the breeding season for these birds. I noted that many of the juvenile male birds were practising their skills at displaying for females.

A juvenile male bird displaying

While the young males continue to compete for the attention of females,  the adult male birds are also displaying with all the finesse that maturity brings. I captured the elaborate courtship display of one adult male bird who managed to win over his female companion. The courtship ritual and display lasted for almost 10 minutes and was a sight to behold.

  1. The adult male arrives and sits on his perch, scanning the forest canopy and calling in a loud raucous voice.

2. A female bird arrives and sits in a nearby tree. He is instantly alert and almost appears to take a bow in her direction.

3. He leaves his perch and flies into the nearby canopy to join her, sitting next to her on a branch. He puffs-up his whole body, raises his wings and the performance begins.

4. He displays frantically over and over with raised flapping wings until he has her full attention. She was looking quite disinterested for a time as the photographs show!.

5. Finally he has her full attention and they copulate. No photographs included here, privacy please!

6. He then flies back to his original perch and turns to display again, raising his wings in the direction of the female who is still sitting in the canopy.

What an amazing and remarkable bird and a truly memorable 10 minutes of my life!   Right place at the right time.  Or, just another day in the paradise called Paluma.

Article & Photographs by Michele Bird (no pun intended).