Category: Life in Paluma

Paluma residents might have thought that the village had been taken over by a Lumberjack’s Convention last weekend as the reverberating sound of chainsaws and mechanical chipper echoed around the village. It just so happens that some locals decided to take advantage of the fine weather to get some major pruning works underway. It all came about when locals Colin and Jill arranged for their son’s mate Jason, who is a professional arborist, to come to Paluma to prune some large rainforest trees on their block. 

There was movement in the village and the word was passed around……..!

As it often does around here, word was quickly passed on that an arborist was in town and here was an opportunity not to be missed. While Jason had originally planned to spend a couple of days pruning trees at Paluma, he was quickly snapped up by neighbours far and wide for additional pruning jobs. He now has a week’s worth of bookings and he will be staying on for a while. Paluma often has that effect on people…..!

Jason has an interesting career. When not pruning trees, his regular day job is working on movie sets. He moved from Townsville to the Gold Coast to pursue this work. Most of his time involves setting up stunts for film-makers. He happens to be in North Queensland at the moment due to Covid-19 and travel restrictions. He is taking advantage of the enforced stay in the North to do some extra pruning jobs, with Paluma residents happy to oblige.

Jason’s expertise in his work provided much entertainment for locals as he worked from dizzying heights in the cherrypicker and from harnesses. He often had a small audience watching his every move as he worked away, high amongst the tree-tops to trim and tame some rainforest giants and also the tall pine trees at The Guesthouse. 

As always around this little village, the pruning became a community project with everyone ‘chipping in’ to lend a hand. It was all hands on deck at the chipper on Sunday afternoon. Not a branch or tree limb has gone to waste and the resultant mulch will be added to local gardens, flowerbeds and vegie patches. 

Text by Michele Bird. Photos by Colwyn Campbell & Michele Bird

Since George and Kathryn moved into their cottage on Lennox Crescent at Paluma about six months ago they have been busy sprucing up the rainforest garden on their large block of land. One of their aims has been to reduce the cover of invasive ferns across their block and especially amongst the understory of the rainforest. Concerted weeding efforts over many weeks is achieving great success.

George and Kathryn knew their block of land contained a series of stepped stone retaining walls, largely hidden by the dense growth of ferns. Their weeding efforts have revealed some quite remarkable ‘stone-pitched’ walls, emerging from the ferny undergrowth and the rainforest, almost like some ancient archaeological ruins.

Because the block is rather steep and sloping in places, it would appear the stone walls have been built to control water run-off and erosion – something many of us deal with at Paluma during the wet season and heavy downpours. There is no actual mortar within the walls, but each stone has been carefully selected and placed to fit neatly next to the neighbouring stone. In places, there are some large boulders which appear to be in situ (natural) and smaller imported stones have been packed around these to form the wall. There is no doubt that a lot of time, effort and some quite remarkable ingenuity has gone into building these retaining walls.

Keen to know the history of these stone walls and especially who built them, I went in search of some long-time Paluma residents for some information. We are still trying to unravel the full story, but what we know so far is this:-

It seems the walls were probably built back in the time when Gwen Lennox owned this block. She once owned George and Kathryn’s block, as well as the adjacent blocks. A long-time Paluma resident told me that most of the rocks came from Ollera Creek and they were transported up the range in the boot of a small sedan. The Lennox family spent a lot of time at Paluma and they also owned a plant nursery in Townsville. We are still not sure when the stone walls were built, but it has been suggested that they might have been constructed in the 1950’s.

There is no doubt that these stone walls have been very effective over the years in controlling erosion on this sloping block of land. The walls are in a great state of preservation and are still doing the job!. Certainly, the dense cover of ferny foliage has assisted in keeping the walls intact over time.

George and Kathryn do not intend to completely clear all of the ferns, but their weeding over the past few months has certainly revealed what can only be described as some Great Walls on Lennox Crescent!

If you can contribute any further information on the story of these walls and if you know who built them and when, we would love to hear from you!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird