Page 29 – Paluma – our village in the mist

Ramp Reno’s at the Community Hall

In recent days you will have noticed that the Community Hall entrance-way has been cordoned off with hi-vis barrier netting. This is because the old wooden ramp to the front entrance of the Hall was removed last Sunday. To gain entry to the Hall at the moment you will need to undertake a rather impressive long jump of several metres on an incline ……….just joking people, please don’t try this!!

The removal of the old ramp was completed last weekend in preparation for the installation of a new improved ramp. The old wooden ramp had seen better days with some of the boards starting to rot and the aged timber was becoming very slippery when wet. The new ramp is to be made from flash new plastic boards to be installed next weekend. I have been reliably informed that the new ramp will be in place by the end of next weekend, weather permitting of course.

The renovations are being carried out by a team of dedicated volunteers. We need to thank Colin, Wilfred and Jamie for their hard work in renovating the ramp to ensure safe and reliable access to our beloved Community Hall.

Work in progress to remove the old wooden ramp.

Careful planning and deliberations on the job (otherwise known as having a rest).

The hall entrance way ready for the new ramp to be installed.

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Upcoming Events in April & Call for Volunteers

April is shaping up as a busy month in the village of Paluma. Here’s a reminder about some dates to put in the diary.

Firstly, Wilfred would like to advise everyone that the next Working Bee has been rescheduled to Saturday 8th April (Easter Saturday) at 2 pm. The change of date is to avoid double-bookings with other community events. Meet as usual outside the Community Hall and then teams of volunteers will be deployed for various jobs and projects such as continuing work on the Rainforest Walking Track steps, pruning and tree removal at the Hall and maintenance jobs at the Hall, etc.

The PDCA AGM will be held on Saturday 1st April. The event commences with a FREE BBQ for residents at 12 noon, followed by the meeting at 1 pm. Come along to have your say and/or to nominate for a position on the PDCA Executive Committee. Everyone is welcome.

The Paluma Easter Market will be held on Sunday 9th April from 9 am to 1 pm. We have already put the call-out for cooks and bakers to donate goods for sale, but as always other volunteers are needed for the bbq sausage sizzle, tea/coffee stall and other jobs on the day. If you can spare a few hours to volunteer at the Market please advise one of your friendly PDCA committee members.

Red-browed Finch

Red-browed finches (Neochmia temporalis) are a relatively common sight around village gardens at Paluma, mostly in open areas on lawns – especially when the lawn gets a bit long and there are seed heads. They are often seen feeding on the ground where there are crimson rosellas also feasting on grass seeds. They are said to feed on both native and non-native grass seeds. They are a beautiful and distinctive small finch easily recognised by their bright red eyebrow, red rump and red beak with otherwise olive green and grey plumage. If disturbed they will quickly fly away into dense undergrowth where they are hard to spot. They are also hard to photograph as they are fast-moving little birds and they don’t sit still. The two photos below have been reproduced from the Birdlife Australia website.

Red-browed finches (Photos from Birdlife Australia website).

Over the past couple of weekends (about 8 days) I have been lucky enough to watch the progress of a pair of very busy red-browed finches building their nest in close proximity to my place. The finishing touches to the nest were being made late last Sunday afternoon and one of the birds had taken to sitting in the nest – perhaps eggs had already been laid?

The nest is located in the high crown of a native tree fern in an open (garden) area. Birdlife Australia describes the red-browed finch nest as “a large domed nest with a side entrance, woven from grass and small twigs. Nests are usually built 2 to 3 metres above the ground in dense shrubs”. This description is entirely accurate for the nest I have observed. The photo below shows the (largely) completed nest in the top of the tree fern, dome-shaped and with a small rounded entrance. The entrance faces westerly away from the prevailing winds and rain in that particular location/micro-climate. Clever little finches!

According to my research, both parents share the nest-building (which I also observed), the incubation of eggs and feeding of the young. Four to six white eggs are laid per clutch two to three times per year, mainly between October and April. Juveniles are said to be fully independent within 28 days. I look forward to observing the nesting process and hopefully the fledging of some new little red-browed finches in the coming month.

Text & Photo (of tree fern nest) by Michele Bird

Call-Out to Paluma Bakers for the Easter Market

The Paluma Easter Market is fast approaching on Sunday 9th April and so this is a call-out for Paluma’s amazing cooks to donate some baked goods to sell for community (PDCA) fund raising.

If you are interested in doing some baking and donating your goods for sale at the Easter Market then please read on…..

Here’s what to do:-

Please divide your baked goods into small batches for sale. We suggest batches of 2, 4 or 6 individual pieces as this has worked well at previous markets.
Please plate the goods (in batches) and secure with glad wrap or suitable packaging. (We have previously used paper plates and glad wrap and this works well).
Please add a sticker or other suitable label outlining the contents of your baked goods. You will need to add this label to EVERY individual batch of goods. This is required for health & safety reasons.
Please add a price sticker to your goods, with what you think is a fair and reasonable price for your baked delights.
Please deliver your goods to the Community Hall on Sunday morning 9th April at 8.30 AM (for a 9 am market start).

If you have any questions or need any further information, please contact Lynn Hyland by phone or email:- leshyland@icloud.com

Previous cake stalls have been a roaring success, so please contribute if you can for the upcoming Easter Market.

Community Hall Goes Green

One thing we do pretty well at Paluma is celebrate our multiculturalism, what with our themed Chinese New Year, International Nights and last Saturday night (18 March), the St. Patricks Day celebrations of all things Irish.

A good crowd attended the evening and the Community Hall was a sea of green with everyone enthusiastically embracing the theme of the night and dressing in green – of all shades. As always, the food produced by residents for the community dinner was astounding. There was soup, freshly baked breads, Irish stew, colcannon, barbecue meats and many other delicious dishes too numerous to mention. Of course, there were plenty of dishes featuring ‘tatties’ – the most favourite of all Irish foods.

The dessert table on Saturday night was something to behold. There was Guinness cake, savoiardi cake, Irish green chocolate cake, mango pudding, Shamrock biscuits, Irish pavlova, bread and butter pudding, green cupcakes, and the list goes on. Of course, Guinness was the choice of beverage for the evening.

The Irish quiz was hotly contested and there was a fair bit of conferring (and cheating?) going on over the course of the quiz. Google searches were strictly banned on the night. Les told a few Irish jokes to entertain the crowd. A couple of visitors to Paluma joined us on the night and were impressed by the community spirit and the very warm welcome they received from everyone.

The PDCA held an auction of several historic Paluma prints after dinner and the bidding was lively. Jamie and Juanita were the auctioneers. Several lucky patrons scored a bargain in acquiring a unique historical print for their Paluma homes. The PDCA was the big winner with the auction and sale of prints raising some $300.00 for the community.

Well done Paluma – it’s all about community!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Len Cook Exhibition Rescheduled

Anyone hoping to catch Len Cook’s ‘Fire and Rain’ pottery exhibition at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery this month will be sorely disappointed.

Len has advised that due to unforeseen circumstances at the Gallery, his exhibition has been postponed (all other scheduled events at the Gallery are also postponed for the time being).

In the mean time, ‘Len Cook Ceramics’ is open for business and you can visit the ‘gallery in the clouds’ to pick up unique pieces from our own award-winning Paluma potter.

STOP PRESS – Len has just advised that his exhibition is now rescheduled to open on 12 May 2023.

The ‘Fire and Rain Exhibition’ is a retrospective exhibition featuring work going back to the 1980’s. It features pieces from the collections of regional galleries and also private collections.

Reminder: St. Patricks Day Social, Saturday 18 March

A reminder to everyone that next Saturday night, 18th March we will gather to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a social at the Community Hall.

Celebrations kick off at 6.30 pm. Bring a plate of food to share with your friends and neighbours. Bring your good humour and good spirits – and if you don’t have any of the latter, you can buy some at the Bar!

Wear green in honour of St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland.

Did you know that St. Patrick is also a patron Saint of Australia, Nigeria and Montserrat? He was born in Roman Britain in the 5th century and at the age of 16 he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. After some years, he escaped and returned to his family. He entered the Catholic Church, just as his father and grandfather had done before him. He eventually returned to Ireland as a missionary where he worked in the west and north of the country. He died in 461 AD and is said to be buried at Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.

The most common symbol of St. Patrick’s Day is the SHAMROCK. The shamrock is the leaf of the clover plant and symbolises the Holy Trinity.

GREEN is also a common symbol that many people choose to wear in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

Now that you know all about St. Patrick, see you next Saturday night !

A Wet Working Bee

Come rain, hail or shine, nothing stops a working bee at Paluma.

A very successful working bee was held last Saturday (4 March) to carry out some much needed maintenance and clean up work round the village. The planned track repair works along the Rainforest Walking Track was postponed for the time being due to the wet weather, but there were plenty of other jobs to complete. The targeted works included installation of new signage at Whalley Crescent and the H-Track, pruning of vegetation along the road verge at the western end of the village and removal of wattle clippings near the tennis courts.

The seven very keen volunteers were: – Wilfred, Ian, Julie, Rob, Annesheke, John and Michele. The crew worked through the persistent and sometimes heavy showers of rain and nothing could dampen the enthusiasm for the jobs at hand. Well done to all those who came along to lend a hand.

The (damp) volunteers at Saturday’s working bee.

New signage at the western end of the H-Track.

Pruning of vegetation from the road verge at the western end of the village.

On a walk around the village you might also have noticed some new signage at the western end of Lennox Crescent to alert visitors to the H-Track and Len Cook Ceramics.

A recent clean-up of vegetation encroaching over the signage at the entrance to the village has also been undertaken, this volunteer work by Jamie. Some new signage to welcome visitors to Paluma is planned for this area in the future. Stay tuned…

Tidy up around the signage at the village entrance (volunteer work by Jamie).

Text & Photos by Michele Bird & Roy

The Rooster’s Still on the Run….

The canny Rooster is still on the run on the Paluma Range Road. My latest siting was last evening (Sunday 5 March) at culvert 147 just above The Saddle. There he was perched high atop a boulder overlooking the road. He did look a bit worse for wear and somewhat bedraggled after the heavy rain during the afternoon.

Many have tried and failed to trap, net or snare this elusive fellow without success. Some have gotten close, but the feisty fowl has so far eluded capture. The intent is to try and capture him and relocate him to a better life – on a farm or in a nice hen house where he can live out his best life. It must be lonely for a solitary renegade rooster on the Range Road.

Text & Photos by Michele Bird.

Music from the mist

For many of us, our village in the mist is a haven offering respite from the bustle of city life and the opportunity for a restorative walk through the forest, immersed in the vibrant sights and sounds of nature. Our local forests, creeks and wildlife have also acted as a muse for artists of many types, including painters, potters, photographers, glass-smiths, sculptors and musicians.

The Melbourne ambient music composer known as Badskin is one of the latter group. She has recently released her second album, “Bush Bash”. Both of her albums (the first is “Where was I ”) feature sounds from the Paluma rainforest magically melded with various instruments and synthesised sound to create an entrancing and at times dissonant aural experience. Within the complex and abstract soundscapes a careful listener will be able to identify whipbirds, frogs, chowchillas and other familiar local species, all blended with guitars, keys, and synths.

This type of music is not for everyone but if you feel like having a listen, her work is available on Bandcamp, Spotify , and Apple Music.

In case you don’t already know, I proudly confess that I have a conflict of interest in recommending this artist. Badskin is the artistic name chosen by our daughter Carla Oliver.

Text by Jamie Oliver