Four of the known Canberra clusters of a rare daisy facing extinction in Australia were destroyed by the clearing of Capital Hill for the new Parliament House on this day in 1981.
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The daisy, rutidosis leptorrhynchoides - or button wrinklewort - was brought to the attention of Canberrans ten days prior.
The commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission, Tony Powell, confirmed that an other of the clusters was thriving on Stirling Ridge, overlooking Lake Burley Griffin.
This site was identified for the new prime minister's Lodge.
The daisy populations in Canberra were the only left surviving in Australia.
Botanists were asking for help in saving what remained.
At the time of European settlement, this modest little yellow-flowered plant appeared to have been fairly common on the basalt plains of western Victoria, with most of the early collections having been made found to an area the west of Melbourne, known as the Keilor Plains.
The native themeda (kangaroo grass) grasslands were rapidly replaced by pasture and weed species and, by the beginning of the 1900s only remnants of the original flora were to be found.
The daisy was identified as being in imminent danger of total extinction in 1981. It is currently classified as endangered under the ACT Nature Conservation Act.
Lanie Tindale
I am City reporter at The Canberra Times. I previously covered health for the masthead, and was a trainee before that. I have written on courts, federal politics, breaking news, features and opinion. lanie.tindale@canberratimes.com.au.
I am City reporter at The Canberra Times. I previously covered health for the masthead, and was a trainee before that. I have written on courts, federal politics, breaking news, features and opinion. lanie.tindale@canberratimes.com.au.
