Following the launch of Great Southern Land at the National Museum last Thursday and the Panorama cover story "Connection with Country" by Karen Hardy on September 10, the immersive experience of walking among 7.5 metre bunya trunks cast from living trees filled my mind.
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On Sunday, September 11, forester Dr John Turnbull led the Friends of ACT Arboreta walk in the heritage-listed Westbourne Woods. We met on Shale Hill, the site where, from 1914, TCG Weston had to use explosives to create planting holes for the trees, both exotic and native. The 17 people who attended the walk admired the stone pines (Pinus pinea) from the Mediterranean from which edible pine nuts are harvested.
In 1960 the Royal Canberra Golf Course moved to the area of Westbourne Woods and the stone pines stand both inside and outside the gates. Just down the driveway we gathered beneath the native kurrajong trees (Brachychiton populneus) and examined the boat-shaped pods containing seeds which must have their hairs removed before eating. In times of drought, farmers use the kurrajong foliage as fodder.
For me, it was the historic grove of bunya bunya pines (Araucaria bidwillii) between two fairways that was the important lure. John Turnbull said, "No other tree in Queensland has fed the imagination as much as the bunya pine. It is sacred, an icon, a symbol of home. From tall tales of its killer cones, tumbling onto victims below, to mythology and tribal traditions, the bunya has become tree of mystery and meaning."
These conifers can grow to 40m high with a straight trunk, prickly leaves and separate male and female flowers. The female cones, up to 30cm in length and weighing up to 10kg, contain the edible seeds. John says a large harvest occurs every three years, January to March, the season for indigenous bunya feasts.
On one occasion in the 1980s I brought a cone back to Canberra in a box (from Sydney) and gave it to The Canberra Times satirist Ian Warden (who continues to contribute to this paper). When he opened the box (not in my presence) the football-sized cone exploded with up to 100 large "nuts".
About 20 years ago I took nuts from another cone and managed to raise five young trees. These were shared and we all grew them in pots. When they eventually became to big for the home garden, another Canberran and I took two to Royal Canberra Golf Club where they were planted on either side of the grove.
Luckily for me, a golfer, Gerard Boundy, had just putted out on the hole to one side of the bunyas and, after he teed off on the next hole, he took a photo of me standing beside the bunyas. It accompanies this column.
Magnificent bunya trees can be seen in this district in places such as Lanyon; the entrance to the Australian National Botanic Gardens; in Forest 71 at the National Arboretum Canberra (planted in September 2009); and especially on the corner of Kings Avenue in Parkes, where a tree was planted by the Duke of York on May 10, 1927, for the opening of parliament house (then Old Parliament House, now MOAD).
Westbourne Woods walks
Walks are held once every month, usually on the second Sunday, meeting outside the gates of Royal Canberra Golf Course at 9.30am. You will be guided by a forester or tree expert. The walks are free and last for about two hours. Register online via Friends of ACT Arboreta Facebook page. All ages welcome but dogs are not permitted. Flat shoes, hat, bottle of drinking water recommended and I like a piece of dark chocolate. You may be able to visit the Spike Bar under the clubhouse for snacks and coffee after the walk.
Cacao and coffee
In a review of the book Scent: A natural history of fragrance, by Elise Vernon Pearlstine in the New Scientist in August, the writer says that "midges, the bane of summer life with their persistent bites, are vital to our supply of chocolate, acting as the main pollinator for cacao trees. Ghanaian cacao farmers have managed to supercharge their crop by planting banana and plantain trees nearby, both of which lure more midges to fertilise the cacao flowers with the required 35 pollen grains."
Friends and I are currently comparing 85% cacao in Lindt and Green & Black's chocolate - your opinions welcome email: bodenparsons@bigpond.com
On the Westbourne Woods walk John Turnbull took us to the silky oak (Grevillea robusta) which tolerates drought due to its deep tap root. This beautiful Australian species is grown around the world including Sri Lanka where tea and coffee are grown and in East Africa, particularly Kenya, for feed for animals and bedding in their stalls. The flowers are also pollen rich for honey.
