Trevor's Travels

Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, Sydney

No Comments »19th August, 2015; Category: Australia, Botanic Gardens, Parks and Gardens, Picnics, Plants, Sydney

Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Gardens picnic area

Earlier this year we visited family in Sydney. We love spending time with our grandchildren but we also love going out to see various places around Sydney on days when the children are not home. One of the places we love visiting is the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Gardens just off Mona Vale Road in St Ives in the northern parts of the city. We have visited on quite a number of occasions and it is only about a half hour drive from my son’s home.

On the last occasion we visited – just after Easter – we took a picnic lunch with us and ate in one of the designated picnic areas as shown in the photo above. There are several other picnic areas in the gardens. The term ‘gardens’ is a little bit of a misnomer. Sure, the local council and a friends group as well as other interest groups such as the Australian Plants Society have been busy planting and maintaining sections where visitors can see some of our wonderful Australian native plants. The vast majority of the ‘gardens’ is actually uncleared natural bushland boasting a great range of local plants.

There are many good paths leading through interesting sections of the gardens, some of them suitable for wheelchairs. In coming days I will share a few more photos I took on this recent visit.

Banksia flower

Art work at Laratinga Wetlands

No Comments »16th August, 2015; Category: Adelaide, Adelaide Hills, Art Galleries, Mt Lofty Ranges, Parks and Gardens, South Australia

Art work at Laratinga Wetlands

On a recent visit to the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker I was intrigued to see four very large pieces of art work on display in the picnic grounds. This was the first time I had seen these paintings. By large I estimate that they are about 3m x 1m in size. Both their size and subject matter make an immediate impact on the viewer.

The Laratinga Wetlands are a series of about a dozen ponds on the eastern edge of Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. They about a half hour drive from the Adelaide CBD and a similar distance from my home. The wetlands make up the purification plant for the local sewage works, the clean water being recycled for watering and irrigation in local parks and farms.

I can find no reference online to the history of these works. If any of my readers can shed a light on this art installation, please leave your information in the comments, or use the contact form and send me an email.

I would appreciate some help.

In fact, I would dearly love my readers to add comments to this post, and other posts on this site. There is a wealth of information scattered throughout this site and it can be access via the archives or the links on the side bar.

Art work at Laratinga Wetlands

Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia

1 Comment »13th August, 2015; Category: Adelaide Hills, Australia, Birds, Mt Lofty Ranges, Picnics

Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia

Just over a half hour drive from home is a place I like to visit but don’t get to as often as I would like. The Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills section of the Mt Lofty Ranges is a mecca for local and interstate birders. The wetlands consist of about a dozen ponds which make up the sewage works of the nearby town.

By the time the water reaches the final ponds it is purified enough to be used on nearby farms as irrigation water. In the meantime, the various ponds play host to a wide range of water-birds including ducks, ibis, herons, egrets, grebes, cormorants, dotterels, plovers, swamphens, coots and moorhens.

Purple Swamphen

The area around the ponds and the entrance paths have been wonderfully landscaped, with lawns, shelter sheds – it rains frequently in Mt Barker – barbecues and public toilets. Around the ponds and picnic area many trees, bushes and smaller plants which add the great environment which attracts many bush birds, including parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, honeyeaters, finches, pigeons, doves and swallows.

You can see more photos of the birds seen here on my other site Trevor’s Birding.

Further reading:

Laratinga Wetlands

Galah

Grey Teal

Laratinga Wetlands on a cold misty winter’s morning

E S and A Bank Terowie South Australia

7 Comments »10th August, 2015; Category: Art Galleries, Historic places, Museums, South Australia

E S and A Bank Terowie South Australia

On a recent visit to Terowie in the mid-north of South Australia I took several photos of the old E.S. & A. Bank in the main street. This old building was built in 1884 in the heyday of this important historic, rural town. The 1880s saw this town boom in size due mainly to the rapidly expanding agriculture in the region as well as the establishment of the railway lines serving this area.

The photo below shows the bank in 1909. The photo appears on the State Library of South Australia Terowie collection which shows many historic photos of the town (click here to view).

E.S. & A. Bank, Terowie

The building today is used as a Pioneer Gallery.

As an interesting aside I was not aware of the meaning of the letters in the name of the bank until I did some research. E.S. & A. Bank’s full title was the English Scottish and Australian Bank. There were many branches in Australia in earlier times. The first was opened in 1853 in Sydney. The bank merged with the Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) in 1970 to become the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Over the last week or so I have shared more articles and photos of Terowie. Look back through my posts to read them, or go to the archives link above.

ES & A Bank Terowie South Australia

Newspapers in Terowie South Australia

No Comments »7th August, 2015; Category: Historic places, Museums, South Australia

The Terowie Enterprise building today

On a recent visit to Terowie in the mid-north of South Australia I took the two photos shown on today’s post. They show the two newspaper buildings of the town, both established in the 1880s. The two newspaper buildings are separated only by the local blacksmith building which a featured here a few days ago.

When I look at Terowie today I find it very interesting that this town, now something of a backwater – was so vibrant that it needed two newspapers. (I should add that subsequent research has indicted that the two newspapers probably did not publish concurrently.)

The town’s population once reached 700 and served a vast agricultural region. Today only about 200 people live in the town and district and many factors have seen its decline. It is no longer a railway centre and farming has proved to be marginal at best, even in good years of rainfall.

The Terowie Enterprise must have been an interesting newspaper. You can read about it here and below I have included a quote from the paper.

During Joseph Pengelley’s ownership there was much discussion about “moral” issues. An 1887 editorial titled “Base immorality” used the strongest terms to attack a family involved with the “seduction” of a young girl at Petersburg (7 October 1887, p.2). Pengelley also wrote articles against alcohol, gambling, and church interference in politics.

If you look closely at the photo below of the North Eastern Times newspaper building it now has a ‘museum’ sign in the window. Next time I am in the area I must take more time to explore the town more, including visiting the museum.

Further reading:

South Australian History – Terowie – a comprehensive coverage of the history of the town
The Terowie Enterprise – details about the newspaper, including a facsimile of a page from the paper (which I cannot publish here due to copyright).

The North Eastern Times newspaper building in Terowie