Clean Up Australia Day

My family and I trundled down to our local park to help out at an organised Clean Up Australia day event. Thankfully the weather was fine this morning and decided it was a great morning to do something a little different. At the park, we registered, got our bags, took out our gardening gloves and set to work cleaning up the site.

There had already been some collectors of rubbish, in the form of cub scouts, in the main park area before we had arrived, but we decided to take a leisurely stroll through the broader surrounds of the park. Not only did we collect a bag full of rubbish, we took our dogs for a walk and involved our toddler in a community volunteer activity.

So what did we collect?

A fair few beer bottles (the area is next to a bowls club), some aluminium cans, a 2L PET bottle, some plastic scraps (including broken down plastic shopping bags), paper from the inside of cigarette boxes, chocolate bar wrappers, newspaper and cardboard, a plank of wood broken off a fence from the local neighbourhood probably and a section of plastic that I think is part of the protective bits from under a car.

At our event, there certainly wasn't millions of people volunteering but by the time we signed up I think the site organiser had registered about 15 people and probably another 10 by the time we left. The site certainly was improved (measurable by amount of observable rubbish) after the efforts of all the volunteers and it is nice to make a little bit of difference to our local community.

Special treat on the way home was purchasing some locally grown, spray free bananas, which are especially sweet.

Looking forward to hearing of all the rubbish that was collected around Australia as part of this event and some of the wacky locations people chose to clean up this year. If you managed to make it out to help Clean up Australia, I look forward to hearing of your experiences.


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Ever heard of a cassowary?

Southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) are a fabulous Australian species, which is unfortunately significantly threatened in north Queensland, where they currently live. This species is protected under both Queensland and Commonwealth legislation, but legislation alone will not bring this species back from the edge of extinction. 

Cassowaries are one of Australia's flightless birds and looks much like an emu in stature, but has shiny black feathers, a uniquely coloured and wattled head and neck and a large 'helmet' on its head. It grows to approximately two metres in height and weighs between 55-75kg when mature. Chicks on the other hand are camouflaged and lack the distinctive 'helmet' until mature. An interesting fact is the male is the parent that raises the chicks until they are of an age to move into their own home ranges.

In Australia, this species' distribution is between Townsville in the south and Cooktown in the north and within this area occupies only rainforest and associated habitats. Further information on its distribution and habitat can be found on the Commonwealth government's website.

This species is particularly important, as it is considered a keystone species and is attributed to the survival and maintenance of the rainforest through its role as a distributor and processor of seeds and fruit from the plants that occupy this habitat. Many plant species in these areas have co-evolved with the cassowaries and are only able to survive as long as the cassowaries are there to keep them going (as cassowaries are the only species that can transmit their seeds, due to their size).

Threats the cassowaries face within their habitat include:

• habitat fragmentation and loss;
• habitat degradation;
• roads and traffic;
• dog attack;
• feeding by people, which brings them into urban environments;
• diseases; and
• natural catastrophic events such as cyclones. 

The first six dot points in this list are ongoing threats to cassowaries, with the impact of the last dot point being exacerbating by those preceding dot points. Over recent years, the area occupied by cassowaries has felt the brunt of two significant cyclone events. These cyclones tore the cassowary's habitat apart with significant loss in vegetation cover and food availability for the cassowaries. This saw many of the surviving cassowaries come into townships and cross roads where additional fatalities occurred as a result of the impact of vehicles and dogs.

This species does not have generations to live, if the impacts they currently face are not curbed. But rather they could be extinct within our lifetime. This is a real life or death situation and unlike the current political support seeking to maintain koalas just in south-east Queensland, this species needs political and social support to see its survival in the wild. Let's make a difference and become more aware of this situation and support actions that prevent or reduce some of the impacts this species is experiencing in North Queensland. Don't stand back and let a unique Australian species become extinct on your watch!

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My poor veggie patch

Aaarrrrgghhhh! Bloody dogs! I have two wonderful dogs that I love to pieces, but I knew when I created my veggie patch that the two should not mix. I just knew that my dogs would not assist my aspiration of veggie production. Because of this we constructed a chicken wire fence around the accessible boundaries of the veggie patch to ensure the dogs couldn't access the veggie patch. No digging or plant destruction...that was the theory.

Over the course of the existence of my veggie patch, the gate to which I access the garden has slowly become less stable and the fence post has come away from the chicken wire. And today at least one of my dogs got into the veggie patch through my conveniently located access point..the gate. As a result my best producing capsicum plant no longer exists, snapped off at the main stem, a few of the spinach plants are squished and a squash plant destroyed (thankfully this one was only a seedling).

It could have been worst, but I am definitely mourning the loss of the capsicum plant! Boo hoo. Have to get out in the garden and fix that fence otherwise all my hard work will be lost to an inquisitive dog! Pin It