Excursion to Widgee Mountain Wilderness

The July excursion for the Field Nats was led by a former resident of the area, Cecilia, to the western extremity of Upper Thornside Road, Widgee for a exploration of a tract of land which now forms a link between Wrattens National Park and Oakview National Park.

The Early Birders enjoyed a short walk at State Forest 242 lot on Glastonbury Road. 

Binoculars at the ready

A riparian area along the dry creek allowed an escape route for birds venturing into the eucalypt trees.  An interesting variety of birds was recorded.  Alerted by their distinctive call, members were excited to see two black-chinned honeyeaters, a lifer for some and a bird which has provided numerous photo opportunities in 2020 for birders.   A pair of crested shrike-tits searched for insects under the bark of the eucalypts.  

Black-chinned honeyeater - Cameron Whiley

Crrested shrike-tit - Cameron Whiley

Moving on, we gathered at the Widgee Sports’ Complex to join the later group coming from Gympie.  The discovery of a mature koala in a tree, directly opposite the complex gate, caught everyone’s attention.   This sighting was later entered on the Koala section of the Wildlife Watch data base on the Gympie Regional Council website.

Do not disturb -Cameron Whiley

A long convoy of visitors and members set off for the final destination - the Widgee Mountain Wilderness.   The new Nation Park is situated at the very end of Upper Thornside Road.  On the drive into the house site, we passed mature Bunya trees (Arucaria bidwillii).  This site could have been on a well worn trail followed by the indigenous people on their trek to the Bunya Festival held when the trees were fruiting in January and February.  The house has been removed by National Parks but some remnants of the well-establised gardens remain.  

Cecilia delivered an interesting talk about the serious floods which hit the area in 2010 and 2013 when she and her late husband, Eric, were land owners on a near-by property Every road crossing was covered with metres of sand and locals were cut off.  Luckily, the Council came and recovered the sand and took it a few kilometres to a central spot.  Months later the sand was retrieved and used for Council works. We learnt that the block of land had  previously been owned by Des and Stella Simpson, as a grazing property.  The Simpsons were supporters of the Great Kilkivan Horse Ride and a memorial is placed on the route of the ride commemorating their providing refreshments to the riders.

Phyl Weiss and Brenda Nancarrow next purchased the property with plans to develop the property into a 4WD tourist adventure site.   The flood damage put paid to these plans.  The Government bought it later to link up two existing  National Parks:- Wrattens and Oakview.  This purchase of the 3,000 acre property necessitated the removal of all infrastructure- fences, yards, sawmill and house.  We were unable to identify the Solanum which grew thickly on the cleared area, but felt it must be a weedy species.    Help with identification would be appreciated.

Mystery solanum

After morning tea, we set out on our walk to the Rock Pool.  A majority of members opted to walk the track. 

We were promised 900metres!

On the way, we noticed many burrows in the cuttings made by striated pardalotes or  bee-eaters.  Gillian, Rahima and Dave identified interesting vegetation and trees along the way.  Along the track were banks of maiden-hair fern, some fine Smilax vines 

Barb-wire vine (Smilax australia)

and a predominance of Red Kamala (Mallotus philippinesis), and Soap Tree or Red Ash (Alphitonia excelsa).  Michelle and Will identified a number of butterflies and a dragonfly - Varied Eggfly, Wanderer, Common Crow and two Grass Yellows and a Red Skimmer  dragonfly which were surviving the cold weather. 

Small grass yellow (Euremia smilax)

A female Rose Robin was sighted and put on a display for us. Rob Farnham volunteered to drive along the ridge to the Rock Pool and pick up those who had run out of puff.  Costa, the swamp wallaby, came along for the day.  He enjoyed a bit of green pick along the way and a morsel of tender Callistemon. 

Just an entree.

The sight of two wedge-tailed eagles soaring above, lifted everyone’s spirits.  The brave (or foolhardy) ventured onto the rocks to explore further. Cameron identified an area he christened, “The Baby Bath.”  There was some discussion as to whether certain rock formations were natural or had been sculptured by previous indigenous occupants. 

Impressive rock formations - Cameron Whiley

Jean, Lionel and Cameron explored for orchids on a cliffside.  After a time, we set off to return to the flat area for lunch, under the shade of a large Small-leaved fig (Ficus obliqua).

Leader: Cecilia Michaelowitz

Text: Rahima Farnham, Cecilia Michaelowitz, Annette Bourke