Outing Report April 2018: Redwood Park, Postman’s Ridge and Murphy’s Creek

Over 20 Field Naturalists and visitors were present at Redwood Park at our outing on 08 April. We were met by Hugh Krenske who kindly opened the gate for us to drive our cars into the park. Most members went with Hugh to the picnic area where he talked to them about the work being done by Friends of the Escarpment Parks to clear Redwood Park of weeds and to maintain trails.  Down at the creek, a Lewin Honeyeater was bathing and several birds were seen, including Spangled Drongo and Eastern Yellow Robin. More were heard including Eastern Whipbird. One of our young visitors, Emily, aged eight, when writing down what birds she had seen, referred to a “roofus wissler” but we knew what she meant! She also wanted to know where LBBs were in the bird book. Unfortunately, LBB stands for Little Brown Bird [that is the polite rendition!] and there are so many we could not identify which LBB! It was very good to have three small children with us for the outing. I did not go on the trek to the creek so I am not familiar with what plants and animals were seen. Several members stayed at the picnic area for morning tea while others remained at the gate.

From Redwood Park we travelled to Postman’s Ridge via Murphy’s Creek Road to the residence of Mrs Ruby Jensen whose property is a dairy and mixed farm. It is right on the banks of Oakey/Gatton Creek and was affected by the floods of 2011. Although the house was not badly affected, the property suffered from flood waters running through the area. Here, we saw small birds, such as Willie Wagtails, Double-barred Finches and Blue-faced Honeyeaters. Diane Pagel found a wolf spider’s hole with resident spider. Mrs Jensen’s property has several mature trees including Pecan and Macadamia nut trees while the banks of the creek have the usual vegetation found along creek banks in the area. A flowering vine over the entrance to the garden had attracted a lot of bees, including natives. The large bird bath in the garden usually has several species of birds in attend-ance but of course, they were all elsewhere that morning!

On the way from Postman’s Ridge to Murphy’s Creek, we drove over the works being carried out for the Second Range Crossing and saw the new alignment of the Postman’s Ridge Road which joins the Warrego Highway at the Helidon Spa. At Murphy’s Creek, we had lunch at Jessie’s Cottage. The cottage is maintained by the Murphy’s Creek Neighbourhood Association and we are grateful to the women from the Association who showed us through the cottage which is now a small domestic museum and a repository of the area’s local history. Jessie’s Cottage was the home of Miss Jessie Taylor until her death. It was built in the late 1890’s and is a good example of a cottage of that era. It is very small and has an unlined ceiling. Jessie lived there all her life and rarely, if ever, left the township, having looked after her parents and a brother until their deaths. There is a memorial at Jessie’s Cottage to the animals and birds which were lost in the 2011 floods. This takes the form of a sandstone birdbath with animals and birds carved into it. These floods impacted the township of Murphy’s Creek very severely with loss of life and property. I spoke about the history of Murphy’s Creek and the importance of the Main Railway Line to the area in earlier times. 

After lunch, members visited the cemetery at Murphy’s Creek to view the carvings on the monuments by John Montgomery, who owned a property on Lockyer Creek where he had a sandstone quarry. He was a master mason and the carving on several of the headstones is exquisite. There is a small patch of scrub albeit mostly exotics beside the cemetery and small birds are usually to be found there.

This outing was slightly different from our usual outings as there was more about the history of the area than botany and birdwatching! Our three young visitors [Emily and twins Abby and Milly, aged 5] were asleep by the time the car reached the railway crossing from Jessie’s Cottage, according to their mother.

 My thanks to Sandy Eastoe for setting up the visit to Redwood Park and to Mrs Ruby Jensen and the team from Jessie’s cottage.

(Report by Jan Veacock)

Photos from Redwood Park taken by Francis Mangubhai

Flowers of Hoya australis 

Love flower (Pseuderanthemum variabile)

Native bamboo

Flowering Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia)

Bird and Butterfly list for the April Outing (Compiled by Al Young)

Redwood Park – Birds: Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Bar-Shouldered Dove, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, White-throated Treecreeper, Striated Pardalote, Large-billed Scrubwren, Brown Thornbill, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Whipbird, Varied Sittella, Crested Shrike-tit, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Black-faced Monarch, Spectacled Monarch, Rufous Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Spangled Drongo, Varied Triller, Satin Bowerbird, and Red-browed Finch, Double-barred Finch.

Redwood Park – Butterflies: Caper White (Belenois java).

Ruby Jensen’s Property at Postman’s Ridge –  Birds: Striated Pardalote, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Lewin’s Honeyeater, White-naped Honeyeater, Rufous Whistler, Magpie Lark, Willie Wagtail, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Olive-backed Oriole, Pied Butcherbird, Torresian Crow, and Silvereye.

Jessie’s Cottage, Murphy’s Creek – Birds: Rainbow Lorikeet, Brown Honeyeater and Pied Currawong.

Jessie’s Cottage – Butterflies: White-banded Plane (Phaedyma shepherdi).

Murphy’s Creek Cemetery – Birds: Superb Fairy-wren, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Rufous Whistler, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie and Pied Currawong.

Murphy’s Creek Cemetery – Butterflies: Chequered Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus), Lesser Wanderer (Danaus petilia) and Monarch (Danaus plexippus).