Natural World

Billabong Bird

Found Object Steel Sculpture

Legacy project for the Arts Ablaze regional Arts Conference 2019. Billabong Bird is inspired by the native Darter or Snake bird and has been created from discarded industrial materials synonymous with our rural way of life. In consideration of the park's name and location, the artist has included an iconic Australian vintage ‘Billabong’ water pump in the design.

The artwork’s water theme acknowledges the vital role water plays for the survival and prosperity of the region.

Time to Soar, Wyaralong

Time to Soar - Commissioned for the Wyaralong Dam, Scenic Rim, from local stone.

Water Dragon, Wyaralong Dam

The Wyaralong Sculpture Festival and Symposium will feature seven acclaimed Queensland, Australian and international sculptors who will create individual sculptures over 16 days to create a new Lake Wyaralong Sculpture Park on the banks of Wyaralong Dam in South East Queensland. The large-scale public artworks will reflect the recreational and or environmental elements enjoyed by Visitors to Wyaralong Dam and Mt Joyce Recreation Park.

Good Times, Wyaralong Dam

The Wyaralong Sculpture Festival and Symposium will feature seven acclaimed Queensland, Australian and international sculptors who will create individual sculptures over 16 days to create a new Lake Wyaralong Sculpture Park on the banks of Wyaralong Dam in South East Queensland. The large-scale public artworks will reflect the recreational and or environmental elements enjoyed by Visitors to Wyaralong Dam and Mt Joyce Recreation Park.

Grass Tree

Created during Sculpture for an Ancient land International Sculpture Symposium, Beaudesert 2008. Organised by Beaudesert and District Community Arts Project Inc. Sponsored by the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund, former Beaudesert Shire Council and Scenic Rim Regional Council.

Sharing Space - Fauna of the Scenic Rim

Boonah Revitalisation Project Eastern Water Dragon – Extremely shy in the wild, water dragons readily adapt to humans in parks and backyards. If startled, the elegant dragon is apt to raise itself up and run away on its hind legs.

Brushtailed Phascogale – Active at night, the phascogale is a tree-climbing carnivorous marsupial known by the tuft of silky black hairs at the end of its long tail.

Little Red Flying Fox – The only flying foxes in the world that feed almost solely on nectar, they are very important tree pollinators and fly far inland following the flowering of eucalypts.

Northern Pobblebonk Frog- Often mistaken for cane toads due to their bumpy skin, and also known as the Banjo Frog. The name derives from the distinctive call which closely resembles the sound of a banjo.

A Callistemon stood here

This artwork was inspired by the many canoe trips made here in the Scenic Rim. Where callistemon trees line the creek beds and bow down to the edge and blue claw cray fish swim in the fresh waters. Can we sit in the shadows of an uncut land dream of a cool, cool breeze under the shade of this tree.

Mount Grenville National Park

Mt Greville was named by Allan Cunningham in 1928 for Scottish botanist Robert Greville. The Mt Greville National Park was gazetted in 1948 and was approximately 182 ha in size, although it is now one of the four parks that make up the Moogerah Peaks National Park.

Mt Greville is an outstanding scenic feature of the district, with spectacular gorges and exposed cliff faces. Mt Greville is home to several rare and threatened plant species, and for this reason is of great interest to naturalists and biologists. Palm Gorge, one of the track circuits contains an almost pure stand of Piccabeen Palms. A small remnant area of what was known as ‘Fassifern Scrub’ remains within the park. Several plant species that appear in the park are at the southern limit of their distribution.

The peak rises approximately 720 meters above sea level, and like the other peaks, Mt French, Mt Moon and Mt Edwards, it is a tertiary acid volcanic plug. The local Uragapul, people called the mountain Mabatboogan meaning ‘place where eagles rest’.

Spicers Peak National Park

Spicer’s Gap is a protected conservation park within the Main Range National Park which includes the various national parks that make up the Great Dividing Range along the western edge of the Scenic Rim. It is part of the Main Range World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. This area was added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007.

The Spicer’s Gap Conservation Area includes a segment of the eastern escarpment of the Great Dividing Range. The park is of special importance to the Scenic Rim not only because of its recreational opportunities but it protects some natural forest habitats that help maintain diversity within the area. First described by Cunningham in 1827, it was found again in 1847 by Henry Alphen and became the main route from the Darling Downs to the coastal areas, until it was eventually replaced by the Cunningham Highway.

The road is now closed to through traffic to preserve the integrity of the area. Visitors are able to walk through the park and view among other things, Moss’s Well, the Governor’s Chair, and some of the unique engineering skills of the early road builders.

Jirramun National Park

Jirramun National Park is now incorporated in Main Range National Park which stretches along the western boundary of the Scenic Rim. Three peaks in this section of the Great Dividing Range are known to have been smoke signal stations for the local aboriginal people, the Ugarapul The name Jirramun is taken from the aboriginal name for Mount Wilson. The other peaks that formed the smoke signal stations are Mount Roberts, Bunkroo, and Spicers Peak, Binkinjoora. Some sections of the park are included in the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area. The area is home to a number of common plant and animal species, as well as providing a safe environment for some endangered species. The sheer size of the Main Range National Park ensures that a viable wildlife corridor exists, extending into New South Wales. This area of the park contains important areas of Australia’s geological, ecological and scenic heritage, as well as being home to Loveridge’s frog, the great barred frog and the Wonga Pigeon.

Minto Crag

Named by Allan Cunningham in 1828 during his attempt to locate an access to the Darling Downs, Minto Crags is a rhyolitic ring dyke and a geological rarity in Australia.

WHINPULLIN AND THE WARRAJUM GOODGEEN by Ben Allmon

"The map will tell you it is Minto Crag.  Geologists will tell you it is a caldera that collapsed to leave behind a ring dyke.  But to Ugarapul Elder, Uncle John Long (Burragun), it is Whinpullin. 

Whinpullin is also the Ugarapul name for the grasstree – Xanthorrhoea – which to the Ugarapul are the silent sentinels, the warriors of past, present, and future.

The mountain is also a silent sentinel, a sacred place where the old people would go to hone their skills.  The billabong at the base of this mountain is also the abode of the warrajum goodgeen, the red bunyip.  The warrajum can take any form it wants, sometimes a giant eel or serpent, can be male or female – a physical creature with a spiritual purpose.  It’s the disciplinarian of the waterways, an enforcer that ensures that the waterways are respected.  These stories come to me down through my father, and grandparents…and my great-grandmother, Bunjoey…who heard it from her father, Moolpajo.

On his first expedition into the region in 1827, Captain Patrick Logan shot a kangaroo at the base of Whinpullin, almost certainly the first time a gunshot had been heard in the region.  It left a lasting impression, and the following year when Logan came through the region with Cunningham and Fraser, the effect on the Ugarapul was profound.

When they heard them coming, they threw their sacred possessions into this billabong – a thousand stone axes.  They knew that the warrajum would keep them safe."

The dyke is a crescent shaped outcrop south east of the town of Mt. Alford, and can be seen from the surrounding area. The sides of the dyke are vertical and range in height from 10 to 60 meters. The nearby area of Mt French is very popular with rock climbers, but access to the Minto Crags is more restricted. The area is of significant spiritual and cultural importance to the local Ugarapul people who call the Crags Whinullin, or grass trees.

The area was used for traditional ceremonies, and is a special place for warriors and people of authority. Dreamtime stories about the area include mention of Warrayum Goodgee, the red bunyip, who travels from Whinpulln around the mountains visiting waterholes in the region. The area is also known for rock art, but as this in on private land, it is not accessible by the public. Minto Crags holds a special palace in the Australian Landscape.

Credit Image: Outdoors Queensland

Cunningham's Gap National Park

The Cunningham’s Gap National Park is now incorporated in the Main Range National Park which sits along the western edge of the Scenic Rim. The area was first declared a National Park in 1909, making it one of the earliest national parks in the state. The park plays an important part in the preservation of both flora and fauna. Although no endangered plant or animal species are noted in the heritage listing, the area provides a habitat for many animals, in fact the Main Range National Park lists a total of 282 birds species in the region. As with most features of the Australian landscape, a dreamtime story tells how Cunningham’s Gap was formed. The story goes that the local Ugarapul people rounded up all the kangaroos and forced them into a valley west of Minto Crags to prevent other tribes from killing them. When an old woman set them free, they stampeded west across the Great Dividing Range. In their rush they tore a gap between Mount Mitchell and Mount Cordeaux.

Mature Shade Trees

Yeates Avenue follows the track of the railway line that first came to Boonah in 1887. The township at that time was named Blumbergville but adopted the name Boonah which has been given to the railway station. At that time High Street, the main Street in the town was open to two way traffic.

Following the closure of the railway line in 1964, the rail tracks were removed and Yeates Avenue opened for traffic. This then became the direct route through town, and High Street was converted to a one-way street with angle parking. The mature trees are in the parking area between Yeates Avenue and the primary school.

This park acted as a buffer between the school and the railway line. Many of the shade trees were well grown in the mid-sixties, although no doubt more have been planted since. This area now provides a shaded parking area for shoppers who are unable to obtain a park in the busy High Street precinct.

Moogerah Peaks Aesthetic Precinct

The Moogerah Peaks National Park is made up of the four separate protected areas and includes the mountains that cradle the Moogerah Dam. Mt French, Mt Greville, Mt Moon and Mt Edwards are all ancient volcanic peaks and are recognisable by their unique shapes. Importantly they contain remnant habitats of key conservation value within South East Queensland. The mountains are part of Main Range which runs from the New South Wales border to Cunningham’s Gap. While the area around Lake Moogerah and Reynold’s Creek is now cleared for agriculture, and other mountains in the area are relatively inaccessible, these mountain peaks are favourite bushwalking destinations.

The inaccessibility of the other peaks also helps preserve the natural vegetation and the aesthetic value of peaks within the region. Only a small remnant of the original vegetation remains protected within the Mt French section of the park. Mt French contains several major rock-climbing sites including Frog Buttress and Whistling Kite. The area is also of special significance to the local aboriginal people of the area and to visiting naturalists.

Moss's Well

Moss’s Well is on a natural water catchment on the eastern side of the range at Spicer’s Gap. The well was formed by inserting a concrete pipe some 2 feet in diameter into a natural spring. The well bears the name of Edward Moss. the contractor employed to build the Spicer’s Gap Road, and was used to provide fresh water to the workers during the construction of the road. The area now known as The Spicers’s Gap Conservation Park is a section of the old Spicer’s Gap Road which has been closed to traffic. The area includes other sites of great historical significance to the Scenic Rim, and to the early development of the Darling Downs. A unique Australia wide event took place at Bell Bird Corner near Moss’s Well on November 24, 1932, when ABC Radio 4QR broadcast the beautiful calls of the bell birds for about 12 minutes. The broadcast, which was made only nine years after the first radio broadcast in Australia, was made using the telegraph line that operated through Spicer’s Gap from 1861 until 1973.