I am not an expert in Australian native plants, in fact I am ashamed of my lack of knowledge given the number of years I have been tramping through the bush, developing native gardens and perusing books on the subject.
My first "awareness" of native plants came, as things often do, through an associated interest. I was, many years ago, the Headmaster of the little Coalville Primary School just south of Moe. The school was surrounded by relatively untouched bush on two sides with some native plants in the gardens. On the southern side of the school under the classroom windows was a prickly, indestructible plant that was able to survive even the most tortuous of treatment. Regular visitors to that prickly plant were the Eastern Spinebill honeyeaters and their antics became a constant source of amusement and interest to students and teacher alike. The way the birds were able to hover and hang upside-down to obtain their reward was of great amazement. The birds often came through the open classroom window. The plant as you have probably guessed was of course Grevillea rosmarinifolia. Another little plant of the area that fascinated both teacher and students was Drosera peltata ssp. auriculata, with its sticky tentacles used to capture small insects.
At this time I also had quite an interest in photography and tried taking some shots with a camera of the tiny birds. Naturally the photographs I took were abysmal, with a tiny bird in the centre, if I was lucky, or as happened on many occasions I had only a beautiful photograph of the delicate flowers of the rosmarinifolia. I subsequently spoke of my problems to a close friend who was a keen photographer, Allan Whittenbury. Allen had moved to Moe from Queensland and to my surprise had spent many years sitting in hides in the heat photographing our Australian birds. Allan has even had some of his works published, including the white-browed robin and the stripe-breasted thrush in Every Australian Bird Illustrated (Rigby 1975). Allen was enthusiastic about my efforts and gave me great encouragement and lots of advice and what's more gave me a loan of hundreds of dollars worth of his precious equipment. Finally of course I had some success.
I shifted to Gormandale Primary School as, according to the Education Department, I was "too experienced" to remain in my tiny school. There I befriended one of the parents and fellow teacher who worked in the secondary school system. David Holmes was a keen bushman, fisherman, photographer and student of nature with a real interest in our Australian bush. David and I soon set up a collection of photographic equipment, including pneumatic shutter releases and a hide. We were always on the hunt for the nests or roosting sites of our local species. David kept a list of bird sightings and was a talented mimic of many of our common birds. Nearly every weekend we could be found somewhere in the bush around the Gormandale area and occasionally further a field. One of our favourite haunts was the Onley's Road area to the north of the township, where we were particularly interested in completing a special photographic assignment. The local residents had sighted an albino kangaroo and asked us to photograph it if possible. They were adamant they did not want the "outside" world to know of its existence, as they were concerned for its continued life in the wild. How correct they were as before David or I were able to achieve our aim, someone else's aim was obviously very accurate. A pure white kangaroo had very little chance of avoiding a shooter's spotlight.
While waiting for the birds to arrive, depart or otherwise put on a display, I took considerable interest in the flora of the area. Onley's Road is in the black sandy loam belt that runs in an east-west direction for many kilometres, extending to Traralgon South in the West. Some of the plants I remember are Grevillia chrysophaea (our emblem), Acacia oxycedrus, Epacris impressa, Drosera peltata ssp. auriculata, Correa reflexa, Tetratheca cilliata, Xanthorrhoea minor ssp. lutea, Viola hederacea, Acacia verticilliata, Stylidium graminifolium, Kennedia prostrata, Hovea linearis, Hardenbergia violacea, as well as numerous orchids.
In fact many of these plans are endemic to the area in which I now live.
David and I had aspirations to produce a book on Gippsland birds and then of course add a book on Gippsland plants. David eventually shifted to western Victoria and I moved into Traralgon and became interested in other hobbies. My interest in birds and plants subsided and the publishing of our "books" did not eventuate. However the interest in native plants meant that when it came to establishing our garden in Traralgon, Susan and I would have nothing but natives. The garden was only small but included quite a large pond and an extensive planting of my favourites, Grevilleas. At one stage I could even boast a Grevillea Chrysophaea, however it eventually succumbed to a bad case of wet feet. On moving to Traralgon South, on the black sandy loam belt, we once again decided to go all-native. What else could you do! We have planted hundreds of plants and given sufficient time and water should be able to enjoy the rewards for many years.
One evening after work I was reading the local paper and noticed an article on the Morwell APS group. I commented to Susan that it would be "good to join". On looking at my watch I noticed it was already the starting time for the meeting, so I said, "It's a bit late, it starts at 7.30". She responded with, "It doesn't matter, go along anyway". So I did.
I love the intricacy, delicacy and variety of our native flora and cannot understand why they are considered to be "weeds" by many Australians. They are of course particularly suited to Australian gardens, requiring less or no fertiliser and much less water than exotics. Susan and I joined the Club to gain a greater knowledge of our wonderful plants, to enjoy the company of like-minded people and to help promote Australian plants within the community.