Tag Archives: Australia

Blue-winged Kookaburra

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Blue-winged Kookaburra

Laugh, laugh, laugh like most kookaburras. Well this one doesn’t.

  • Blue-winged Kookaburras are large kingfishers with long beaks.  The males have blue tails, while the females have red-brown tails.
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras are also known as Barking Jackass, Howling Jackass and Leach’s Kookaburra.
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras were first recorded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, who thought the kookaburra was a Laughing Kookaburra. Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield corrected the mistake in 1826.
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras are found in the southern parts of New Guinea and the wetter parts of northern Australia.
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras eat small animals that live on the ground; like reptiles, insects and mammals
Blue Winged Kookaburra, Male, Australia, Kokkaburra, Kingfisher, Bird, Ten Random Facts Photo courtesy of Val Laird
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras live in trees and nest in tree holes.
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras lay 3-5 eggs that are white and a little shiny.
  • Sometimes, in the first week of being born, Blue-winged Kookaburra babies sometimes aggressively kill their youngest sibling.
  • Adult Blue-winged Kookaburras fly quite slow.
  • Blue-winged Kookaburras cackle, trill, bark and screech.
Bibliography:
Broadfoot, E 10 June 2010, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Australian Museum, <http://australianmuseum.net.au/Blue-winged-Kookaburra>

The Man from Snowy River

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The Man from Snowy River

A good ol’ Aussie outback poem.

  • The Man from Snowy River is a poem by the Australian, Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson.
  • The Man from Snowy River poem was first published on the 26 April, 1890 in the magazine ‘The Bulletin’.
  • The Man from Snowy River is a poem about a runaway racehorse who meets up with mountain brumbies (wild horses), and the men that are trying to recapture it.
  • The Man from Snowy River is set at, what is modernly known as, Burrinjuck Dam, near Canberra, Australia.
  • Two of the characters featured in the The Man from Snowy River poem, feature in other Paterson poems.
The Man from Snowy River, Yvette, Poem, Engrave, Script, Words, writing, Banjo Paterson Park, Yass, Australia, Monument, Ten Random Facts, Flickr
‘The Man fom Snowy River’
Image courtesy of Yvette/Flickr
  • As a commemorative gesture, The Man from Snowy River poem is printed on the Australian $10 note, and is in microprint for security purposes.
  •  The ‘man’ from the Man from Snowy River is nameless, but is believed to be based on Jack Riley, a stockman, but it is debatable.
  • Two movies have been made from the Man from Snowy River poem- ‘The Man from Snowy River’ and ‘The Return of Snowy River,’ which is also known as ‘The Man from Snowy River 2’.
  • A celebration is held to honour the poem, The Man from Snowy River, yearly in Corryong.
  • Often it is assumed that The Man from Snowy River poem is set in the Snowy River country, but the ‘man’, the hero of the poem, only came from that area.
Bibliography:
The Man from Snowy River 5th September 2007 , Australian Government, <https://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/man-from-snowy-river>

Pygmy Possum

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Pygmy Possum

Cute and cuddly.

  • Pygmy possums are small possums that are the size of mice, that live in forests amongst trees or shrubs.
  • Pygmy possums are from the marsupial family of Burramyidae.
  • There are five species of pygmy possum, all of which are native to Australia, and only the long-tailed pygmy possum is found elsewhere in the world.
  • Pygmy possums bodies are between 5-12 cm (2 – 4.7 inches) in length, and their tail is almost as long as their body.
  • Pygmy possums weigh between 10-50 grams (0.35 – 1.8 ounces).

Pygmy Possum, Eastern, Small, Cute, Climbing, National Geographic Stock, Ten Random Facts

Pygmy Possum
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Pygmy possums are nocturnal, and sleep during the day in a state similar to hibernation.
  • The Pygmy possum diet consists of small invertebrates, fruit, seeds and nectar.
  • Pygmy possums are good climbers and good jumpers, but they don’t glide.
  • Before 1966, certain pygmy possums were thought to be extinct.
  • Pygmy possums are rarely seen or heard, although they do make a whistling sound.
Bibliography:
Pygmy possum 10 January 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_possum>

Grevillea

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Grevillea

There not the best brush!

  • There are over 360 species of grevillea.
  • Grevillea are evergreen, flowering plants from the family “Proteaceae’.
  • Grevillea can grow from 50 cm (20 inches) to 35 meters (115 feet) tall.
  • Grevillea is native to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Sulawesi and Indonesia.
  • Grevillea is also known as spider flower, silky oak and toothbrush plant.

Grevillia, Orange, Yellow, Brush, Flowers, Quensland, Australia, Ten Random Facts

  • The flowers of grevillea are long and brush like and can be yellow, orange or red in colour.
  • Grevillea is named after Charles Francis Greville, one of the founders of the Royal Horticultural Society.
  • Grevillea flowers contains a sweet nectar that humans can drink, depending on the cultivar, as some of them have nectar containing poisonous cyanide.
  • Grevillea flowers attract many birds and insects, especially honeyeaters.
  • Grevillea bloom all year round and are popular garden plants.
Bibliography:
Grevillea 8 December 2012, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea>

Touch Football

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Touch Football

First training, now competition.

  • Touch football is also known as touch rugby and touch, and involves both boys and girls.
  • Touch football is like rugby, with a field, two teams and a ball,  except you don’t tackle, you tap.
  • Touch football is often played in schools since it teaches important sporting techniques and is safer than rugby.
  • Touch football requires a small amount of equipment – markers and a football (soccer ball in America).
  • Touch football began in Australia, in 1923, as a fun thing to do, and as a training game for rugby league.  It did not become an official sport until 1968.

Touch Football, rugby, passing, attacking, blue, red, Public Domain Photos, Ten Random Facts

Touch Football
Image courtesy of Photobucket
  • Over 40 countries around the world play touch football in major competitions.
  • Touch football is popular in the South Pacific, Europe and the United Kingdom.
  • Typically touch football games take 45 minutes – two 20 minute halves and a 5 minute half time break.
  • The Touch Football World Cup is held every four years.
  • In 2012 in Australia, there were approximately 400,000 registered players, 500,000 school children, and numerous others that played touch football, making it one of the most popular sports in the country.
Bibliography:
Touch Football (rugby league) 30 December 2012, Wikipedia,  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_football_(rugby_league)>

Lantana

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Lantana

Nasty and nice!

  • Lantana is a perennial shrub consisting of approximately 150 species.
  • Lantana belongs to the verbena family, ‘Verbenaceae’ and range in size from 50 cm (1.6 ft) to 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall.
  • The flowers of the Lantana are in small clusters, and can be yellow, orange, red, pink, purple and white or a mixture of these.
  • Lantana blooms most or all of  the year depending on the plant species and the weather.
  • The fruits of Lantana are black with one seed and are prized by birds, which is one of the major causes of the spread of the plant.

Lantana, White, Flowers, Weed, Queensland. Australia, Ten Random Facts, Many

  • Lantana was introduced to Australia before the 1850s, and has become one of its major pests.
  • The leaves from Lantana are poisonous to most animals.
  • In Australia, lantana covers millions of hectares of pasture, natural bushland and  forests.
  • Lantana flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies , and some types of weaver birds use them to decorate their nests.
  • Lantana is native to the tropical regions of North and South America and Africa.
Bibliography:
Lantana n.d, Weeds Australia, <http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=S03>
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