ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

BIMBLEBOX reserve is under threat from Clive Palmer in his search for coal. This reserve was land donated for a wildlife refuge and is home to many rare and endangered speicies of bird ... writers and poets are being asked to get on board to help the cause and raise public awareness .... http://bimbleboxartproject.com/2014/11/ ... and-poets/

I chose to write about the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Acanthagenys rufogularis. Their call is described as : Liquid gurgling notes. ‘Give-the-boy-a-go’ repeated ending in a single abrupt note.

BIMBLEBOX - GIVE THE BIRDS A GO CLIVE ….. Maureen Clifford © The Scribbly Bark Poet


A pink blush stained the maiden’s cheeks, she turned her head away
a little pirouette she gave beneath the blossoms gay,
the male was a good looking bloke - vociferous and loud
and she could hear him calling out even when in a crowd.

Give the boy a go just give the boy a go
I’ll build a love nest for you if you give the boy a go.
I’ll line it with the softest wool and build it there below
together we’ll raise little chicks - just give the boy a go.

They foraged through the shrubs and trees and foraged on the ground
sharing the little delicacies between them that they found
Both feasted on the quandong and the juicy mistletoe
and he would serenade her – calling – give the boy a go.
These little birds had no idea their home was under siege
they spent each day contented ‘neath Bimblebox forest leaves
Coal was not on their diet and this pair had not a clue
all could be lost if mans greed was allowed to follow through.

Their lovely desert upland with its rich diversity
of flora and animal species headed for catastrophe
by a mining group who only saw the wealth that lay beneath
and to reach the coal they would destroy the precious woodland heath.

A nature refuge under siege would well describe their home
a sanctuary for many years – donated land and loam
Red tailed black cockatoo lived there and Yellow Thornbill too
our Spiny-cheeked honeyeaters part of a motley crew.
Were they aware of what they’d lose a protest would be raised
by all the birds whose home was there and leading the parade
would be a honeyeater with a spiny cheek aglow
and you would hear him calling out – give the birds a go.

Give the birds a go Clive – give the birds a go
we’re part of the ecology, don’t say you didn’t know.
Destroy our homes and we are gone – it’s pretty hard you know
to find a safe green habitat – Give the birds a go.

But animals don’t have a voice – they must rely on us
to stop the carnage and the rape because it is unjust.
This land was once donated as a habitat for all
and nowhere was it mentioned then it would be dug for coal.

It's a sad tale Maureen. I'm pretty pessimistic about where our development is headed. We know that we need energy and people need employment, where is the balance.

I drove up the road from Singleton last Friday and looking up the valley I saw a grey gaping void that looked like it was as big as the Grand Canyon of Colorado , extending for kilometres where there had been grazing land when I moved to this area. It's a big price to pay so I can run my electric fridge.


p.s. Did you mean Clive Palmer or Farmer.

I know what you mean Neville it is just terrible seeing bushland destroyed in this manner and thanks for picking up on that - I meant Clive Palmer who will never be a farmer

Nice birdies Maureen...

A nature refuge under siege would well describe their home
a sanctuary for many years – donated land and loam


Yes Maureen the government put in $ 300 thousand dollars for its purchase as a nature reserve and the group then donated it to the government for safe keeping.

Back in 2000, when Paola Cassoni, one of Australia’s quietly tenacious fighters for the environment, bought Bimblebox to save it from land clearing, the Federal Government kicked in about $300,000 for the purchase in recognition of its high conservation values.

So, it was too valuable to lose then. But now?

Clive Palmer repeatedly claimed the nature refuge was a former pastoral property that has no environmental value at all.

Bimblebox actually hosts 95 per cent remnant – uncleared – native vegetation.

Apart from rare endangered black-throated finches (little Poephila cincta cincta), there are 154 bird species and 12 bird species of Conservation Significance for the Desert Uplands that have been recorded by Birds Australia surveyors and scientists.

Bob

It is wrong in so many ways isn't it. Our 2nd property 'Dilladerri' out near Inglewood was sold to a lady who turned it into a wildlife refuge I would hate to think it would be plundered as well. It does have gold on in and at one stage a mining company was interested in it - sending us numerous letters and doing overhead surveys etc. At the time we thought it a beaut idea because their equipment was going to put roads into it which our old D7 and little Oliver were past doing but when we thought about it we decided there would be too much lost for very little gain so said NO. We had a lot of remnant vegetation as well - we sold because the Govt had stopped us from selectively logging it and without being able to clear at least parts of it - it was useless to run sheep on as you would never be able to muster them out. We were selectively cutting cypress for house frames etc - our second source of income, but the Govt put paid to that and the block was of no use to us after that. It was 4000 acres of loveliness, a soldiers settlement block which had only ever had 1000 acres cleared.

http://www.wildlifelandtrust.org.au/ind ... dilladerri


DILLADERRI DREAMING Maureen Clifford © The Scribbly Bark Poet

Somewhere out in the country, somewhere out in the scrub
Is a block of land well hidden, far removed from prying eyes.
Whilst the track you need to find it, is rocky and quite rough
and above the wilderness the eagle flies.
No stock is running on it, 'less you’re counting goat and pig.
In September when the wattle blooms it fills you with surprise.
For it’s just a rough scrub block, with Ironbark, Cyprus and wild Fig
but above this wilderness the Eagle flies.

This is 'Dilladerri ' dreaming in the warmth of summer sun
'neath a sky of azure blue and mare tails white.
It waits in isolation on a road where few do come.
It holds a magic that enthrals in mornings light.

In its solitary splendour it has stood for many years,
where once bush was cleared it now is overgrown.
The feeble efforts made by man to tame its rampant growth
have been by nature mostly overthrown.
Its creeks are all dried up now; the water is long gone,
and in the manmade dams remaining water's low.
Strata soil is now eroded, by the harshness of the drought.
Up above the Eagle surveys all below.

This is 'Dilladerri' dreaming on a frosty winter morn
when a heavy mist is drifting through the bush.
And a wallaby or two with a mob of kangaroo
slowly graze on winter grasses without rush.

When the rains eventually fall, bringing greenness to it all
washing dust away from scrub, and bush and tree.
Filling dams and filling creeks, Spotted Marsh frog starts to speak
as the earth regains long lost vitality.
Little rills, become a trickle, joining up become a rush,
soon a brown and foamy torrent starts to flow.
And the sight of so much water, after years of drought or longer
is a wonder to behold, for those who know.

This is 'Dilladerri ' dreaming, as she’s once again reborn
as the water, precious water, soothes her heart.
Now she’ll rise in all her glory, no longer dry and forlorn.
Joyful Wedge tail Eagles soar a skyward path