pandanus

Interesting story

Queen of the Colonies The vessel, Queen of the Colonies made five trips from the United Kingdom and Ireland to the colony of Queensland during the 1860s. Unfortunately, no picture of the ship is known to exist. During the voyage, which ended on 8th April 1863, the ship made good time. She anchored off Moreton Island on 6th April, and on 7th April at 5 pm, 13 crew and volunteer passengers took the lifeboat to the island to bury one of the passengers, Mrs Barnfield, who had died in childbirth. In the boat were Mr Barnfield, Captain Hill, and Messrs Durrant, Arundel, Langford, Ford, Eldridge (chief officer), Grant (fourth-mate), Roach and Murray (quarter-masters), and three able seamen. At 7 pm the boat returned and had reached the ship but a violent squall erupted and the crew were unable to reach the rope thrown for them. The lifeboat then disappeared. Captain Cairncross decided to continue to Brisbane on the 8th of April, whereafter search crews were sent to look for the life-boat. The men attempted to row to Brisbane but the boat overturned on a sandbank, and Mr Barnfield was drowned. They returned to a beach near where Caloundra is today. Three of the men (Eldridge, Grant & Durant) then tried to reach settlement overland and were the last to be found - on April 26th. The remainder had already been found at Caloundra. All were in terrible condition - sunburnt and starving, and nearly naked, having lost clothing when the boat overturned. A street in Caloundra is named after the ship Queen of the Colonies Parade - and for many years a Pandanus tree stood at Moffatt Head, which bore the inscription "Queen of the Colonies" and several of the castaways initials engraved on it. (The Queen of the Colonies Tree). The remains of the tree are now held by the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, in their Queen of the Colonies display. Source: nanopdf.com/download/queen-of-the-colonies-shipwreck-pand...

The Whitsundays are internationally famous for their rugged, green-clad islands, blue waters and white sands. But behind that beauty lies much more: a tumultuous geological history, a long tradition of Indigenous use, and a complex ecosystem with thousands of animal and plants, including rare and endangered species. The Whitsundays lay in a geologically active zone, where volcanic activity continued for 37 million years. Explosive eruptions threw rock and ash into the air to rain down on the surrounding land. Layers of volcanic debris built up and gradually formed a solid bedrock. Today, this bedrock, composed of ash and rock fragments 'welded' together, can still be seen (e.g. on Whitsunday and Hook islands). This hardened rock appears as a smooth greenish grey to brown, and is worn away by saltwater wave action. The Whitsundays are generally ideal for coral growth: warm, clear, relatively shallow water, with an average temperature of around 20–30 degrees Celsius. In addition, the Whitsundays’ large tidal range causes fast currents to stream south with the incoming tide. These currents transport food and nutrients that nourish a rich and colourful diversity of corals on the edges of the fringing reefs. Vivid and beautiful, these corals also provide food and habitat for many sea-dwellers. Different plants grow on different parts of the islands, influenced by variations in soils, exposure to the elements, and availability of fresh water. At the top of the beaches grow tough pioneer plants like goat’s foot convolvulus, sea bean and spiky spinifex, which can tolerate wind, salt spray and shifting sands. On the foredunes behind these stabilising creepers and grasses, grow salt-tolerant shrubs and trees such as octopus bush and coastal she-oak. Further inland, vine forests and lush vegetation grow in moist, sheltered gullies and on steep, rocky hillsides, with tall hoop pines scattered through them. Hillsides with drier, deeper soils support open eucalypt forests and, on many islands, undulating native grasslands. Below all of these, along the shorelines, patches of mangroves flourish. Source: parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/parks-whitsundays/about/culture

" Summertime and living is easy".