Rainforest critters are masters of disguise. The world's oldest rainforest is sure to exhibit a greater range of success stories, than other, younger forests. Katydids are families of insects where camouflage and mimicry avoids detection, yet the beauty of these insects and the near-perfection of the camouflage is incredible. Approximately 6,400 species of Katydids within the [...]
Deception in Daintree Rainforest - Spiders Knowing the rainforest so that we can present its values to visitors from around the world has become our infinite vocation. Secretive, obscure, cryptic, camouflaged, mimicking are terms that describe strategies of rainforest deception that are employed by many of our critters to avoid detection. The enrichment of our [...]
Fan Palms have an important partnership with figs that germinate in the brown fabric at the neck of the tree and start their lives about 25 metres above ground at the top of the tree trunk. The fig roots grow downwards, as fine threads seeking sustenance, until they reach the soil and nourishment. Then they [...]
Simplicity, efficiency, endurance and connection seem to be recurring themes within our forests. What factors contribute to the continuance of the spectacular fan palms, Licuala ramsayi that have spanned 170million years? Fossil records of these plants have been found in Antarctica and are acknowledged as ancient Gondwana plants. The leaf design is incredibly smart. Its [...]
The timeless grandeur of rainforest giants, individually exceeding a thousand years old, form a primary canopy above, that excludes much of the sunlight, whilst a secondary canopy of fan palms, Licuala ramsayii forms a vaulted ceiling of green parasols under the shadow of the overarching big trees. Strength, beauty, eternity, spaciousness and diversity, have an [...]
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World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics of Queensland in December 1988 was a conservation endorsement of the highest order that included a range of tenures including freehold land. Never before or since, has Australia imposed a conservation imperative of international dimension on freehold land. […]
Daintree Rainforest living has us temporary custodians of a World Heritage allotment that is situated on the eastern flank of the highest mountain north of the Daintree River – Wundungu a.k.a. Thornton Peak. The area is acknowledged as containing the World’s oldest rainforest with a continuum of existence over 170-million years. The decision to include our freehold Daintree Rainforest [...]
The Daintree holds a special place in Australia’s environmental conscience. How can a rainforest that has existed for an estimated 170-million years remain undiscovered until the 1970’s? How can a rainforest containing an unsurpassed richness of ancient, primitive and endemic plants be forgotten and lost? […]
When I was asked to write about my transition from the open cut brown coal mines of Yallourn in Victoria, where I was born and bred, to the rich, diverse and very green Daintree Rainforest in northern Queensland, it occurred to me that 50-million years ago, when Australia participated in the final fragmentation of Gondwana [...]
