Banks' Botany Bay botany

Views from the nature trails of the Kamay Botany Bay National Park the other day. I retraced the steps of historic botanist extraordinaire, Joseph Banks.

Below: termites tackling a Sydney red gum/smooth barked apple (Angophora costata) & a very scribbly scribbly gum (Eucalyptus haemastona)

Above: the trunk of a very tall cabbage-tree palm (Livingstona australis)

Another bleeding angophora.

Some burnt-out black boys/southern grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea australis)

Is it a bird?

Is it a bird?........ Is it Superman?.........     No.    IT'S A PLANE

(Used to be lots of those around!)

Nicely re-interpreted

I revisited the Kamay Botany Bay National Park at Kurnell the other day, generally known as Captain Cook's Landing Place. It's been a while.

There's much debate about tearing down statues of historical bad guy colonialists (or in this case, master navigators with secret orders). They've done a good job here of showing how it can be done properly: keep the history, but also put it into a better context.

Here's the tiny creek that provided an adequate water supply for the 1770 expeditioners. (A different story of course when the First Fleet turned up 18 years later, and were severely disappointed by the drought-stricken ditch it had become.)

There are some fine new sculptures now, created for the 250th anniversary. There's a group of whales, plus an intriguing abstract that's to do with both the ribs of the HMB Endeavour and some whale bones.

And the park is a rather lovely spot too. It's also the starting point for the little botanical bushwalks that lead you to the ocean and one of the finest spots for watching live whales.