Living with Larrikin Lyrebirds
Her Majesty Meets the Underpants
The mine: the battle won (we hope)
Other News
Recent wards
New Books
Schedule for 2012
The February garden
A Few recipes
. Flourless Chocolate Peppermint Almond cake
. Bramble jelly
. Plum Tarts
. Variations on Stewed Plums
Living with Larrikin Lyrebirds
‘Quack,’ it said. ‘Quack, quack, quack!’
I looked out my study window. No duck. Instead a large male lyrebird raced past with wings outstretched, tail up.
‘Quack!’ it yelled. ‘Quack, quack!’ Up on the hill another lyrebird scrambled up under the lemon trees, obviously totally intimidated by the quacking.
You can live with animals for decades and they can still surprise you. I’ve heard lyrebirds imitate a tractor (we thought ours had engine trouble till we turned it off, but the engine sound continued), chooks, a telephone and my almost in tune rendition of Beethoven’s 9th (the lyrebird’s ‘Variations on a Theme by Beethoven’ were far superior to mine).
But I have never heard one quack before. I’m not sure whether it has only just learnt to quack – there’s a new family of ducklings on the swimming hole – or had decided that ‘quack’ was the most threatening sound in its repertoire. Anyhow, it worked – the sight of the other lyrebird fleeing up the hill must have assured him that he had chosen the correct soundtrack.
It’s been a wonderful year for lyrebirds. And ducks. It’s rained nearly every day, not a lot of rain in total as we’ve yet to have even a small flood this year, but enough so the valley is at least 1,000 shades of green with more flowers than I’ve ever seen. The kookaburras have just reared their second family this summer; the wrens are repairing their nests again; the apples were zapped by frost but the ones that are left are almost the size of footballs, and the ‘Twenty Ouncers’ are heading towards forty ounces, at least. On the other hand, size isn’t everything, nor is crispness, and the apples do lack a certain something i.e. most of their flavour. True flavour comes from sunlight. The valley had just over two hours of sunlight today, which is more than it’s had any day this past fortnight.
It’s been an … interesting year, including weather wise. But the bush has at last recovered from the drought and, if it keeps raining, perhaps the water table might, too. Mothball wombat might even get used to munching wet grass. She still tries to stand on the paving to munch, to keep her tummy dry. Mothball’s life has been mostly spent in drought and she doesn’t approve of lushness.
It’s wonderful for humans.
Her Majesty Meets the Underpants
Bruce Whatley just emailed me: Queen Elizabeth visited a school in England last week to find it festooned with underpants- the kids had just been reading Queen Victoria’s Knickers, the UK edition of our Queen Victoria’s Underpants.
Don’t know if the Queen was amused or not. (Suspect she was.)
The Mine
It’s all been worth it: the submissions, the emails, the appeals for help; the magnificent efforts of all those who have given their expertise and time and funds.
The NSW Land and Environment Court announced its decision today (9 February as I write this.) They have awarded us every safeguard we asked for and another three that we hadn’t.
In a few days we’ll open the champagne. I’ll probably cry – did have a quiet sniff this evening when I fed Mothball her carrots. I wanted to tell her, ‘We did this for you, you smelly marsupial’. Wombats don’t do ‘grateful’ but I am – overwhelmingly, incredibly grateful to everyone who helped and supported.
For those who’d like a list of all that has been won, there’s a section at the end of this newsletter. Otherwise, among the 46 new conditions we won – the tailings dam will now be built to the highest possible standard of construction, there is far more monitoring of water quality, quantity and limits to noise levels, and that monitoring will be independently audited and the results will be released to the public, too.
The Land and Environment Court also added their own conditions, including that all ecological monitoring must continue after mining rehabilitation unless every relevant government authority agrees that further risk is negligible. The monitoring now involves not just bores and stream monitoring, but testing for ‘stygofauna’, the small animals that live in water and reflect its health, as well as the forests up in Majors Creek and in the Araluen Valley.
So are all the worries over? No. But this monitoring is going to make sure that any problems are picked up early and that remedial action will be taken as soon as possible – and there are going to be many people now monitoring the monitoring.
There are so many people we need to thank: The wonderful Environmental Defenders’ Office – the tireless determination of Corinna Novak, Megan Kessler and Kirsty Ruddock of the NSW Environmental Defenders’ Office, and barrister, Clifford Ireland, has enabled the achievement of the best possible conditions. Many, many thanks go to Dr Andrew Merchant, Dr Stephen Debus, Dr Grant Hose, Dr William Milne-Home, Dr Don Driscoll and Mr Francis Grey for their expert reports. We owe them enormous thanks for their dedication and work.
Thank you to the hundreds of others who have given support, expertise or raised funds. There are too many to name here but my special gratitude to Bob Reece and Lesley Reece of the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre, and to Noel, Virginia, Elaine and Margaret who seemed to know exactly when it was all beginning to seem impossible and would call or email.
It's been a privilege to work with Sheila Monahan of Coastwatchers, Lisa Stone of SERCA, and Penny Hayman and Robyn Clubb of AVAPPEC. They are extraordinary, inspiring women, who have achieved so much for the environment, not just in this appeal but in many, many other ways.
There's no way this could have been achieved without the support of so many people. Every time it all seemed impossible, someone would phone or email, offer to fund raise or send a card. There were many times it seemed overwhelming, but every time, out of the blue, someone would appear to offer help or support exactly when it was needed.
I can't thank you all enough.
Other news
Just now it’s a bit hard to think exactly what else has happened this week (could definitely have done with another few days plonked in there somewhere). The wonderful Monkey Baa Theatre Company are finalising the US tour of Hitler’s Daughter, which will open on Broadway next April. They’re also adapting Pete the Sheep as a musical, too.
The first copies of A Day to Remember – the Story of Anzac Day, created with Mark Wilson have arrived and are so beautiful I just keep gazing at each part of Mark’s work, almost unable to believe their beauty.
Mothball wombat got her head stuck in a yellow bucket and rolled down the paving, with just a fat behind and tiny legs waving till she managed to get upright and pull herself out. She didn’t seem upset, just a bit puzzled about why the world had all gone yellow for a while.
And in between I’ve walked the bush and planted more spring onions and picked apples and an out of season orange and a mandarin and pears and tomatoes and lemons and made bramble jelly (see below) and answered emails and have been dreaming of next week, when I can sit quietly and work on a book again.
Recent Awards
Hazel Edwards and I are among the 184 candidates from 60 countries nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Award, which will be announced in March. The Award is given for an author’s body of work and contribution to children’s literature generally, not for one specific book. It is an honour and privilege to be among the nominees.
Book News
Have just done the final revision for Pennies for Hitler, the companion volume, rather than the sequel, to Hitler’s Daughter, and Dingo, the story of a bony boy, a rubbish dog and Australia’s first dingo from whom possibly all other dingos are descended.
Christmas Wombat seemed to vanish from the shops the week after it hit the bestseller list, which I hope means that they have all sold. I’m not sure how soon it’ll be reprinted, but I’m sure it’ll be well in time for next Christmas.
The last novel to hit the book shelves was Nanberry: Black Brother White – the story of four extraordinary people in the early NSW colony: Surgeon White, who hated Australia, loved a convict girl, a loyal father not just to his white son but to the black one he adopted; Rachel, who escaped the gallows to become the richest, most loved woman in NSW; Andrew, their son, who became a hero of the Battle of Waterloo, finally coming back to Australia; and Nanberry, orphaned by the smallpox, who would stride between the white world and the black, as a sailor in the Merchant Navy and a Cadigal warrior and leader of his people.
It’s as accurate as I can make it, two hundred years after it all happened. But it did. They were heroes, incredible and they need to be remembered.
Other books: A Waltz for Matilda (perhaps my favourite book) came out about eighteen months ago, as did A Year in the Valley, a book (for adults) about life here with the wombats and the trees and garden and friends. Queen Victoria’s Underpants is the (almost) true story of how Her Majesty’s underpants led to freedom for women.
The revised Chook Book is in the shops too now – twice as big as the original edition and much changed and updated. It’s all you ever wanted to know (and probably a bit more) about how to keep chooks in your backyard or at school.
Coming soon: A Day to Remember, created with Mark Wilson, the history of Anzac Day, which in a way is the history of Australia too.
Schedule for the Year to Come
This is what the calendar has so far, but there are already another half dozen trips pencilled in, as well as many other commitments. There are always last minute things I have to do too. It’s unlikely I can add in more school, library or community talks in 2012, unless they are near to somewhere I’ll be already. I’ll also be ACT Library Ambassador for the 2012 Year of Reading.
February 25: Keynote speaker and workshops at the annual conference of the SA SOSE Council (SOSE – Studies of Society and Environment) teachers.
March 1: Launch A Day to Remember with Mark Wilson at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 4 pm. Contact Lara Wallace at Harper Collins for details and bookings. Lara.Wallace@harpercollins.com.au
March, Saturday 17: Talk and opening of the Harvest Festival, Moruya, NSW.
March, Sunday 25: Talk at Old Parliament House, ACT.
March, Sunday 25: Launch of the new edition of Shy the Platypus by Leslie Rees at the National Library of Australia, 3 pm. Contact the National Library for bookings.
March 28: lunch and a talk at the Queanbeyan RLS Club, NSW
April 1: Open day at the new Monkey Baa Children’s Theatre at Darling Harbour, Sydney. Susanne Gervais and I are patrons and will be there with bells on!
April 21: Possible launch of A Day to Remember in Brisbane.
April 28: Dinner and talk at Moruya to celebrate the new mine conditions. More details next month.
May 5: Opening of Monkey Baa’s new theatre at Darling Harbour, Sydney. Susanne Gervais and I will be there with glad rags on.
May 7, 8, 9, 10: Talks in Brisbane. Contact Helen Bain at Speaker’s Ink for bookings. Helen Bain helen@speakers-ink.com.au
May 11: Brisbane, 9.30 National Hairy Nose Day and launch of the new Hairy Nosed Wombat educational web site, Brisbane. More details next month.
May 16: Workshop at Marymead, ACT.
June 5: Talks at the Australian Jewish Museum, Sydney.
June 13 and 14: Adelaide Writer’s Festival, S.A.
July, somewhere around the 8th: Talk at the Australian Literacy Educators Association Conference, Sydney.
July 21-25: Curtis Coast Literary Carnivale, Gladstone, Queensland.
August 12: In Perth/Fremantle for the West Australian Association of Teacher Assistants Conference and possibly doing a few other talks once I’ve gone that far.
August 20-23 (Book Week): Talks in Brisbane. Contact Helen Bain at Speaker’s Ink for bookings.
August 27-30: Melbourne Literary Festival.
September 3, 4, 5: Three days’ talks in Melbourne. For details or bookings contact Simon O'Carrigan at Booked Out simon@bookedout.com.au
October 2-4: Possibly a conference in Perth – still to be confirmed.
October 24: Children’s Day, ACT.
October 25-27: Fremantle WA for the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre’s Celebrate Reading Conference and possibly doing a few other talks.
November: Four Open Garden workshops here. Bookings and details are from the Open Garden Scheme though, not us.
The February Garden
The garden has been neglected for the past few months, partly due to rain, partly just very busy… which doesn’t bother the garden, as it’s designed not to need much work, but I’ve missed it. Am slowly getting back into ‘plant mode’, hopefully in time to get the caulies and broccoli in for winter. Have a longing for a good cauliflower cheese, but first need to grow the cauliflowers. Supermarket ones don’t have enough flavour or a firm enough texture for a good cauliflower cheese.
So if anyone can remember back to the February 2005 newsletter, here’s the list of what to do reprinted from that. Instead of writing about gardening I’m giving myself an early mark and leaving my desk to get out into the garden, before the next thunderstorm hits.
. Plant all the veg you want to eat this winter… if you put them in now they’ll have time to grow before the cold. Many veg don’t die in cold weather, but they don’t grow much either.
. Start bunging in all the flowers you want to bloom over winter too.
. Hack back wisteria.
. Trim hedges and topiary.
. Feed veg and flowers, and winter and spring flowering shrubs like camellias (their new buds are forming now).
. If spitfires (clusters of caterpillars) gather in your gum tree, bash them down with a broom, then tread on them with boots on. The squirming mass falls easily – no need for sprays!
. Put your mower on the highest setting – longer grass doesn't brown off as fast.
. And pollinate pumpkins and melons with a tiny paint brush if heat or rain is preventing fruit set.
. Pick all ripe fruit and tomatoes – the scent not only attracts fruit flies, but the smell of fermenting fruit attracts lots of other pests too, from stink bugs to aphids.
What to plant:
Subtropical and tropical areas
Food plants: Strawberries, sweet potatoes, passionfruit vines, parsley and other herbs, plant beetroot, capsicum, carrot, caulies, celery, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce seedlings (lettuce seeds may not germinate in the heat), pak tsoi, pumpkin, radish, silver beet, sweet corn, tomatoes and watermelon.
Flowering plants: Flowering vines, hibiscus, bougainvilleas, tropical evergreen fruit trees, ageratum, celosia, cosmos, coleus, Iceland poppy, salvia and sunflowers.
Temperate to cold areas
Food plants: Citrus, avocadoes and other evergreen trees, strawberries, passionfruit and banana passionfruit, rhubarb, blueberries, artichoke, beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrots (try the tiny, fat, fast-maturing ones in cold climates), coriander, sweet corn (fast maturing varieties only), leek, lettuce, white onions, parsley, salad greens like corn salad, mizuna, cress, red Italian chicory, silver beet, spring onions and spinach.
Flowering plants: Spring flowering bulbs like iris, daffs and jonquils (look for heat tolerant ones in warmer areas, like Erlicheer jonquils), alyssum, stocks and LOTS of flowers to give you colour and cheer through winter – pansies, violas, primulas, Iceland poppies, wallflowers and polyanthus.
A Few Recipes
Flourless Chocolate Peppermint Almond cake
1/3 tsp peppermint essence
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup water
150 g cooking chocolate
150 g unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups, brown sugar
1 cup ground almonds
4 eggs, separated
Place the cocoa and water in a saucepan; stir till blended and then bring to the boil. Take off the heat and add the chocolate and butter. Stir till melted – heat gently again if necessary – and then stir in the brown sugar and almond meal and egg yolks, and then the peppermint essence.
Beat the egg whites till stiff then fold gently into the mixture. Place in a floured and greased cake tin, or one lined with baking paper. A round medium tin will give a high cake; a lamington tin will give you a ‘slice’ height.
Bake in moderate oven for about 1¼ hours. Cool in the pan before you take it out – it will be firmer when cooled and less likely to break. Spread with icing. Store in a sealed container till set.
This cake is also delicious with whipped cream, or a mix of half cream and half mascarpone cheese, and thinly sliced fresh pineapple.
Icing:
1 cup icing sugar (not ‘mixture if you want this cake to be gluten free)
¼ tsp peppermint essence
3 tbsps cocoa
Water
Add 3 tbsps of water to the mix, then beat till absorbed. Keep adding a tbsp of water till it’s spreadable, but only just, otherwise it will ooze off the cake. If you add too much water, add more icing sugar
Bramble Jelly
This is great with thornless blackberry, loganberry, marionberry or any edible berry except strawberry, which needs more delicacy.
- 1 kg berries
- 250 gm Granny Smith, or other hard apples, chopped with peel and cores for extra pectin
- 300 mls of water (enough to come about half way up the berries in the pan)
- juice of 6 lemons, with seeds
- 1 kg white sugar
Simmer the berries and apple in the water and lemon juice for about 20 minutes, till soft. Pour into a strainer over a large bowl and gently squish the berries so they release all their juice but most of the seeds and pulp stay behind or let it drip overnight. Don’t press too hard – you don’t want the apple pulp to ooze through, just the juice. Give the pulp to the chooks.
Add the sugar; stir till dissolved then bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes until it begins to look like magma bubbling in a volcano. Every few minutes drip a little on a chilled plate. When you can push a drip and it wrinkles instead of runs, it’s ready to set. Pour or scoop into clean jars while still extremely hot; seal at once. Give to those who appreciate a stunning jelly.
Plums, plums, plums
Stewed Plums with Port
2 cups plums, whole
half a cup good port
1 stick cinnamon
a round of orange peel, no white
Optional: 3 tb brown sugar
Stew gently till plum skins are soft; about 20-30 minutes. This freezes well.
Star Anise Plums
2 cups plums
1 star anise
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 stick cinnamon
half cup orange juice (not navel- it's bitter)
1 cup water
white sugar to taste.
Simmer till plums are soft. Remove spices as soon as they are. hot or cold.
Plum Kissel
Simmer:
2 cups sliced stones plums
1/4 cup white sugar
half cup red or white wine
When soft add 1 tb cornflour; cook another five minutes. leave till cool and almost jelly like
Stewed Plums with Marscapone Tart
Bake squares of puff pastry with thinly sliced plums.
Bake 2 cups quartered plums at the same time.
Top with:
half cup marscapone mixed with half cup cream, 1 tb cointreau, 2 tb castor sugar.
Arrange plums on top.
Plums in Cider
Stew plums in half cider, half water.
Sugar Free Ginger Plums
Stew plums in sugar free ginger ale- place plums in pan, add enough lo cal ginger ale to come half way up the side. Simmer about 20 minutes. hot or cold.
Plums with Lemon Verbena
Stew plums in as little water as possible, with a good handful of lemon verbena leaves.
Plums with Vanilla
As above, but add half a vanilla bean as they cook, again in only a small amount of water to keep it strongly flavoured. Remove the bean. Serve with yoghurt.
Dargues Reef Mine : Summary of New Conditions
If you'd like a copy of the exact conditions, showing what was won in each agreement, please let me know and I'll forward it to you.
Eurobodalla Shire Council won major concessions.
These included:
1. An improved design for the tailings dam. Eurobodalla Council, Coastwatchers and SERCA were concerned that high rainfall events would cause the dam to overflow. However, new design features that incorporate the need to consider the Possible Maximum Flood level for our region have eased our concerns about this.
3. Increased monitoring of water quality and quantity throughout the life of the project (including during post mining rehabilitation).
4. Independent auditing of that monitoring.
5. Financial support for Eurobodalla Shire Council to conduct independent audits.
Eurobodalla Shire Council's initial negotiations ensured that the management and monitoring of water quality will be more stringent and has greatly reduced the risks for all downstream.
The Coastwatchers and SERCA Appeal
An additional appeal was undertaken by Coastwatchers and SERCA. This appeal was supported by AVAPPEC, and by the hundreds of people who helped financially and with support and expertise.
What Was Achieved
The main success is that we now have greater confidence that there should be no significant effect on the water quality or river base flows downstream of the mine, and there will be routine and regular monitoring of both water and bush health to ensure that if a problem does occur, the public will be aware of it and action can be taken.
As part of the proceedings, Cortona undertook additional modelling of the proposed impacts and more detailed monitoring combined with ongoing modelling should make the project far safer. Any adverse impacts will be quickly picked up and acted upon.
To summarise the new conditions:
. Monthly monitoring of surface water flows and impacts on water users.
. The Surface Water Monitoring Program must now extend to the confluence of Majors Creek and Araluen Creek in the Araluen valley.
. A biannual monitoring of steam health and channel stability in Spring Creek and Majors Creek.
. A Biodiversity Management Plan that includes studies on the health of the Araluen Scarp Grassy Forest EEC in the Majors Creek State Conservation Area, as well as the collection of detailed baseline data and ongoing monitoring of the health of the Tableland Basalt Forest EEC within the project site.
. Major incident reports and other relevant information must be made public within a reasonable period and no later than 28 days after the information is available.
. Project related noise must not exceed INP criteria in the Majors Creek State Conservation Area.
. Measures to prevent birds and animals from entering the tailings dam.
. Surveys for breeding pairs of Little Eagles and the preparation of a management plan to protect them, if required.
. Releasing water from the harvestable rights dams to maintain baseflow in Majors Creek until the loss of base flow, because of the project, is negligible.
. An offsite biodiversity offset, to protect additional areas of Tablelands Basalt Forest EEC.
. A programme to identify and monitor stygofauna (small creatures that inhabit groundwater) within and surrounding the site.
. Collecting and storing native seed for rehabilitation of the area.
. Safeguards to make sure that any water released from the old workings will not have a negative impact on the water quality of Majors Creek.
. The current groundwater model has been significantly improved using more data under a wider range of environmental conditions. Additional conditions relating to ongoing modelling, assessment of impacts on water quality and additional data collection requirements (both onsite and downstream) have also been imposed.
. A requirement that if the actual impacts from the project are shown to be greater than predicted, the Proponent must consult with NOW (NSW Office of Water) to develop appropriate management and mitigation measures.
. Further consultation with indigenous stakeholders.
. All water users downstream of the project can now register to be informed of the results of monitoring, or of any major incidents on the site.
. An assessment report on the impact on areas and items of Indigenous significance, with a draft report given to representatives of the local Indigenous community, including registered stakeholders and those who subsequently register as stakeholders, and consult with local Aboriginal community representatives in relation to sites or items of actual or suspected Aboriginal heritage and ways the Proponent and community can work cooperatively for the benefit of both.
. Improved consultation with members of the downstream Araluen community.
. Further investigation of the hydrology of the tailings dam and improved monitoring around the tailings dam.
A copy of the full conditions of approval is available on request.
Work on the Dargues Reef project continued during the appeal process, with the company working on the plans that need to be approved by the various government authorities before construction can begin.
The Traffic Management Report and the Mining Operation Plan have already been submitted, but Cortona state that these can be changed after public consultation with the Dargues Reef Community Consultative Committee.
The Community Consultative Committee.
This is simply an advisory committee, but as the members will continue to stay as familiar as possible with what is happening with the mine, they can be contacted if there are questions, suggestions or complains. Jackie French has been appointed a member of that committee, and can be emailed on jackiefrench72@gmail.com.
Cortona have also assured that all monitoring results will be placed on their web site. A confidential complaints register will be attended to within 24 hours and all questions responded to within 24 hours. Finalisation with resolution and/or information may take longer, of course. The name of those who put in complaints will not be published, only the complaints and action or resolutions.
'Opt in' Register
There is now an 'opt in register' of those living downstream who wish to be notified of all monitoring results, any possible accidents on site that may affect the water and activities such as the spraying of herbicides that might run into Spring or Majors Creeks and thus into the Deua/Araluen system. The 'opt in register' has now become part of the new conditions of approval.
If you wish to be on this register, send your name, address and how you would like to be contacted (text, phone call, letter, email) to:
Cortona Community Consultation Team darguesreef@gmail.com
You might also like to send a copy to the Chairman of the CCC committee, Peter Gordon pgordon@economicfutures.com.au
Once Cortona has their mining license for the site, they will display a sign at the entrance that will give a number to call if there are problems or complains or questions.
As of last week Cortona had not yet obtained their mining license for the site. They state that this should be granted soon.
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