Mary Preston’s notes on the Coochiemudlo Island Herbarium
Mary Preston with a folder of pressings from the Coochiemudlo Island Herbarium c. 2019.
We collected the specimens, pressed them, glued them, as artistically as we could onto sheets and labelled them – who, when and where they were found. Then we researched their botanic names using these resources and filed them. We enjoyed the company, the morning tea, learning about the Island’s flora and the feeling that we were doing something worthwhile. To explain why we felt it worthwhile we must go back in time.
Thirty-two years ago when I moved to the Island:
The Wetlands was called ‘the Swamp’
Curlew Creek was a drain
We had a barge from Redland Bay once a fortnight
The foreshore was losing its vegetation and slowly turning into desert
There were 110 residents
The Island was slowly being loved to death
But we did have a bus!
So a few of us got together and formed a group. We called it FOCI – Friends of Coochie Island, especially to care for the Island’s landscape, flora and fauna.
We had the Swamp listed as an important Wetlands in the RAMSAR Convention – an organisation operating worldwide for the protection of migratory birds. We strongly resisted attempts to commercialise the Emerald Fringe.
In 1987 the Federal Government released funds to encourage community groups to care for their local environment – so Redland Council (as it was then called) started the Bushcare Program. We were one of the first to be established. Gradually the Bushcare Group and FOCI joined forces.
At that time we also involved the Island in the Keep Australia Beautiful Program. We received an award every year. You can see them on the ground floor wall in the Community Hall, hanging on the right hand side as you leave the room. One year the judge said, “you are doing so many things right that we could maybe organise a conference on the Island on the topic of ‘coping with climate change’”. So we did! It was very well attended with excellent speakers, but I feel we were a bit ahead of our time and left wanting to do something but not knowing what. This was where Bushcare got involved. The Council had provided an environmental officer for each group and ours suggested we should document what was on the Island at the time. He provided the folders, paper and special glue, the labels and booklet of instructions about getting it up and running.
And so the Herbarium was started by the Press Gang as we called ourselves.
Since completion it has travelled around a bit. We wanted the Herbarium to be safe so I took it to the Herbarium at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane. We were proud of the quality of our work compared with theirs. They said that it should be kept on the Island as that made it more relevant – TRUE!
We offered it to Redlands Museum but they did not really have a relevant place to display it. It was taken to Indigiscapes, where an officer offered to put it on a disc but he got transferred. When I called in to see how it was going after several months, it seemed to be lost but was found buried at the back of a shed. So I rescued it and brought it home. Since then it has had several excursions to the market and been well received. So as you can imagine I was thrilled when the Heritage Society offered to look after it. What would happen to it when I died??
So was it worthwhile?
People seem to enjoy looking at it. It is educational. It is a reference if people want to find out if the plants listed in their area are still there or new ones thriving because of climate change.
At least now, thanks to Heritage it will be accessible to the community.
