Category Archives: Wildlife Events – meetings, conferences, displays etc

local and other conferences, workshops, meetings, public wildlife displays etc. Announcements of future events, descriptions of past events.

Scenic Rim Wildlife group

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We now have our pages on the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland website: http://branches.wildlife.org.au/scenicrim

Briefly, recent events have included wildlife displays at a Rare Plants Fair at Bromelton House at Gleneagle (near Beaudesert) and at the Rathdowney Heritage Festival, and talks to students of Woodhill Primary School.

Coming events include a wildlife display and children’s activities at the school fete at Woodhill (Saturday 22nd May), a  public get-together at Beaudesert on that evening (wildlife of Africa, discussion of daily and seasonal movement needs of Scenic Rim Wildlife, discussion on becoming a formal branch, and general socializing with free drinks and nibbles), the on-going Great Wildlife Discovery Challenge, and the Wildlife Expo in Beaudesert in July

The Scenic Rim’s Great Wildlife Discovery Challenge

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The Scenic Rim group of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland is about to launch the Great Wildlife Discovery Challenge, with puzzles and quizzes to have fun with while learning about the wildlife of the species-rich Scenic Rim region of southeast Queensland.  Prizes include accommodation for 2 people for 2 nights at O’Reilly’s Guest House (Lamington National Park), a family day-pass to Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk, a family day-pass to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, a meal voucher for the Bearded Dragon Hotel, day-tours with Araucaria Ecotours, nature books from Andrew Isles bookstore and more

Visit the Scenic Rim wildlife challenge page

Don’t worry if you can’t do all the challenges – it’s designed to be just a bit too difficult to easily do all of them (otherwise it would be difficult for the judges to decide on a winner), and if you don’t win the first prize there are plenty of others

Wildlife Expo a success

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The Wildlife Expo in Beaudesert, Southeast Queensland, organized by Araucaria proprietor Ronda Green through Wildlife Tourism Australia and the Logan and Albert Conservation Association, was a great success. The event was funded by the former Beaudesert Shire Council with additional sponsors being Araucaria Ecotours and the Beaudesert Lions Club, with prizes donated by Andrew Isles Book Store (the most comprehensive colleciotn of wildlife books in Australia), Andy Remainis (wildlife artist), Binna Burra (a wonderful ecolodge at the edge of the Lamngton National Park), Lilldale Host Farm (an award-winning farmstay at Mt Barney) and Araucaria Ecotours.
Visitors got to meet bettongs, potoroos, koalas, sugar gliders, antechinuses, fruitbats, pythons, turtles, frogs and many other creatures. The wildlife photogtraphy competition show-cased some of our wonderful local wildlife to other visitors and was judged by Australia’s best-known wildlife photographer Steve Parish, the winner Jenny Davis receiving two nights’ accommodation for two at Lillydale and others (Patricia Belcher, Lesley Smetherington and Heike Mack-Behle) receiving lovely books from Andrew Isles. School students showed talent and dedicated work in preparing posters, and children on both the ‘schools’ day and the ‘general public’ day participated in a wildlife puzzles trail which included everything from deductive logic and anagrams to questioning stall holders about wildlife behaviour and conservation and making birds’ nests (thus learning some respect for the skills bird have to learn).
Wildlife Warriors from Australia Zoo, WIldlife Tourism Australia, Logan and Albert Conservation Association, Environmental Proection Agency, Bat Care Brisbane, Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, RSPCA, Focus on Frogs, Geckos Wildlife, Brian the Reptile Man, Trixie the Crow Lady and others, Eco Art, Wildlife Art Australia, Lamington NAtural History Association and others held stalls and spent most of the day chatting about wildlife with visitors from the local area or from regions as far as Brisbane and Byron.
An Indigenous local, Eric Currie, gave a Welcome to Country, and deputy mayor Dave Coburn (who also organized the oan of and helped erect two large tents) gave a welcoming speech and expressed a hope that this would become an annual event. Wildlife behaviour, wildlife conservation, frogs, crows, koalas, care of injured and orphaned wildlife and other themes were presented in the meeting room throughout both days, and there were outdoor displays of wildlfie art in progress, children’s craft, and demsontrations of live wildlife.
A series of wildlife workshops throughout the year had led up to this event. The organizer of these, Ronda Green of Araucaria (as for the Wildlife Expo, working through WTA and LACA, funded by the Beuadesert Shire Council) was sorry to not be in a position to donate the same amount of time for organizing a similar series next year, and was delighted that a Kooralbyn resident, Pamela Elliott, who ran a stall for two days at the Wildlife Expo, is now organizing wildlife workshops each month for the coming year, mostly focussing on care of injured and orphaned animals. She made a very successful start with a meeting on snakes last month.

We are currently discussing plans for a WIldlife Expo to be held either in winter (July/August) or October in 2009, and would be very happy to hear from anyone interested in participating.