The mirrored surface of the black water shimmered almost imperceptibly as a bunyip raised its scaly head through the congestion of waterlily leaves. If such a creature existed, the shaded lagoons of the Tondoon Botanic Gardens, on the western outskirts of the Queensland city of Gladstone, would undoubtedly be its chosen habitat, but the mythical beast was only a fleeting figment of my imagination, and all that emerged into the sunlight was a snake-necked darter.
I wandered through the gardens, which sprawl over 55 undulating hectares, with confidence that I’d eventually encounter a host of other wild creatures, and as I approached Lake Tondoon, the central feature of the landscape and which had been the city’s main source of water from 1916-45, it soon became obvious that I wouldn’t be disappointed.
Satin black moorhens dived among emerald aquatic vegetation as a breeze sent gentle ripples scurrying across the water. A red-legged jabiru, an ibis, and a royal spoonbill patrolled the lake’s perimeter with silent, stealthy strides. The snake-necked darter, in a motionless pose on a partially submerged log, stretched its great wings out to dry in the summer sun. And a duck, with her obedient brigade of fluffy chicks in tow, waddled across the grassy bank where silver-trunked eucalypts, with their leaves emitting a delicate lemon fragrance after an early morning shower, stood to attention.
The gardens’ maze of trails, each passing peaceful lagoons and lazy streams, meander among an extensive range of plant species that, despite an initial appearance of chaos, are arranged in themed areas. Scarlet-flowered bottlebrushes, ragged paper-barks, and banksias line the native wildflower trail. Plants that were indispensable to both Aboriginals and early European settlers, including hoop pines that were valued for their timber and that had yielded resin for glue, fill the section of useful wild plants. Here too there are Bunya pines that provided a seasonal treat for indigenous people who roasted the trees’ enormous edible nuts or ground them into flour; black palms that supplied wood for the production of spears; foam bark trees from which Aborigines obtained a poison to kill or stun fish; and Burdekin plum and native quandong trees that provided fruit for both indigenous people and early settlers.
In the area representative of dry forest regions, plants are arranged in groups of species from the same geographical location. Prickly shrubs, vines, and small drought resistant species thrive among cycads, bottle trees with curious, swollen trunks, and coral trees with leaves that resemble the wings of bats.
Plants from northern Queensland crowd the rainforest section where a shallow creek, its clear water stained brown like iced tea, trickles over moss-draped rocks and logs. And hidden in the midst of the mayhem of vegetation that rises above a luxuriant carpet of ferns, lies a palm-fringed lagoon where, in summer months, blue waterlilies nod a welcome to every passing breeze.
With its great diversity of native flora, Tondoon provides an alluring refuge for numerous birds, insects, reptiles, and mammals. It’s a place I’ve been drawn to repetitively since it opened in 1988, and I’m invariably greeted by the hordes of gargantuan mosquitos for which the damp and shaded environment is heaven on earth.
Possums, wallabies, and several species of reptiles inhabit the gardens, but birds are the most conspicuous characters here, and as I daubed another layer of insect repellent onto my exposed skin, I watched a menagerie of feathered performers, led by grey-crowned babblers that marched among the low vegetation. Raucous screeching in the treetops announced the arrival of rainbow lorikeets that had come to dine on the nectar produced by a million tiny palm tree flowers. A streak of blue flashed before my eyes as a kingfisher darted to its nest in a tree-top termite mound. A kookaburra dived from a high perch to grab an unsuspecting beetle from the forest floor, and a brush turkey strode along the path, scratching energetically at every drift of fallen leaves that lay along his meandering route.
Channel billed cuckoos screeched from the forest canopy, but although their distinctive, haunting calls are said to prophesy the arrival of rain, I disregarded their warning and set out on the 3km long trail that leads to the summit of Mount Biondello, which forms the gardens’ northern and western boundaries. The views of the city, of its distant harbour, and of the forested hinterland made the trek worthwhile, but with ominous clouds looming, I made a hasty retreat to the gardens’ cafe, where a high deck overlooks the lake, and settled down for lunch as the first raindrops that the cuckoos had accurately predicted began to fall.
The news that food was being served travelled fast, and gatecrashers soon arrived to share my meal. In the lake far below, a horde of turtles, each dressed in a green mantle of algae, stared up, with pleading eyes, in anticipation of a few crumbs, but it was a blue-faced honeyeater that literally took the cake. Landing on the table, it grabbed a beakful of a cream-filled bun and fluttered to an adjacent railing to scoff its prize as its family and friends arrived in response to the unspoken message that good food comes to those who wait.
Everyone likes to get something for nothing, and I’m no exception. I’d gorged myself on a banquet of pleasure as I’d strolled through the varied landscapes of the Tondoon Botanic Gardens, and the experience and the memories that had been born from it hadn’t cost me a single razoo.
Getting There
The coastal city of Gladstone is approximately 530kms north of Brisbane. The gardens, which are on Glenlyon Road, are about 5.4kms west of the city’s CBD.
Facilities
There are picnic and barbecue areas, children’s playgrounds, toilets, and a café at the gardens.
Opening hours
The gardens are open on weekdays from 7am to 5.30pm, and from 9am to 5.30pm on weekends.
Charges
There is no charge for entry to the gardens.
Contact
For additional information, log onto www.gladstone.qld.gov.au/tondoon-botanic, send an email to tondoon@gladstonerc.qld.gov.au, or phone 07 4971 4443.