December 1958 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls~ Gramma:;; School Magazine

December, HISS

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

December, 1958

WALKING TO SCHOOL IN OCTOBER It is twenty past eight in the morning. Carrying my suit- case, I am trudging up Jacob's ladder, knowing by now that there are exactly eighty-six steps in it. On reaching the top and looking down Edward Street, I can see right to the Gar- dens . Above the draughtsboard a jacaranda is coming into tiny bud and through its delicate tracery of twigs I notice the Town Hall clock. I quicken my steps, then stop. Why rush? I will still be in plenty of time. So at a moderate pace I walk on. Wickham Terrace is beautiful in Spring. On the foo tpath shadows are moving and as I walk in them I delight in that peculiar crisp coolness such as one feels when on mountain walks . Another jacaranda, more progressive than the other, is showing bunches of fresh lavender bells against the sky, and trees which have recently shed all leaves now le t a soft shower of light cream leaf cases flutter down while each twig is tipped with a spearhead of pale green. A Queensland nut tree is hanging out trails of flowers and a camphor laurel dropping the last red and brown leaves from among the tender spring growth. Behind a dingy wall, I know there are two azalea bushes, one magenta and the other white, which are a blaze of bloom. The trunks of the fir trees have beautiful dappled bark and where a branch has been torn from a silky oak and time has rotted out the cavity, bees continually come and go, storing the abundance of spring in the honeycomb inside. Behind a high hedge and wall is a hospita l. Through the windows I can g limpse flowers, and white-robed nuns mov- ing. If a patient looked out above the dirty, noisy railway yards, he would see a broad, placid piece of river, bending out of sight upstream and hidden downstream by the trees. As I go on I look up at a palm tree and see strings of red nuts swinging down on white stems. If I carve a nut it will look like a stone crossed by fine brown lines . Walking up by Albert Park, I see the river again. The trees here are all in flower and the footpath is covered with tiny cream blossoms. On two gnarled old trees, each green and g listening leaf is dancing and spinning as though it would gladly fly right off the restraining stalk and away. Beside these there is a stiff prickly tree, its leaves too ,sedate to dance . Speckling the thorny black boughs, they share their positions with small, round green berries. I cross the road and a busful of girls whizzes past, some- one recogmzmg me . As I walk the rest of the way noticing the purple p lumlike frui ts clinging to a tree's branches and the crinkly jacaranda pods cracking under my shoes, I am glad 39

LOVELY LINDEMAN

Lindeman Island is a small island north-east of Mackay, which may be reached by twenty minutes' air travel from Mackay. The only settlement is at "Home Beach", a wide sheltered beach fringed by coconut palms, facing Royal Seaforth Island, where Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II landed during her Australian tour in 1954. On the opposite side of the island from Home Beach, is picturesque Boat Port, whose sheltered, placid waters form a perfect haven for boats. The view from- the hill behind Boat Port is very pretty, for the very' deep blue sea is dotted by small tree covered islands, including Pentecost or Lion Island on the horizon and Little Lindeman in the foreground. Mount Oldfield dominates the island, and from it there is a magnificent panorama. When the tide is out a small coral reef is exposed near Home Beach, where interesting corals and sea creatures may be seen. The island's main launch is the fifty-six foot I. S.M.V. " Shangri-la", which was taken over by General Macarthur during World War II, but which has since been remodelled. Lindemann is truly a lovely island and possesses attrac- tions to delight any person with a sense of beauty.

-H.G., !VB.

- H.G., !VB.

BOAT PORT, LINDEMAN ISLAND

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