June 1959 School Magazine

July, 1959

1lrisbane Girls' Grammar School M0qazine .

Brisbane Git,!s' Grammar School Magazine

July, 195!!'

BETTY WOOLCOCK CHALLENGE CUP, 1958 "Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe."

Kendall Broadbent Natural History Essay, 1958 IN A QUEENSLAND JUNGLE

Seventy miles south of Brisba ne , overlooking New South Wales, there is a high p la teau region covered w ith sub-tropica l rain forest. Most of this beau tiful coun try is included in a huge National Park, which means tha t its wild life , b oth flora a nd fauna , is strictly protected by the Governmen t. Thus , so close io our busy capitaL these mountains teem with wild creatures l iving amid natural surroundin(,Js untouched by man; in fa ct , so rugged is the country a nd so d ense the vegeta tion, tha t there -are still some parts where man ha s never set ·foot. I have spent a number of holidays on this plateau. Ea ch iime I have learned a little more about its wild life, a nd about that ingenious planner , Nature. · A wa lk of one hundred yards through the cool forest with a Forestry Rcmger a s sole compan- ion , has yielded me fa r more informa tion than hours of study Jrom a text-book could have done. The early morning is the ideal time for this, when the air is crisp , and the birds are twittering noisily around a nd above. Frequent ha lts must be called , when a tiny log-runner , obliv ious of his watchers, .scuffles through the undergrowth searching for insects ; or a whip-bird calls, so close that y ou are sta rtled a nd yet y ou sca n the trees in vain for the elusive b ird. But watch the track a head as well, for there may be a scrub-turkey or a rock walla by feeding just a round a b end , a nd there will sure ly be a sticky sp ider 's web well stocked with insects , and the glis teni-ng threads will defy a ll your efforts to pe~l them from face and hair. I a m particularly fascinated by the p la nt life of the jungle for , while most of the birds and a nima ls may be found through- ou t coasta l Australia, many of the former grow only in the few moun ta inous rain forest regions of Queensla nd a nd northern N ew South Wales . With a n average a nnua l rainfall of over thirty inches, con- sta n tly moist a tmosphere and rich volca nic soil, trees reach g igantic proporiions. Cedars , p ines, sassafras., mahogany, rose- wood, eucaly ptus a n d tristanias,..the- ta llest of a ll, of inca lculable value for their timbe r, stand proud ly, safe: from the greedy tim- ber-getter's axe. Only the great cyclones which strike the moun- tains can b ring them crashing to the gr-ound, to rot away b efore the next a ttack. Few jungle trees .hc::ive tap-roots , a nd instea d , ma ny are p rovided by Nature with huge buttresses·,which s ta nd ·OUt Up to twelve feet from the trunk an d extend up just a s fru . 13

I. .. THEY WEPT ..•

A child there sat all in a twilight glow Of armistice called thirteen years ago; Up a t the house, the very a ir felt gay- A half duy's school, mysterious holiday- Carillons clattered crazily for hours In ecstasy, from the'r triumphant towers. What thoughts could then have stirred her infant brain? Un til she ·saw, how could she know the pain? In th is confusion, legs-a-dangling so, She sat astride a bwnch- and longed to know.

II ••• OVER THAT RIVEN TOMB • ..

And still it stood, a ruined cemetery Of brick and tile-a shattered effigy In cl cathedral, empty, vast, and bare Of the vibrant chmity of prayer; But from the crypt, asylum of a ll men,

Not from the skyward vault as it did then, Resounds the exultant echo; for no more Will dread foes ravage England's sharp-edged shore! What would the mighty Milton then hove said, Frobisher or Cromwell, Foxe or Speed, As aeroplanes a nd bombs roared overhead? (For Cripp]egate lies with the l::uried dead.) Vvould they have wept cis this isle's heart was turned To ash-vain rubble, as the City burned? Could they have bared their heads to sky-sent fire, As London, to that deadly, war-wrought pyre? As the New Life that once d id blossom red, On the white corse of a martyr~City's dead, The blood-bright furrow blazoned on its brow Is changed to scarlet hope; for there are now New b uildings where the old had ceased to be, Destroyed amid d s truggle's agony. When yearning youth leek on itself to dare,

III ••• BUT NEW LIFE .HAD RISEN!

Excitement waiving worldly, selfish care, It proved this land might suffer, yet survive; Though dying, paid the only price to live.

Then ring ye, Bow Bells, once more to distant lands, And raise ye, City spires, yeur heav' nwctrd hands! Li fe's lesson learnt, no bitter pangs remain; Who strove, a'nd lea rned, know God . conceived the strain; Who dared, and lived, know God was wor th the pain .

--CLACE BIRKBEC!C

12