Author & Nature Writer, Inga Simpson Image – Red Berry Photography
The tradition of Australian nature writing is a fascinating one.
Australian writer and Eurobodalla local, Inga Simpson maps its history and evolution in an essay entitled ‘Encounters with amnesia – Confronting the ghosts of Australian landscape’
Unravelling what the nature writing genre can tell us – about non-indigenous relationships with First Nations Peoples and our relationships with nature – the essay examines a legacy of transplanted European sensibilities and ways of seeing. And fascinatingly, Simpson examines the popularity of the nature writing genre in a time of escalating climate emergency.
Worth a read!
The Eurobodalla Naturalist’s Diary
Any mention of the South Coast and nature writing in the same breath quickly conjures up the name Jill Whiter!
Small in stature with a giant mind and possessing an insatiable curiosity in the natural world, Jill Whiter was one of the South Coast’s most prodigious nature writers.
Possessing a vivid zest for life, Jill looked both life and ‘nature’ straight in the eye. Yet her accounts of local wildlife were often woven into playful, and at times whimsical vignettes, always underscored by a peerless knowledge and her observation of the seasons. Jill was generous with both her extensive knowledge of the natural world and in her work for community.
Helping to found Eurobodalla Natural History Society (ENHS) in 1986, Jill was a committee member for some 25 years. A gifted writer and a ‘fearsome’ editor, Jill lived out her later years at Guerilla Bay.
Jill’s monthly column, the Naturalist’s Diary ran for many years in the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner with these writings later distilled and edited into A Eurobodalla Naturalist’s Diary, published by ENHS in 2007.
Jill Whiter writes on Koels, summer’s infamous ‘whoop whoop bird ‘.
October : “As if the Channel-billed were not enough, our ears are now assaulted by the demented calls of Koels, the only other large, summer-breeding migrant cuckoo. In India, Koels are known as brain fever birds, for they call persistently in the hot season when fevers abound, the people drag their sleeping mats onto the flat roof and everyone is at the lowest ebb, tempers frayed by long days of unrelenting heat. Our Koel is much the same bird, its name changing so often from Indian to Pacific to Common and back again that I have given up trying to remember which descriptive is now in vogue.
By any name, this is an irritating, annoying, infuriating bird, the scourge of an urban population desirous of a good night’s sleep. Thank goodness it doesn’t seem to be awfully fond of the bush, where it is a brief visitor or passage bird; the longest period one has stayed round my house has been about four days. None the less, its arrival is bad news for the resident Red wattlebirds, for it is in their nests that the Koel likes to deposit its eggs and it is they who will rear the changelings. Like the Channel-billed it is a predator and ever ready to take any eggs and hatchlings that fall its way. ”
from A Eurobodalla Naturalist’s Diary, Jill Whiter , 2007
Earthwatch Australia says that Climate Change is now thought to be affecting the timing of breeding of Koels, and believe that their distribution in Eastern Australia might change. It invites citizen scientists and twitchers to monitor Koel sightings through the free ClimateWatch app or website. https://climatewatch.org.au/?fbclid=IwAR049mIPKU59aRq6J-JlpFXz_hbaeRZJe7rDr91QUXJWRofr1aGSvb5wKw0
Visit The Eurobodalla Natural History Society’s website or join its private facebook group.
www.facebook.com/groups/eurobodallanaturalhistory
‘The Eurobodalla Natural History page is for everyone who is interested in the natural history of the Eurobodalla region.
By joining the group you can discover what flora and fauna is to be found in the area and let others know what you have seen. If you wish to view the posts, or contribute to the site, please submit a join request. Those who wish to participate in group activities the Eurobodalla Natural History Society conduct regular field trips. ‘
Read more about Jill Whiter’s nature observing life overseas, and here on Yuin Country
WOOEE 2022
