Day 2. Sydney - it's all getting a bit botanical

The Wollemi Pine is the weirdest plant. It was re-discovered relatively recently and is a living fossil. The Sydney Botanic garden has at least 2 of them. The trees only relatives are found in the fossil record of both South Africa and Australia. They are trying to make sure as many of these plants make it outside of Australia and in the Sydney area. The sent plants to many botanic gardens in the world. There are only 16 ish trees in the wild so they are trying to make sure that if there was a natural disaster then the trees will be protected.

Wollemi pine

This is a bottle brush plant (Banksia spinulosa) and it has a unique and interesting way to survive forest fires. The seeds are a dark black colour, they are really hard and difficult to crack. So difficult in fact it takes the heat of a forest fire to open the nuts. The seed shell stays dormant for many years sometimes, it takes the heat of a forest fire to open it up. The seed will then grow and regenerate.

 

The next few plants are weird but less exciting in their ways of surviving a forest fire most will burn and their roots survive or their cores are protected and they spring back up in a forest fire.

 



This plant has a gum in it that can be used for glue

This is a Queensland bottle tree. (Brachychiton rupestris)

 

Devil seeds, see the devil head.

Castanospermum australe this is the seed pod of this plant and the seed. I've taken a photo of the seeds as this is a very toxic plant. It's seeds killed lots of European settlers, when they saw the aborigines eating the seeds they assumed they were safe. What they didn't know was the aboriginal people soaked the seeds in running water to leech the toxic substance then roasted them.

The library of New South Wales. This is the old part of the library. 

 

This is a sculpture called Yininmadyemi it represents Aboriginal  and Torres Strait islanders that have fought for Australia. The fallen shells represent the soldiers that died and the upright shells represent the soldiers that survived. The soldiers that survived thought they would return as equals put were not. This was exemplified when I went to the parliament house and found out they were celebrating 50 years of a referendum in which aboriginal people were given the same rights under law as white Europeans. It's great that this happened but I'm surprised it took so long, considering the Waitangi treaty was signed in the 1800's.

 

Sydney's Vivid festival