Top 5 posts for 2018 on Listening to the Past
The top five posts for 2018 are revealed. Read More …
Category: Landscape and ecology
A changeable landscape: recollections of Woomera
Woomera is a dry place – most of the time. Sometimes however it is inundated with rain, and then the landscape changes dramatically. Plants that have laid dormant come to life, and seeds from ephemeral plants germinate and grow. I Read More …
Changing places: from the garden of England to the Australian desert
What is it like to grow up in the rolling green hills of the Kent countryside in England, only to spend several years as an adult working in the Australian desert? It is hard to imagine two settings more different Read More …
Mournful crows, burning legs on metal slides, and other memories of summer
As those of us in Australia head into the hottest part of the year, it seems an ideal time to hear stories about the extreme heat in places such as Woomera, located in desert country in the north of South Read More …
Black greens and the unique golf facilities of Woomera
Woomera in its heyday in the 1960s had a population of more than 6000 people, and an enviable range of sports facilities to cater for every possible sporting preference. These facilities included a golf course, but one that was markedly Read More …
Music played by nature: telegraph poles as wind instruments
Aeolian instruments are instruments that are ‘played’ by the wind. They have fascinated humans for centuries. In modern times, many beautiful sculptures around the world have been designed to produce music. True Aeolian instruments produce notes that vary according to Read More …
The silence of the desert: silence like velvet
Quiet places are becoming rare; places where we can listen quietly to the natural environment. Woomera is one of those rare places. Those who have lived in the remote town in the desert 446 km north of Adelaide, love the Read More …
‘Living fossils’ in the desert
Imagine living in Australia’s dry desert interior, and witnessing the landscape come alive after rain. I recently interviewed people who had lived in Woomera, 446 km north of Adelaide in an arid region surrounded by salt lakes that are usually Read More …
Creating a new garden
There’s something special about having the opportunity to design and plant a new garden. But how does one choose what to plant? What style of garden? And how does the garden evolve with time? Lyn Bartlett and her husband moved Read More …