Dave Gordon’s passion for bush gardening has evolved into Australia’s second oldest native garden, showcasing the abundant beauty of semi-arid flora.
Story & photos by Danielle Lancaster
Glimmering yellow, the sun’s first rays pierce the canopy offered by the towering gum trees and gnarly ironbarks. Drops of dew prepare, slowly growing larger, until they finally lose their grip and fall, splattering into the loamy soil below. Nearby, there is the flutter and scatter from a pair of blue bonnets, and a mob of laughing kookaburras serenade in the new day.
Dawn is breaking at Myall Park Botanic Garden, near Glenmorgan on Queensland’s Western Downs, an internationally recognised botanic garden boasting Queensland’s oldest collection of Australian semi-arid flora. There is always something bursting into flower, shedding its bark or presenting a bouquet of startling seed pods. It’s exactly how its creator wanted it: an ever-changing display of bush beauty. Many species surviving in this garden are now extremely rare, if not extinct, in their natural environment.
This story excerpt is from Issue #44
Outback Magazine: Dec/Jan 2006
