The race to rescue Australiaâs 50 most vulnerable plant species
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The top of Mt Bogong in Victoriaâs high country isnât where youâd usually whip out a dustbuster, but senior botanist Neville Walsh has a pragmatic approach to plant conservation tools.
The very rare snow daphne, or
Kelleria bogongensis, is a tiny, carpeting plant found only in a half-kilometre-square area on Mt Bogong. And it produces little seeds, the size of sesame seeds, that fall onto the ground between its fine leaves.
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In early 2019, Neville Walsh, a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, was sifting through clippings, seed pods and blurry botanical photos sent by mail from a plant enthusiast at Cobungra, in the Victorian high country, when he spotted a few âgenuinely rare speciesâ.
He decided to visit the property, owned by octogenarians Anne and Jim UâRen, and found himself scrambling down a steep gully to the banks of a silvered creek where he noticed a curious wattle. âI thought, âBloody hell, whatâs this?ââ he recalls.
Tim Entwisle and Neville Walsh at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.Â
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At 10.15 on the night of June 9, 1979, flames engulfed the ghost train at Luna Park. Six children and one adult were killed.
Nearly 30 years later in 2007, award-winning
Herald investigative journalist Kate McClymont revealed claims that Australia’s most notorious crime figure Abe Saffron was behind the deadly fire at the popular fun park on the shores of Sydney Harbour.
Luna Park ghost train fire, 1979.
Credit:Dallas Smith / Fairfax Media
She also obtained files gathered by a Sydney artist Martin Sharp, who had collected an extensive collection of documents.
Front page of the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007 revealing claims of links between the ghost train fire and underworld figure Abe Saffron.