June Outing Details - Rabbit Fence & Queen Mary Falls, 20 June 2026

Admiring the magnificent trees
along the Rabbit Fence

Time: 8:30 am

Where: Rabbit Fence on Spring Creek (The Head) Rd.

Directions: About 40 minutes from Boonah. 

From Boonah head south and get onto Carney’s Creek Road and then get onto The Head Road, signposted as the 'The Falls Drive' and 'Queen Mary Falls' (about 29kms from Boonah). Go right to the top, past Teviot Falls, and over the gap and down into the Condamine River valley. Wilson’s Peak will be on your left. The Rabbit Fence meets the road about 5kms past the Falls. There are places to park here.

Activities: We will take a short stroll along the rabbit fence to check out the giant Brush Box trees, and maybe hear Lyrebirds calling. This is an area of big trees, so wherever you look will be fascinating. There is lots to see just walking along the road. Then we check out some groves of eucalypt trees further down the valley – Manna Gums and New England Blackbutt. Stop off at Carr’s Lookout for a lookout. And then down to Queen Mary Falls for a short walk to see the falls and then lunch. It is winter but there will still be lots of birds.

Level of Fitness: Easy if you stay on the tracks. To cross into NSW you have to climb a gate but there's plenty to see on the Queensland side of the fence.

Facilities: Toilets at Boonah and Queen Mary Falls (and Killarney). Picnic tables at Queen Mary Falls.

What to Bring: Morning tea and lunch. Chairs, water and other stuff. It could be cold. 

Upon Arrival: Please register in the Attendance Book and pay your $2 per person participant fee. 

April Outing Report - Shed Day, 18 April 2026

 Adapted from the FFNC newsletter article of P & T Shields.

Dr Christina Zdenek addressing the members

The afternoon commenced with quiz on bird identification but with a twist – only parts of each bird were visible for people to use for identification. A great deal of amusement and comments were made.

Dr Christina Zdenek followed with an extremely interesting talk on how certain kinds of rat poisons are killing our owls (and eagles, quolls, and pets) and what Birdlife Australia is doing to try and stop that.

The second-generation rodenticides are

banned from public sale in many countries (e.g. USA, Canada, EU and Malaysia) but not in Australia. Birdlife Australia believes that widespread public use of long-lasting second- generation rodenticides is killing wildlife on a major scale and is focused on preparing submissions to the Federal regulator as well as campaigning secondary targets such as retailers.

Following a break for afternoon tea, one of our members, B Jahnke, presented a thought-provoking talk on “Educating the public”. He compared the syllabus for secondary education in biology in the 1980s with the current Queensland syllabus, highlighting the major differences and wondering aloud whether current students are obtaining the fundamental knowledge and principles to study biology (i.e. understand our living world).

His talk stimulated much discussion and gave us all some thoughts to consider into the future.

Nothing better than a convivial chat
around a fire.

As dusk came some of us convened to the “waterway” to enjoy an evening meal and bonfire.