June Outing Report - Spring Creek Rd:Rabbit Fence and Queen Mary Falls, 20 June 2026

 Adapted from the newsletter report by H & K McCosh

Keeping to the fenceline
Photo: L. Beaton

A clear blue sky greeted us in June when we went for a ramble up on Main Range. There are some huge trees near the rabbit fence. The Brush Box are humungous – and they perhaps look like 
coppice growths – very, very, old coppice. The central trunk dies but the root ball sends up a few coppice shoots in a ring around the old trunk. So, the root ball may be 2,000 years old. Maybe germinated after a serious fire along the rocky ridge?

Then there were a few huge Teak trees (Crow’s Ash or Flindersia australis) over 2 metres in diameter. They were no doubt too big to log. Just a rare treasure now. 

We all listened to a couple of Albert’s Lyrebird singing out their repertoire of bird songs and symphonies. Winter is their breeding season so the males hold a territory and sing all day. 

A stately Crows Ash, 
a rainforest remnant
Photo: L. Beaton

Then off down the valley and up and over to Spring Creek area. Such spectacular scenery and sheer cliff walls of the Condamine Gorge. We eventually got to Queen Mary Falls for a walk and lunch. Some folk saw a Platypus in a pool below the falls. How cute is that?

We were surprised by the number of Yellow Box (E. melliodora) trees in the picnic area. Of course, further west is the Darling Downs and a different Bioregion (Brigalow Belt Bioregion) and a lot of different box trees. A bird of note was a Raven – very distinctive call. We don’t usually see them except when “out west” further.

After the bird tally we rambled back home. A very pleasant outing indeed.

Platypus at Queen Mary Falls
Photo: C. McAllen

Species Lists

introduced species = _*

Rabbit Fence Fauna

Arachnids: Ticks; Bush Tick Haemaphysalis longicornis.

Birds: Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Laughing Kookaburra, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Albert's Lyrebird, Satin Bowerbird, White-throated Treecreeper, Eastern Spinebill, Lewin's Honeyeater, Spotted Pardalote, Brown Gerygone, White-browed Scrubwren, Large-billed Scrubwren, Brown Thornbill, Golden Whistler, Eastern Whipbird, Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie, Grey Butcherbird, Australian Raven, Eastern Yellow Robin.

Butterflies: *Wanderer Danaus plexippus, Small Green-banded Blue Psychonotis caelius.

 Queen Mary Falls Fauna

Arachnids: Ticks; Bush Tick Haemaphysalis longicornis.

Birds: Laughing Kookaburra, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Galah, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Crimson Rosella, Little Lorikeet, Rainbow Lorikeet, Australian King-Parrot, Satin Bowerbird, Superb Fairy-wren, White-naped Honeyeater, Lewin's Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Bell Miner, Noisy Miner, White-browed Scrubwren, Golden Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie, Australian Raven.

Monotremes; Platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus.

Flora discussed or taken note of on the day (not a comprehensive list):

Fungi: lots, but most remain unidentified.

Orchids & Epiphytes: Pencil Orchid Dendrobium teretifolium, Greenhood sp., Orange Blossom Orchid Sarcochilus falcatus, australis, Staghorn Platycerium superbum, Elkhorn Platycerium bifurcatum.

Trees: Hoop Pine Araucaria cunninghamii, Giant Stinging Tree Dendrocnide excelsa, Yellow Box Eucalyptus melliodora, Sydney Blue Gums Eucalyptus saligna, Crows Ash Flindersia australis, Brush Box Lophostemon confertus.