Where Australia Collides with Asiacones and gumnuts. The birds of paradise are distinctly Australasian and the males
have evolved dazzling plumage and vocal displays designed to impress females,
indicating that the owner is the possessor of favoured genes. There are thirty-nine
species of this family, most of which live in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea;
however, there are three species living in the rainforests of Northern Australia. These
include the Victoria’s riflebird, which has velvet black plumage with iridescent green
markings and in the breeding season perches on a clearly visible vantage point with
its wings raised while it pivots and sways in an attempt to entice a passing female.
Display is central to another group of Australian birds, the bower birds. The male
guards and tends to his bower for much of the year, repairing, refurbishing and adding
to its decoration. In the breeding season, when a female comes into sight he will
perform his courtship song and dance in an effort to entice a female into his bower.
The other uniquely Australasian birds are the mound-builders or megapodes such
as the brush turkey. Their big feet help the males build large mounds of soil and
decaying vegetation on the forest floor, and once the temperature in these mounds
reaches a certain level his mate then lays her eggs in especially prepared holes inside
the mound and leaves the eggs to incubate. The superb lyrebird traces its ancestors
to the rainforest and is descended from the same group. The males build mounds, but
for a different purpose. These are used as stages for its mating dance when the male
spreads his lyre-shaped tail feathers and bursts forth in song to attract a suitable mate.
The characteristic smell of burning eucalyptus leaves is 35 million years old, and
smoking ceremonies believed to have cleansing properties and the ability to ward off
bad spirits are still carried out by indigenous Australians at significant cultural events
such as births, deaths and ‘Welcome to Country’. Australians gladden to the smell of
eucalyptus leaves and they are such an integral part of this continent that they cannot
resist occasionally crushing and smelling a eucalyptus leaf to remind them of their
roots in this unique landscape.
The first trained naturalists to reach Australia and describe the unique flora and
fauna that had evolved on the continent during its 30 million years of isolation were
Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. They sailed with Lieutenant James Cook on His
Majesty’s Barque Endeavour when he discovered the east coast of Australia and
landed on the shores of the appropriately named Botany Bay in 1770.20
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