Gondwana, 2024
Graphite on paper
Up a steep dirt road, over an undulating hill, and down into the valley we go. The twisting red box trees change to stringybarks and tree ferns with stretching fronds. The earth dampens as we go, and we arrive before a tall metal fence, wedged across the creekbed. Inside the enclosure, I crouch below a fallen log, amongst soft maidenhair ferns and carpets of Dichondria, and my eyes sparkle as I catch sight of Pterostylis falcata. It stands defiantly beneath the moist log, a delicate structure of green and white, soft brown tongue hanging from its mouth awaiting a pollinator. Many such pollinators swarm around the few flowering orchids we find - they make their homes inside the bracket fungi and pixie parasols that fringe the damp logs. Today we are the pollinators - I watch as the ranger painstakingly exchanges grains of pollen between flowers with a toothpick. This place feels so ancient and delicate, a remnant patch that clings desperately to the past as the future looms. The stringybarks are falling over in adolescence, and the red box trees are creeping into the valley. The shiny fence is the only thing standing between the orchids and relentless grazing of feral deer. We stand between extinction and survival. Will it be enough?




