Meanwhile back at the Special Projects Section, Department of
Wildlife and Tourism:
WAYNE: Right, I can report quite a bit of progress on
the Canberra Wildlife Stamp as it’s going to be called, or CWS to
insiders. Take a look at this –
TREVOR: What are those pointy things up the back
Wayne?
WAYNE: Those, Trevor, are what is known as the
Brindabellas. They look a bit different because they’ve been
compressed sideways to fit the 3 by 2 format. That’s quite a normal
procedure, apparently. You’ll notice, Fiona, that we’ve
fitted in a bit of water for you. That will be a farm dam, if
anyone asks. The lake and the river are completely lined with willows, so
we can’t use either of them. You’ll also notice, Trevor, that
we’ve got those yellow buttons you wanted.
FIONA: And what’s that blue flower, Wayne?
WAYNE: I’m told that’s a bluebell,
Fi. Strong Canberra associations there. Not sure what kind, but it’ll
be so small nobody will worry about that. Now notice the butterfly.
That’s something Barry’s wife snapped in the botanic gardens.
She’s very proud of it and Barry’s promised her it will be in the
stamp, so that’s that. Now a job for you, Trevor. Traps for
inexperienced stamp designers. Duck down to the National Herbarium and
make sure that flower is something that grows in Canberra.
TREVOR: Gee, Wayne, what if they can’t tell?
WAYNE: If they can’t tell, Trevor, neither will
anyone else, so Barry’s wife will be happy, Barry will be happy, and we’ll
be happy. Now mammals, I thought a kangaroo or a wallaby -
pretty much the same thing so just one of those will do. Other thoughts?
FIONA: I was really hoping we could have a platypus in
the water section, Wayne, if that would be suitable of course.
WAYNE: Good thinking, Fi. We’ll certainly
look into that. Anything else?
FIONA: I’d love to see a wombat.
WAYNE: Might be a problem there in that they do seem
to be largely nocturnal. I think we’re committed to a day time
scene here.
TREVOR: You see plenty of dead ones by the coast road
in the day time. Maybe a dead one would look fairly natural.
FIONA: Oh don’t be disgusting Trevor.
TREVOR: Well I’m not the one who’s running
over them Fiona.
WAYNE: Come on, come on you two. We’ve got
far too much to get through to spend time arguing. Now an important item
on today’s agenda is birds. You will notice that an eagle has been
inserted. That was Barry’s idea, so once again that’s a
given. I have also included another bird I found while I was in the photo
library. Not sure what it is at this stage, and there seems to be
something wrong with its wings, but we’ll look into that. Now if we
put in a duck or some kind of water bird that will be three, leaving a maximum
of three more. I’ve got a feeling we’ll have to include a
pair of those Gang-gangs, so that will leave 2 if we keep the one with the
funny wings. Oh, by the way Trevor, about that myna of yours, Barry spoke
to someone in the Canberra Ornithologists and he reckons they’ll go up
the wall if we put your myna on a wildlife stamp, so that’s out, I’m
afraid.
FIONA: Wayne, I feel quite strongly that there should
be a female bird.
WAYNE: Understood, Fiona. You will have noticed
that I said a PAIR of Gang-gangs. That implies, I think, that one will be
a female. Anything else?
TREVOR: What about an emu?
WAYNE: Hmm. We can certainly think about
that. I must say that I haven’t seen many of them around myself,
but maybe you don’t get them in Tuggeranong. I think we’d better
wrap this up. Oh and Fi, I think you owe us a report on that scribbly moth,
remember? And one more thing, I’ve been told we should consider an
orchid of some kind. Fiona, would you look into that? You might
want to try that Ian Fraser who’s on the radio all the time. He might
even have a nice picture.
{to be continued]
