Some local lore, of particular interest to me as I live only a few hundred
metres from the site.
>From Beth McRobert's book, "Challinor Centre: The End of the Line. A
History of the Institution also known as Sandy Gallop" [Dept of Families,
Youth and Community Care, 1997].
"As a youth in the late 1920s Mr Keith Williams (well known naturalist and a
former Charge Nurse at Challinor Centre) and a friend were catching shrimps
in the Asylum dam near Salisbury Road. They noticed a pair of small parrots
drinking from water left in the cattle hoofprints at the far end of the dam.
Along the western side of the dam was a ditch built to control heavy flows
of water into the storage area. The boys crept along behind this ditch and
got quite close to the birds which were later identified as Paradise parrots
(now presumed extinct) after the boys referred to their uncle's bird book.
An old school paper from the Burnett area carried a photograph and a story
of the birds and this confirmed the identification. The parrots flew across
Deebing Creek so the boys could not follow them, but their subsequent
searching of the termite mounds in the area did not reveal any nesting
sites." [p.63]
Challinor Centre closed in 1998, and the site is now the University of
Queensland Ipswich campus.
An interesting side note -- in July 1992, during a period of prolonged
drought in the Darling Downs region, I observed plum-headed finches along
the the section of Deebing Creek adjacent to the former dam referred to
above. The site is approx. 2km from the centre of the Ipswich CBD, and is
contiguous with the Denmark Hill Environmental Park. The wildlife corridor
of whcih these areas form part is gradually being broken up and urbanised.
Nevertheless, a grey goshawk was seen in my sister's yard at Woodend as
recently as three months ago (munching on one of her peach-faces!)
Vicki PS
-----Original Message-----
From: lorne <>
To: <>
Date: Wednesday, 9 August 2000 9:34
Subject: PARADISE PARROT INFORMATION
>Hi all... Great news re. that Northern Pintail. I wish I could just leap
>in the car and go get it, but full-time work has a certain curse!
>
>I'm interested in any info. people have on the Paradise Parrot... last
>known sightings... the Darling Downs... myths/legends... people who've
>claimed they've seen one. Anything at all. Can any of you help me
>please?
>
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