18. You will notice that Cubberla
Creek helps to demarcate the northern boundary of the suburb. It
crosses Jesmond Rd between Aminga and Ningana Streets. Cubberla
Creek derives its name from the Yugara word "kabarla",
meaning possum. The aborigines sewed the skins of the scrub
possums together in winter to make rugs and cloaks.
19. The tall radio towers belong to
4BC, which has operated its transmission facility here since the
early 1940's. The site has had only a few visible changes in that
time, the most recent of these being the construction of a new
transmitter building and replacement of the old "bore
casing" mast with two steel lattice masts in 1975. The land
is home for plovers and ducks during their nesting season. (Thank you
to Jim Ockenden from 4BC for this information.)
20. Lone Pine Sanctuary takes its
name from the Hoop Pine planted in about 1866 by Daniel Clarkson.
The pine still stands, though the top was "decapitated"
by lightning a few years ago. A slender limb now shoots straight
up from the thicker base.
The sanctuary was established in
1927, when memories of the Lone Pine Beachhead at Gallipoli were
still strong, so the name had a double significance. Mr. Claude
(Cam) Reid, the founder of the sanctuary, had taken part in the
Gallipoli campaign.
Prior to establishing lone Pine, Mr.
Reid had run a produce business and a tour bus business. He and
his wife had spent a great deal of their courting days on boat
trips on the Brisbane River, with picnics on the sandy beaches in
the vicinity of the Queensland Hoop pine planted by Daniel
Clarkson. When he became ill and was told to seek more outdoor
interests, he decided to buy land near his favourite picnic spots
and establish a picnic grounds.
It was a very small enterprise with
a few birds and possums on display. The koala sanctuary, as such,
began with the Reids caring for one injured koala and another
separated from its mother. These two were called Jack and Jill.
The Reids were pioneers in learning about the needs and habits of
koalas, as there was little known about koalas at that time. They
had to discover which leaves koalas could eat and where they could
be obtained. It was quite usual to drive to Beaudesert to collect
a particular variety. In time the sanctuary came to have a colony
of 100 koalas, as well as other native animals and birds.
Compassionate reasons forced the
sale of the Sanctuary in 1964, when it was taken over by the
Robertson family. At that time it was arguably Queensland's
primary tourist attraction. The number of tourists per annum has
continued to rise dramatically. Last year 250,000 people, of whom
one third were Japanese, visited Lone Pine.
In February this year Lone Pine was
sold to Mr. Kimihito Kamori, whose family has developed a brown
bear park (containing 300 bears) in Japan over last 32 years. Mr.
Kamori intends to invest $15 million on improvements to Lone Pine.
In a press interview he said:
"I will be allocating that
investment in three separate areas.
"First of all, I have plans
with regard to the koalas. In my view, living conditions can be
vastly improved for them. The area occupied by koalas at Lone
Pine is very small. We will start immediately on the planting of
more trees to provide food for them and begin work on developing
a more natural environment. The area they occupy will increase
substantially.
"Secondly, I will try to
improve things for the tourists. The facilities are run down. I
will improve both the restaurant and the toilet facilities.
"Thirdly, I intend to make
Lone Pine a place to which people will come not just to cuddle
koalas but also to learn. I intend to establish a museum
specialising in marsupials so that visitors can learn just how
important these remarkable animals are to the study of
evolution."
"The
Sunday-Mail"
February
21, 1998
(Thank you
to Mr. Reid's Grandson, Lachlan Reid, for the information on the
early days of Lone Pine.)
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