When I was growing up in suburban Brisbane in the 1980’s my family’s favourite place to picnic on a sunny weekend was Bellbird Grove in the D'Aguilar National Park. As I child I found it to be a magical place with a bushwalk that led to an abandoned goldmine, and remnants of its aboriginal heritage in the form of bark huts known as gunyahs. The wildlife was present and curious with birds in abundance and wallabies and smaller marsupials clinging shyly to the edge of the bush. This piece was written to capture some of the magic of that special place.
