History of ‘Yungaburra’

1946

Property virtually bare except for 2 figs and big tereticornis surrounded by olive grove and some vegetation along the river
The gully is used as a tip for dumping machinery and large items of rubbish (septic tank, engine motors).
1983
John Collins (Jacaranda Press) buys the 10 acre property. Collins family move into cottage which had been a manager’s house for the old dairy.
1984
Plant 4 trees (gums in line in front paddock) for each of their daughters. The whole front paddock flooded regularly during their residence of 10 years.
The tallest Eucalyptus tereticornis is only half the size of its 2007 size.
Plant figs and other trees – the Ficus virens is already there and is the reason they like the property so much.
1985
Build New Zealand Lockwood timber house. This receives a mention about its assembly in the local newspaper.
Build pool (the pool pump is visible in foreground of above photo).
Buy Kobota tractor and slasher and manage land as a large mown lawn and leave the river frontage (with weeds which gradually encroach on the property).
Plant trees on the southern boundary to provide privacy from the neighbours’ home.
1993
The Collins leave after living here from 1983 til 1993.
1994
Unknown owners til 1998
1998
The Matthews put in solar hot water service.
Mrs Wiseman puts screens on the house.
1999
Another fence built by Matthews.
After 1999
Sam and Gerry Doumaney own house. They have 3 big dogs.
Replace back porch and extend from kitchen to make large covered and paved area.
Using the paddocks for horses
2003
Sam shows us how high the flood came in 1974 and 1893.
Sam shows us the orchard which originated with an earlier owner.
Sam passes on the idea that the property had been named ‘Yungaburra’ by a previous owner because the name meant ‘place of many figs’. Yungaburra is the name of an Atherton Tablelands town in Queensland. We have since found from http://yungaburra.com that the word is from the Yidinyji language (now extinct) and that it means ‘enquiring’/’questioning’.
The cottage seems passable from outside but its interior has deteriorated badly.
The Sampsons buy the property midway through the year.
Arrange for Nick (a landscaper) to cut a path down to river and to set up 2 small plantations of gums
Plant on (cottage) bank and lay drip reticulation
Build fence around pool
Insulate the roof
Put awnings around veranda to cut down the heat
Clear blackberries and lantana along river frontage
Start of the drought
Ian meets with Bryan Hacker (Moggill Creek Catchment Group) and Margaret de Wit (Brisbane City Council representative) to discuss ideas for improving the property.
2004
Commencement of pontoon and walkway
Purchase boat
Buy chickens
2005
Nick re-lays pavers around the house
Nick cuts down some messy trees around pool, some ironbarks, trims the exotic fig
Removes circular gravel driveway from front of house and replaces with ‘Princess’ grass
Some inside renovation of cottage in March
Suitable corner found for cottage to be placed and permission granted for cottage to be relocated so that it nestles into newly-created bush and it overlooks the Brisbane River.
In May 2005 the cottage is moved into the corner
and steps and back porch are added
By September 2005 the cottage is habitable.
Electricity and water down to pontoon
Burn and clear up the gully with sons
Lay carpet in gully and spread tonnes of mulch then plant it all up
Build dam and install pump from river to dam
Connect dam to irrigation and reticulation around property
Gerry moves her horses away.
2006
Matt Gibson, builder, renovates the cottage – April, May, June

Rain water tank and septic system for cottage
Some garden vegetable beds near cottage
Renovation of Lockwood kitchen
Fence for dogs with northern neighbours
2007
Ian turns areas into gardens– long garden on fenceline of horse paddock- garden between southern neighbours and Yungaburra- garden under tall figs- plants flowers along driveway to cottage- garden near clothesline
Orders huge amount of mulch to be spread on gardens
Goodna bypass proposal halted by Labor winning the election
Put full air-conditioning into main house
2008
(We live at Teneriffe and visit the property on weekends but can only manage mowing and some weeding)
Get the driveway re-surfaced
2009
Andrew and Solana are resident and care for chooks and vegetable garden – Andrew re-constructs hen-house and vegetable beds
Holiday to Dalby begins the process of learning about the figs on our property
Andrew plants figs in three garden beds and 5 more in front paddock
Some rain occurs in December
2010
There are rainy periods again through the year but still on water restriction 6
Renovations to both bathrooms – termites also eradicated
Inside ceilings painted white and outside of house re-painted
Baby horse born to mother Sam
(2 horses – Sam and Hetty – are on agistment in both paddocks)
Solana leaves.
Ian plants garden under 2 figs on western side of house.
There is good rain fall in second half of year.
Buy new ride-on mower – Cub Cadet
Join ‘Land For Wildlife’
Janet begins to give substantial help with gardens and side paddock.
We both begin clearing and planting up the goat gully.
2011
13th January – FLOOD!
(See The 2011 Flood at Moggill on the drop-down Menu of the Home page)
Pontoon and walkway lost and one Eucalyptus tereticornis fallen as well as numerous plants and a huge amount of soil swept away, causing collapse of banks which form bays
Draw up contract for horse agistment
Decide to leave the side paddock for wildlife and regeneration of native plants
Can no longer use the John Deere mower for keeping the grass down in the side paddock
Benson dies from paralysis tick.
Front paddock gets new electrified fence.
Get guinea fowl to deal with ticks
2012
Join Moggill Creek Catchment Group (MCCG)
Janet works on website moggillhaven.com.
Driveway resurfaced
Cut down 6 large Cocos Palms (Ian, 2 sons and neighbour) and an arborist employed to cut down 16 Cadaghis, an Umbrella tree, 4 rubbishy trees and 2 Broad-leaf Pepper trees which he turns into mulch
Giving attention to the side paddock and turning it into native habitat – northern slope area, regenerated plants under the Granddaddy Tereticornis, many more reeds and lomandras around the dam.
Ian tackles the lower sections along the river especially the pontoon area – removing glycine and whipper-snippering grass (including molasses grass which has spread since the flood all along the river banks) and then planting figs and gums, marking them with extremely tall stakes so they don’t get lost as the grass re-grows. Also planting on lower parts of the cottage bank in places most vulnerable to erosion
Spring time is one long period of dry – using town water and dam water to keep newest plants alive.
At end of 2012 a process is begun to put a deep trench around the house to prevent fig roots penetrating into bathroom plumbing and to repave the verandah
removing pavers from around house and garage

new concrete garage floor

root barrier trench at front of house

larger roots

smaller roots

concrete slab for back patio

aftermath of trench-buildling on back lawn

2013
Smaller flood at end of January [about 8.5 metres compared to 17.5 m in 2011] followed by constant releases from Wivenhoe Dam. The lower parts of the riverbank remain submerged for about 3 weeks and this kills some of the natives which were planted in these lower parts after the 2011 flood
Land For Wildlife Open Day at Moggill in June ’13
2013 is the Year of the Staircases that join up the different parts of the property’s riverbank. We now have one from grass-lawn bank to goat gully, from track down to pontoon area, from track up to cottage bank, from track down to mouth of main gully, from dam wall to main gully, from gully up to eroded bowl and overhang of riverbank, from northern slope down to groves.
Andrew’s magnificent staircase into main gully
Ian’s aesthetically beautiful staircase going down into goat gully

alternative way to access lower end of main gully

Ian arranges labouring assistance in revegetating the pontoon area for the 3rd time (previously in 2009, 2011). It is a daunting task as deep mud has settled over the steps and walkway. Ian constructs 2 taps to keep the new plants alive in the harsh western sun. All of the plants are natives from the Land For Wildlife program as well as the Moggill Creek Catchment Nursery – our painted stakes give an idea of the tens and tens of new plants.
looking south over pontoon area in morning light

revegetation area nearest neighbour’s fence – goats in midst of billy-goat weed on other side

looking north over the same area

We are noticing more diversity of wildlife in 2013.
2014
A dry year which we designate the Year of the Grevillea. Accordingly we propagate our own grevilleas from cuttings and buy at least another dozen which we plant mostly in the front garden which is a difficult place for many other plants as it sits in the full sun a lot of the day. We add some new grevilleas to the jute mat area, the western side of the pool and the barbed wire grass area (side paddock).
See more on our Post Everybody loves a grevillea.
We concentrate on removing Rhodes Grass from house enclosure area and plant more native Barbed Wire Grass (from our own seedings) on the western side of the dam wall and in front of the cottage. The side paddock is gradually expanding into native habitat. Our chooks free range in this paddock along with the guinea fowl and all kinds of pairs of native birds – native Wood Ducks, Pacific Black Ducks, Azure Kingfishers, Willy Wagtails, Purple Swamphens, Friarbirds. Two young Magpies visit us on our back patio, carolling away without any fear of humans.
Ian forever planting! The goat gully yet again!
Ian works hard to encourage the new plants in the pontoon area as well as planting extensively yet again in the goat gully and on the pontoon bank. He plants 6 specimen trees in the front paddock – native Flame Trees, a Weeping Lilly Pilly, a Crows Ash and a Cheese Tree. These will compliment the young specimen fig trees already in the paddock.
one year’s growth of trees near the old pontoon
We plant up the vegetable garden differently so that we are not spraying the insects and grubs as much and we are concentrating on plants that we have previously grown successfully such as lettuce, spinach, leeks, potatoes, capsicums, chillis, eggplants, corn. By choosing plants with thicker skins we are harvesting more e.g. Grosse Lisse tomatoes, and we are picking some things earlier and smaller e.g. cucumbers. Ian is also using horse manure from the front paddock to build up the soil around the fruit trees – the ones that surround the vegetable enclosure- so that we will be able to eat more of our own lemons, figs, and oranges and maybe one day some bananas.
See more at our page Vegetable Garden
We come across a local fig tree that is holding the soil along a creek bank.
local glossy-leaved ficus

close-up of its roots helping to retain the creek bank
We are further inspired by the bulwark that figs provide to the bank further upriver from us, opposite Barellan Point, and so we plant yet more figs (White, Moreton Bay and Queensland Rubiginosa) in vulnerable places on our river bank to provide protection to the soil during floods.