BON STRANGE
(nee LORENSENE)
PHOTOGRAPHER AND NATURALIST
Bon Strange, who died on Easter Sunday (2002), aged 89, was one of Ballarat's trailblazing citizens. Most particularly, she is remembered as a leading photographer and naturalist.
Bon grew up as a member of the Lorensene family at Scotsburn, on the southern slope of Mt Buninyong. She attended the Scotsburn School and Ballarat High School, hoping to become a teacher.
An interest in the landscape led her to photography. She saved half of her lunch money and at last was able to purchase a box brownie camera. Her uncle Albert, a teacher, was also interested in photography and he had taught himself to develop and print films. During her school holidays her uncle gave her some lessons and she found a helpful chemist in Ballarat who allowed her to use his equipment on Friday afternoons when the family came into the market.
Her hopes of being a teacher were thwarted by the onset of the Depression, as the Government closed teachers colleges and put off teachers. Hence she returned to the family farm. Her interest in photography gave her a creative outlet and she was a foundation member of the Ballarat Camera Club, formed in 1938. It met at Taylor and Taylor's pharmacy in Bridge St and Bon was the only female member.
She began to enter photos in agricultural shows around the country, and then to sell photos to national magazines like the 'Woman's Weekly'. With the money she was paid she purchased more photographic equipment and from the 1950s took many color slides. Her pictures have appeared in illustrated books, calendars and in the Nature Notes section of the 'Courier'.
Her special study was of pygmy glider possums, and she worked closely with the Department of Conservation and its predecessors. Bon spend many nights camped out in her tent in the bush, using a bicycle lamp as a spotlight for her camera. Another interest was in native orchids, particularly those in the Enfield Forest Park, where she named several new species.
In 1939 she married Bert Strange, soldier, grocer, geologist and local historian. With her husband she published a number of historical works on Ballarat. Her special legacy is her wonderful collection of photographs, and her work in helping to identify and conserve Australian plants and animals.
Wednesday 8th June 1960 Page 35 - The Australian Women's Weekly
Neighbors, Mr. R. O'Brien and Mr. Henry Martin live in slab houses at Moliagul, Victoria, 135 miles from Melbourne. Moliagul was a noted gold-mining town, made famous in 1869 with the discovery of the Welcome Stranger gold nugget. The nugget was found by Cornish miners named John Deason and Richard Oates. It weighed approximately 2284oz., then worth £9534. Neighbors O'Brien and Martin live happily in their peaceful surroundings, and with pick, shovel, and pan still fossick for gold.
Pictures by
BON STRANGE
Ballarat, Victoria
Mr. HENRY MARTIN lives in this mud-and-brick dwelling, tries his luck
with a bit of gold prospecting, and grows his own vegetables.
He came to Moliagul four years ago.
NINETY-YEAR-OLD Mr. R. O'Brien stands outside his slab hut at Moliagul, Victoria.
A pensioner, he has lived in the hut for 16 years.
His hut is near that of Mr. Martin.
Wednesday 6th April 1963 Page 37 - The Australian Women's Weekly
CHARLIE, THE PYGMY GLIDER
Charlie was the darling of the Strange family, of Ballarat, Victoria. A pygmy glider, he used to hide from danger at the back of Mrs. Strange's neck, under her hair. As a child I lived on a farm and was always interested in nature.
Since my marriage our holidays have been camping ones, and my husband and I have spent most of our leisure time in the bush; so I was delighted when I became a member of a Fauna Survey Group working in conjunction with the Fisheries and Wildlife Department.
A section of the Fisheries and Wildlife Research Group in Victoria makes a special study of native animals with a view to saving them from extinction as civilization slowly encroaches on the bush.
It is an exhilarating experience to spend a still night in the bush, listening to the sounds of nocturnal animals and watching their antics with the aid of a spotlight. My main interest has been in phascogales (pouched mice) and pygmy gliders.
In normal circumstances these little creatures are seldom seen, unless somebody's cat brings one in; or a woodcutter fells a tree in which they have built a nest.
Woodcutters have told me that when their homes are inadvertently destroyed, they usually fall prey to kookaburras. Pygmy gliders are adorable little creatures, the tiniest of the Australian possum family, belonging to the phalanger group. They are widely distributed, mostly in peppermint country, right through the eastern States and South Australia.
They are not as big as a mouse, and so dainty and active that no more apt name could have been bestowed than Acrobates pygmaeus, the pygmy acrobat.
Their sensory vibrissae, or whiskers, are numerous and very long, so that in their swift nocturnal movements they can gauge the size of openings and crannies in which to take refuge.
They have soft, silky fur, usually silver-brown or greyish-brown on the upper parts and white beneath. There is a gliding membrane, a narrow skin-fold, along the sides of the body between the front and back legs, from wrist to ankle as it were. This is spread to allow them to become airborne when volplaning from branch to branch.
Their most noticeable feature is the flattened tail with its fringe of stiff hairs, and so, to the bushmen, they became known as feather-tailed mice.
Like the koala, they have two thumbs on each of the forefeet and nailless big toes help them to grip when they are racing along fine twigs. Food consists of moths, beetles, and nectar from gum blossoms, etc. Nesting hollows have a characteristic odor, not really unpleasant, rather like a honey-jar in the wash-up water. Their beautifully constructed ball-like nests of leaves are scrupulously clean.
The young are carried in a pouch and are only a few millimeters long at birth. They live in colonies. Sixteen was the largest colony I saw.
Keeping them as pets is an offence, but one little chap that I held for several weeks before I could hand him over to the Fisheries and Wildlife Department became quite tame.
He enjoyed a game every night, with the room light dimmed to protect his large, sensitive eyes. He built himself a nest in a small box, and if I lifted the lid and peeped in during the day he would pull leaves over and conceal himself, sometimes making a noise like a hoarse scolding whisper, but never attempting to bite.
He could race up a vertical surface with only a slight roughness, such as a board, and enjoyed leaping from one hand to the other, or from my hand down on to a branch of gum blossom,and he never misjudged a leap. He washed himself like a cat each night when he emerged from his nest, and always washed after meals.
Catching moths for him was quite a chore. The front light was switched on each night to attract them, and my family used to say, "The neighbors will think you are mad, Mum".
Charlie, as we called him, would race round his cage and catch quite large moths, then sit on his haunches holding one in his front paws, nibbling noisily with obvious enjoyment.
At sudden noises or movement he would dart for a hiding place, a favorite spot was under the hair at the back of my neck. His tail was a marvelous appendage. When leaping it acted as a rudder; he could curl it round a twig as an extra support, and sometimes when resting he curled it up like a clock spring.
BALL OF FUR
He slept rolled into a ball, with his tail brought under his body and curled up over his little pink nose.
When he slept his temperature dropped and he was quite cold to the touch. In the bush the pygmy gliders ability to lower their temperature helps to conserve energy, and in winter when moths are scarce they stay in their nests for several nights.
Charlie became a firm favorite in the household, and when the time came we were all loath to part with him.
The Australian Government will conserve suitable sections of Crown lands as reserves for native animals, but by leaving patches of bush on their properties and old hollow trees along river banks and water courses landholders could help to ensure that fascinating though little-seen fauna will not be lost to posterity.
Story and pictures by
BON STRANGE
Ballarat, Victoria.
FAY LORENSENE, of Corryong, Victoria, with three of the little creatures on her head and shoulders.
A glider washes after a meal of gum blossom nectar.
THE PYGMY GLIDER is the tiniest of the possum family, smaller than a mouse.
This enlarged picture shows the gliding membrane between the paws, the soft pink nose.
Wednesday 9th July 1980 Page 50 - The Australian Women's Weekly
APOLLO BAY
MOUNTAIN MAJESTY IN A COASTAL SETTING
Forest, rugged cliffs and golden sands form one of Victoria's most beautiful and scenic areas.
There are many places in Australia I would like to return to again and again, but if I had to choose a place to live for the rest of my life I'd settle for Apollo Bay, 184kms south-west of Melbourne, where the foothills of the Otway Ranges reach down to the golden sands and rocky cliffs of Bass Strait.
The coastal heathland is rich in plant and bird life, and a short distance inland there's a magnificent forest where mountain ash, blue gum, myrtle beech and blackwoods tower. Tree ferns line the roads. In 1849 timber getters began work on the slopes around Apollo Bay, named after the schooner Apollo, which sheltered there from a storm in 1846. Timber was dragged down and floated out to coastal traders anchored off-shore. By 1852 a steam powered saw-mill was operating, others soon followed, and a jetty was built.
The settlement was named Krambruk, and between 1860 and 1861 provided sleepers for the construction of the Melbourne-Bendigo railway. In some gullies old timber tram lines can still be found. In 1892, the isolated settlement was linked to the outside world by telephone and the name was changed to Apollo Bay. As late as 1922 roads were so bad that it took six hours to travel about 30kms inland with a horse and cart.
It was the construction of the Great Ocean Road that gave easy access to such isolated places and brought a wilderness area, with a majestic and dramatic coastline and unsurpassed mountain scenery, within easy reach of everyone. The road was proposed as a memorial to those who died in World War I, and as a means of employing returned soldiers and sailors. The Great Ocean Road Trust was formed and subscriptions poured in, and, with the help of the Country Roads Board, the task began in 1919.
The road was completed in 1932, the last and most difficult section being around Mt Defiance. It traverses a distance of 207kms beginning at Torquay and finishing at Peterborough.
For the holiday maker, Apollo Bay, with an abundance of accommodation including a youth hostel, camping facilities and caravan parks, makes an ideal base whether one wishes to be active, or to passively enjoy the sheer beauty of the district. This ranges from waterfalls and peaceful fern gullies to the forbidding coast near Port Campbell.
BON STRANGE
The Apollo Bay area around Peterborough, where the Great Ocean Road ends its long journey.
Looking towards Apollo Bay with its rugged cliffs that tower above beautiful golden beaches.
Wednesday 19th November 1980 Page 58 - The Australian Women's Weekly
NATURAL ABSTRACTS...
THE ART OF BARK
When smooth-barked gum trees have shed last year's bark, the colors and patterns revealed can be very lovely. Some have subtle and interesting patches in tones of white, grey and cream. Others are mottled in a variety of colors, including brown, orange, green, copper, pink, yellow and even reds and purples. Photographs of small sections of patterned bark look like abstract paintings. The effects can be quite striking and friends have said, "I'd like that in a fabric." A tree near Blayney in NSW inspired me to take my first photo of bark. I was fascinated by the colors, twists and curls in the bark. Imagine my horror when I returned some years later and found that a large shield-shaped area had been gouged in the tree to act as a marker of some kind. Many gum trees, such as box, stringybark and ironbark, have rough or fibrous persistent bark which covers the trunk and limbs. The bark is never shed, but splits as the tree grows, becoming furrowed or deeply fissured. Others have hard, rough and scaly bark at the base only, and smooth bark on the upper trunk and limbs. Sometimes, when there is persistent bark for several metres and beautifully patterned bark beyond, the whole tree, or the greater part of it, makes an inviting and worthwhile subject for the camera.
BON STRANGE
Wednesday 15th April 1981 Page 62 - The Australian Women's Weekly
THE HOMES OF OUR PIONEERS
Structures built by our pioneers from the materials at hand are a never-ending source of interest. Acacia trees provided thin, straight sticks and made it possible to construct wattle and daub huts similar to the ones they'd known in the old country. Hence the common name of wattle for our acacia trees.
Did those who built bark huts accidentally find that long slabs of bark could be peeled from gum trees? Or did they get the idea from the natives who used slabs of bark and whose shelters were not as haphazard as many of us think?
Near Milparinka, in north-west NSW, the frames of a group of wurlies known to have been there for 100 years can still be seen. When in use they were covered in bushes. In Arnhem Land similar ones were covered in paper bark.
Bark huts, when well constructed, were comfortable and durable. In the one recently restored at Aireys Inlet, Vic. a bark dividing wall, protected from the weather, was still in perfect condition after more than 100 years, as was the framework.
Lack of nails didn't stop anyone. Bullock hides were cut into long strips and used to secure frame-work and bark. When straight-grained timber was available, split slabs were used in large structures. Some had large corner posts with two parallel slabs attached top and bottom. The vertical slabs of the walls were held between them. In lieu of nails, holes had been bored and wooden pegs hammered in to hold things together.
Many pioneers made mud bricks for their humble dwellings, but used slate or sandstone if they were available. Some used clay to bond stones together. Others, such as the Swiss and northern Italian settlers at Yandoit, Victoria, had no binding material. Some are two-storeyed and many are still occupied. Buildings that really amaze are the ones near Ouyen, Victoria. No jigsaw puzzle could be more difficult than fitting together the roots of the mallee tree to form walls but the old-timers did it. Walls were more than a metre thick.
BON STRANGE
A tree-slab hut built in the gold-mining era, near Dunolly, Victoria.
An historic bark hut at Aireys Inlet restored with timber.
An early settler's home built with materials at hand - hundreds of strong mallee roots - near Ouyen, Victoria.
Now abandoned, this mud-brick home, built by early pioneers, was recently preserved with a tin roof.