Black Mountain and Me
Wally Bell is a Ngunawal Elder. He was born in 1956 at Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Sydney and grew up at Jeriwa near Yass. Wally’s parents, Don and Ruth Bell, were leaders in the Aboriginal community in Yass. They were actively involved in bringing Aboriginal cultural heritage to the attention of the wider community. As consultation with Aboriginal elders became a requirement for development, Don began to work on archaeological surveys of sites, initially without pay and Wally joined him. Wally was initially interested in a career in the Public Service but he found himself more at home doing cultural heritage work. When it became a requirement to have an official identity and insurances when working on site, the family created the Buru Ngunawal Corporation. Wally has worked on numerous archaeological surveys. In his current work on the Barton Highway he has been able to save several sites with particular meaning to his people. He is also an advisor to ACT catchment groups and advisor to government on issues...He started providing cultural walks on Black Mountain after Friends of Black Mountain was formed in 2012 and enjoys joining forces with scientists as a way of telling the story of Black Mountain from a variety of perspectives.
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Rosemary Blemings
Black Mountain and Me
Rosemary was born in Oxfordshire, England in 1942 during the Second World War. Her parents’ home was in London, but with the bombing of London her pregnant mother had been evacuated to the country. After the war, Rosemary’s father, who hadn’t been allowed to ‘join up’ as his work as an industrial chemist specialising in paints was deemed essential work, decided on a rural life. Rosemary grew up on a farm in Kent. It was living and contributing to the dairy farm’s activities, being surrounded by animals, plants and her parents’ garden that meant love for nature was a process of osmosis. When she finished school she trained as a Physical Education teacher. She started work as a teacher in 1963, the same year that she married and went to Hong Kong where her husband was in the Merchant Navy. They moved back to England in 1965 and then to Australia in 1970 where her husband trained as an air traffic controller and then worked as a Flight Service Officer. After several moves, they finally took up residence in Canberra in 1978. They bought a house in the then seven-year-old suburb of Flynn where Rosemary still lives.
In the 1980s, when her children were more independent, Rosemary refreshed her teacher training and became a Teacher Librarian at the Scullin Primary School. At the same time, she also furthered her interest in the native plants in her neighbourhood by joining local organisations and participating in walks and field trips. In the 1990s, her volunteer work as a member of the propagation group at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) introduced her to Black Mountain.
Rosemary became directly involved in Black Mountain activities from the mid-1990s. She was part of a group of people from various organisations, several of which she was a member, who developed a series of annual leaflets for self-guided walks in spring. They were based on Barbara Daley’s earlier series ‘In flower this week’ for ANBG. They started as roneo-copied sheets but with the help of sponsorship from Telstra, which Rosemary was instrumental in securing, became designed, illustrated and printed brochures.
Ted Edwards
Black Mountain and Me
Ted was born in Sydney in 1945 and grew up on his parents’ vineyard at Menangle Park. His parents had an extensive garden and were connected with a circle of people interested in the natural environment. He took a particular interest in butterflies from an early age. Ted’s high school years were at Hurlstone Agricultural High School and he went on to gain a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Science at the University of Sydney with the support of a NSW Department of Agriculture scholarship. His subsequent employment in the department from 1967-70 included a secondment to CSIRO’s plant industry laboratory in Deniliquin. As a result of this experience he made contact with CSIRO lepidopterist Ian Common and in 1970 was appointed as an Experimental Scientist in Entomology specialising in lepidoptera at CSIRO Canberra. Much of Ted’s work has been as a taxonomist for CSIRO’s National Insect Collection. Since his retirement in 2000 he has continued this work in various capacities and at the time of interview was National Research Collections Australia Honorary Fellow, Lepidoptera.
Ted’s published work on Australian lepidoptera is extensive. He regards his most important work as Checklist of Australian Lepidoptera (1997). His contribution to entomology and lepidopterology has been recognised by three Whitley Commendations for books and other awards including Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Black Mountain has been Ted’s research ‘backyard’, a microcosm of moth activity that plays an important part of the big picture of lepidopterology research in Australia. His mentorship of Julia Cooke’s school project on Black Mountains’ scribbly gum moths led to significant research on moths and their eucalypt hosts by CSIRO scientists Marianne Horak and Max Day. Julia went on to a career in science. She also wrote the book My Little World (Omnibus Books, 2012) based on her knowledge of Black Mountain. Written from a child’s point of view the book celebrates observing the natural environment and asking questions about it.
Jean Egan
Black Mountain and Me
Jean was born in Somerset, England, in 1941 during the Second World War. Her family lived on the edge of Exmoor where she first became fascinated by wildflowers in their native habitat. When she finished school, she trained locally as a Pharmacy Dispenser and then moved to London to work. In London, Jean met her husband, Bill Egan. They moved to Australia, with their first child, in 1966 when Bill was recruited to work in the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Canberra.
Generous Government housing arrangements were available to encourage people to work in Canberra. Jean was impressed by the rent rate regulation 97 (Rate Reg. 97) which subsidised rent for temporary accommodation until a Government House was available. It also allowed those on the housing list to turn down three houses and stay on the list without subsidy. In 1968 Jean and Bill took this option but within a few weeks found the right house for them in the new suburb of Aranda. They also took up the provision to buy the house and have continued to live there (with the exception of two overseas visits - one for nearly three years and one for one year). When they moved in, there were wildflowers in the garden which Jean later recognised as orchids. From their early days in Aranda Jean and the family walked on the hills and open spaces within and around the suburb - including on Black Mountain. In the early 1970s Jean enrolled in a biological research technician’s course and returned to part-time and then full-time work as her three children became more independent. By the 1980s, she was also regularly looking for and documenting orchids on the Mountain.
Jean moved from her first employment at the ANU Chemistry Department to the National Biological Standards Laboratory where she worked for a number of years. Her later move from laboratory to desk work included a position in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Co-operative Research Centre Program. She retired in 1996 by which time she had met other ‘orchid people’, particularly through walks on Black Mountain. In March 2000, after investigating orchids in Fiji, Jean began voluntary work at the National Herbarium where she met Tony Wood and other orchid specialists. In January 2001 she started an email orchid group to record and compile information about orchids in the ACT.
Jean and Tony Wood joined forces in guiding spring orchid walks on Black Mountain from 2002 until Tony’s death on 31 October 2018. They also developed a map of orchids in the ACT (2012). With orchid specialist, David Jones, they published Field Guide to Orchids of the ACT (2008) with funding from the National Parks Association ACT. They began a second book which Jean continued after Tony’s death with the help of others. Field Guide to Orchids of the Southern Tablelands of NSW including the ACT was self-published in 2020 with a loan from Australian Native Plants Society Canberra Region (ANPSC) for the printing. In both publications, Jean’s role, as well as research, was to enhance existing illustrations, and in the case of the second, also graphic design. In the case of both publications, Jean responded to community members – an orchid enthusiast and Wednesday Walking Group member of the ANPSC – who pointed out the lack of orchid guides for the ACT and Snowy Mountains respectively. Community interest in the latter meant that Jean was able to refund the loan from ANPSC within three months.
Jean has played an active role in the conservation of Black Mountain over many years on the basis of her in-depth knowledge of orchids and more widely by, as she says, ‘jumping up and down’ about threats to their environment. In the years before the formation of Friends of Black Mountain she wrote her own submissions and combined with others concerned about particular issues.
Jean continues to contribute to FoBM activities, including as a guide to orchid walks. She also continues to play a role in surveys and advice on ACT orchids and the now digitised orchid map. Her current project is to create a spreadsheet of all orchids recorded in the ACT by the Email Orchid Group.
Dianne Firth
Black Mountain and Me
Dianne was born and raised in Newcastle. As a child she was encouraged by her father to notice the natural landscapes, this spurred on a love of nature. She attended the University of New South Wales, Tighes Hill campus where she studied a Bachelor of Science. Towards the end of her studies, Dianne met her future husband, John. They shared a love of art, drawing, design. They married and moved overseas to Glasgow. Upon their return to Australia at the end of 1972, Dianne and her family moved to Canberra where her husband was employed by the National Capital Development Commission before starting Lester, Firth and Murton architects. Dianne assisted with projects in this office and started studying landscape design at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. During this time in Canberra Dianne worked across varied projects including the Garden for the Disabled at the National Botanic Garden, and for a research project on Black Mountain Tower. She has also worked with and supported many influential people in the field of landscape architecture, horticulture and design. Dianne is also a textile artist whose works have been displayed in solo and group exhibitions in Canberra, across Australia, and overseas. She discusses her life, work and art throughout this interview.
Ian Fraser
Black Mountain and Me
Ian was born in Adelaide in 1951, studied zoology at Adelaide University, and arrived in Canberra on the first day of 1981 to work at the Canberra Environment Centre. He was later inaugural Director of the local Conservation Council, but became self-employed in 1990. His work – paid and otherwise – included writing ten books on natural history, including wildflower guides and the origin of Australian bird names, being the ‘voice of natural history’ on local ABC radio for 20 years and running nature-based educational tours throughout the country for 34 years and since 2007 to Latin America. He conducted consultancies in the region for 16 years with a view to obtaining desirable environmental outcomes from subdivisions and developments, and for 30 years served on the ACT Government’s environmental advisory committee, chairing it for the last ten. He teaches adult education classes at the ANU’s Centre for Continuing Education, especially one called Understanding Birds which he has run since 1998, and has delivered scores of talks on natural history to community and professional groups in Canberra and beyond. He lived for 27 years at the foot of Black Mountain and his most recent book is Black Mountain: A Natural History of a Canberra Icon, with Rosemary Purdie (2020) for the Friends of Black Mountain.
Kim Pullen
Black Mountain and Me
Kim was born in Sydney in 1953. Four years later the family moved to Canberra when his father (Royal Pullen) got a position as a botanist at the CSIRO. His mother (Valerie) also worked at CSIRO as a librarian. The family house was in Turner close to CSIRO and Black Mountain. Kim’s interest in insects began when his father showed him how to catch them and prepare a collection. From the age of about ten, the Turner garden and Black Mountain provided Kim with a wealth of insects to investigate. He went on to a varied career in entomology including cytogenetics, biological control of crop pests and weeds, and biodiversity surveying. He has also worked in cataloguing and collection management. He particularly enjoys field work and has collected insects around Australia and, for a number of years, in different locations in Mexico. Both his early and later employment was with the CSIRO. Since his retirement in 2015, a CSIRO honorary fellowship has enabled Kim to work with the Australian National Insect Collection and return to a long-held interest in developing a list of insect species of the Canberra Region. Insect species on Black Mountain are an important feature of this list. (See attached, Kim’s own biographical notes)
Rosemary Purdie
Black Mountain and Me
Rosemary was born in Adelaide in 1947 and grew up in the Adelaide Hills. She discovered botany at high school and was encouraged by teachers to pursue it at university level. She was the first in her family to go to university. A university cadetship and later a Commonwealth Scholarship supported her undergraduate study in botany and zoology at Adelaide which led to a PhD scholarship in the Research School of Biological Sciences at ANU. Her PhD field study took place on the Bruce Ridge part of Black Mountain and she subsequently chose to live close by in O’Connor where she continues to live. Her thirty-year career in Federal, Queensland and ACT Government agencies focused on the assessment, collection and conservation of Australian flora and spanned field and policy work. After her retirement from the Public Service, she continued her links with the Australian National Herbarium, located at CSIRO and Australian National Botanical Gardens. She also initiated research projects on Black Mountain and continues conservation work there in association with Friends of Black Mountain (FoBM). The 2018 Symposium for the 50th anniversary of the Black Mountain Reserve was her brain-child and she and Ian Fraser, working with FoBM, co-authored the subsequent publication, Black Mountain: A Natural History of a Canberra Icon (2020).
David Shorthouse
Black Mountain and Me
David was born in the U.K. in 1945. In the late 1960s, after studying agricultural zoology (entomology and parasitology) at the University of Newcastle, he completed a Master of Science degree in conservation at University College London. The new focus on conservation at the time shaped his subsequent career in Australia. His PhD at the Australian National University was an opportunity to study the Australian environment and one of its arid zone inhabitants. In 1972 he was recruited to teach ecology at the new Canberra College of Advanced Education (CCAE). It was a formative time for education in conservation based on integrated ecological thinking. His report on the natural resources of the ACT for the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) in the late 1970s, led to his employment in 1980 as a Reserves Biologist for the ACT Parks and Conservation Service (before self-government) in the Commonwealth Department of Territories. David’s employment from the mid- 1980s-1990s focused on land planning and policy in the Environmental Planning Branch of Territories, followed by the NCDC and National Capital Planning Authority. After several years in the World Heritage Unit, he returned to specific ACT work as Senior Manager of the Wildlife Research and Monitoring Unit in Environment ACT (1994). He retired in 2007 and has continued to contribute to conservation research and projects as a Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School, ANU. Other projects include Mulligans Flat Sanctuary, planning for Ginninderry and a regional botanical garden of Southern Tablelands at the National Arboretum.
David first encountered Black Mountain as a post-graduate student and felt strongly about the impact of the Tower. Since then, it has been part of his working life as well as his home environment. He sees its history as a nature reserve as central to the evolving story of Canberra’s urban reserves and parks.
