May,i O'Donohue, Wanderings on the Murray Flood-Plain \~ 



1915 J 



and have invariably found, on cleaning a duck freshly killed, 

 that the abdomen was extensively bruised. The hawk, 1 am 

 assured," said Mr. Briggs, in conclusion, " kills for the greater 

 part in a spirit of mere wantonness, for I have often seen it 

 pursue and kill a duck and then fly off in quest of other game." 

 Early Wednesday morning we bade a temporary adieu to 

 Kulkyne, and, with Johnny in the dual capacity of driver and 

 guide, started for Mournpoul, distant about eleven miles due 

 south. The wind blew strongly from the north-west, and there 

 were indications that the long-expected break in the weather 

 was not very remote. Our route for the first few miles lay 

 through a large area of flood-plain country that at one time 

 nourished a dense forest of sturdy Black Box, and, from 

 indications elsewhere noted, presumably a fair sward of native 

 grass. Twenty years previous to our visit these trees had 

 been ringed, and the resulting consequences were acres of bare, 

 wind-swept earth, destitute of aught green, and a bewildering 

 interlacement of fallen trunks and limbs that would appal even 

 an old-time South Gippsland pioneer. 



On reaching Chalka Creek we found its bed dry, narrow, 

 of no great depth, and lined on either side by large and vigorous 

 specimens of Eucalyptus rostrata. As we progressed along the 

 creek beneath these trees we were incessantly assailed by the 

 plaintive calls of the Minahs concealed amid their foliage, and 

 by the harsh cries of the numerous Sulphur-crested Cockatoos 

 nesting in the hollow spouts. Here, as elsewhere, we noted 

 the tree-trunks were deeply mud-stained to the height of 

 eight feet as the result of repeated overflows of the Murray. 

 The introduced Stinkwort and the Sea-green Tobacco occur 

 along the creek to a surprising extent. 



The aspect of the country underwent a complete trans- 

 formation when the stiff clay flats were succeeded, by the sand- 

 dunes. The creek's bed at once became wider and deeper. 

 and at every bend contained reaches of still water, whereon 

 aquatic birds of many varieties disported. The Murray Pine 

 and the Buloak, Casuarina Luehmanni, grew tall and dense 

 on the dunes, and between them the Tall Thickheads, Myrio- 

 cephalus Stuartii, the Small-leaved Swainsona. Swainsona 

 microphylla, the Musk Sunray, Helipterwm moschatum, the Blue 

 Didiscus, Didiscus cyanopetalus, the Prickly Starwort, Stellaria 

 pungens, the Flannel Cudweed, Gnaphalodes uliginosa, and 

 other plants. Extensive growths of the Narrow-leaved 

 Guinea-Flower, Hibbertia angustifolia, were noted, and 

 occasional sturdy specimens of the Bignonia Emu-bush, 

 Eremophila bignoniflora. In the vicinity of a bridge spanning 

 < halka Creek the remains of a Murray Cod, Oligorus mac- 

 quariensis, was pointed out, where ii hung suspended by a 



