"Merrimu," at Sherbrooke 



fhe collage "Merrimu" is situated 

 j siK-rhrooke Lodge Road, close to 

 lhc edgp of fh< reserved forest. The 

 ^j,] building belonged to Robert 



GtitiWi w,Ki name<j lhc |oc!,|,t y aftcr 



home town. Sherbrooke. in Cali- 

 i„ m , and among lhc trees which 

 fa Slanted is a line specimen of the 

 I • j'.forni.-m Redwood (Sequoia sem- 



''g'X^u conducted the local post 

 ,,,r,cc there, in the early days of the 

 ^ nlurv . and the posting slots arc 

 [till 10 be seen in doors of what ;uc 

 m tm> Mn»1 tool-sheds. The cot- 

 g was subjected to a series of 

 fllGTflttorti through the years, and the 

 ordinal unil. at the rear, was event- 



l|h jnnolishcd. Even today though 

 ihcre is an outside wall consisting 

 „f niuph-hewn horizontal slabs. 



In about I "J 1 1 . the cottage was 

 „:quired by lhc Misses F. and M. 

 Billing, alints of the late A. G. 

 Hnokc. whose obiluary appeared in 

 gj month's i'krorian Naturalist. 

 Probiihly those ladies named the 

 p.cc •Vlcrrimw - . The Misses Billing 

 planted numerous ornamental trees 

 .ml shrubs on the property, and such 

 ".,nves as the blackwood grew s-pon- 

 MldOUSly. today the vegetation is 

 "uiure, with lall conifers, spreading 

 torches, oaks, maples, beeches and 

 !hc like. 



Native birds appreciate the vegc- 

 Mfaft. and the ground litter too. 

 There arc usually crescent honey- 

 .■aiers and spinehills about, and 

 [amities of brown-headed hoocy- 

 elttrt come occasionally Rufous 

 - (flen and ol.ve whistlers «re per- 



Wv. 1971 



manent residents, as are yellow 

 robins and white-browed scrub- 

 wrens. A pair of ground tlmwhcs 

 live ihcre too. and lyrebirds Mine 

 occasionally to fossick in the carpet 

 of leaves. 



Families of brown and striated 

 thornbills work lhcir wav through the 

 trees each day, grey fantails arc 

 always about, and the larger fry in- 

 clude kooaburras. crimson rosellas, 

 grey butcherbirds, and, m season, 

 pied currawongN. Now and again 

 someihing quite uncommon turns up 

 It might be the large-billed scrub- 

 wren, the rose robin, or the rufous 

 fatitail. Once a red-capped robin was 

 about the place for a few days! 



Native mammals appreciate '•'Mer- 

 rimu" too. Long-nosed bandicoots 

 dig in the ground of a nighl. The 

 trees attract possums — silver-grey, 

 hobuck, and ringtail — especially when 

 two ancient cherry-plums are in 

 flower, and each April little glider- 

 possums come to the blossums of an 

 old sugar gum. At certain seasons the 

 hobucks become tame enough to be 

 fed by hand. 



Throughout his life. Garnsey 

 Hookc spent many of his leisure 

 davs at "Merrimu". first as a visitor 

 to his aunts' place, and latterty us 

 owner of the cottage. He tiked to 

 have guests there with him. to take 

 them walking in the forest, or to 

 sii bv the wood fire in the loitnge- 

 room and watch the avian visitors— 

 rosellas. whistlers, robins, thrusho, 

 wrens— taking lums at the bird tables 

 * few feet away outside Ihe win- 

 dows, 



203 



