Tasmanian field Naturalists’ Club. 
No. 3. 
T1IE CLUB’S CAMP-OUT AT BREA M 
CHEEK. 
Bj.- thw -Hun. Secretary, 
Reprinted from The Tasmanian Mail, May 
20th, 1905. 
This club has had many pleasant out¬ 
ings, and it was decided to have a camp- 
out during- the Easter holidays. Bream 
Creek was the spot decided on, and the 
Thursday before the holiday a party of se¬ 
ven left in the Nubeeua for Dunalley, ai- 
riving early in the morning. From Bun- 
alley the members walked to the Bream 
Creek Beach. A cart with the tents, etc., 
had previously arrived, so the tents were 
at once pitched within sound of Ihe break¬ 
ers. Later in the day two more members 
arrived at the camp cm bicycles. 
The chief places to view were the East 
Bay Neck Canal, the landslip, and ihe 
beach. Bream Creek Beach is one of the 
most celebrated beaches in Tasmania, and 
is about eight miles in length, with an 
average breadth df 150 yards; and with row- 
after row of breakers rolling in from the 
Pacific Ocean it is a magnificent sight. Af¬ 
ter easterly gales it is covered from end 
to end with shrills; but the members c f 
the club were disappointed in this respect 
as the beach during their visit was almost 
bare. At the back of the beach Bream 
Greek runs for miles, and on Saturday 
morning the members explored the river 
on both sides for some distance. Several 
of the party tried to catch some of the 
bream, which give their name to the 
creek, but without result. The creek was 
once noted for its bream, but years ago 
some poachers destroyed so many of the 
fish by means of poisou that it has never 
recovered itself. 
Un Saturday afternoon the whole party 
walked about four miles to the scene i f 
the landslide. After the slide had been 
photographed, a rough examination was 
made of it; it is on a lung, steep, culti¬ 
vated slope, capped by an acre or -o of 
bush. Tim ground above (lie landslide is 
without a channel to carry off the rain 
water quickly to the creek below, so that 
the ground gets thoroughly saturated 
down to the bed of clay on which it rests, 
and since the landslip started (about I wo 
years ago.) the result hsul been that with 
every heavy rain tile superincumbent m ?s 
.creeps downwards; this mass is about 
tOft. in thickness, and consist'-’ of black 
earth, clay, and decomposed volcanic 
boulders. The area affected is some four 
hundred yards long by eighty to one 
hundred yards broad. There is a curious 
structure resembling a “kame.” of a gla¬ 
cier here. The head of the slip is some 
twenty or thirty yards wider than is 
150 yards lower down, so as tho mass de¬ 
scended it forced the walls at the narrow¬ 
est portion to bulge up, just like a Kame 
in miniature. It may be stated that the 
slide has covered, the main road, so that 
il became necessary to make a fresh road 
below it. 
East Bay Neck Canal was examined sev¬ 
eral times. The canal proper is, roughly, 
a quarter of a mile long, with a chan¬ 
nel dredged far out into the bays at either 
end. From bank to bank it is about one 
chain, while it might he fifteen or twenty 
feet across ihe bottom. The water is 
ten feet deep at low tide, while the great¬ 
est distance from the water level lo 
the top of tlie hank is about 
twelve feet. Un each occasion 
when il was viewed, the tide was rising, 
and a stream was running swiftly, with 
more than sufficient velocity to keep the 
channel clear. From itho bed of the 
canal up io till, or 4ft. above water-level, 
the ground is pipe clay. The clay is quite 
clean, and kneads very easily, so there is 
no reason why it should not be of con¬ 
siderable commercial value. 
on Monday fishing was the order of the 
day, and flic results obtained can support 
the reputation the waiters of that district 
have justly won. Line.- wore no sooner 
down than vigorous tugs told that one, or 
pCr-liacs two, unhappy victims had been 
’(•cured. The varieties obtained were 
Hat head nearly 2ft. long, rock cod, and 
colonial salmon. What with the. glori¬ 
ous day, magnificent scenery, and numer¬ 
ous birds, the- members were only too 
sorry when the day came to an end. 
As to birds; Ihe Flame-breasted Robin 
was to be seen in great numbers, often a 
dozen or more were visible at the one 
time perched on fences or stumps about 
the fields, flying to the ground every now 
and then in search of food. They were 
in splendid dt-ors, and it would indeed ho 
hard lo find brighter breasts of red than 
theirs. Tho Scarlet-breasted and Dusky 
Robins were also seen., but not so fre¬ 
quently. The Whistling Shrike Thrush 
was very noticeable, both in body and 
song, and might often ho heard perched 
low down nil a dead branch, whistling at 
its best. Many Magpie*, were about, and 
I heir merry warbling could b© beard from 
early morn lili close of day. The harsh, 
far sounding notes of the Black Magpie 
(Strepei-a fuliginosa; mad© their presence 
known as one was approaching them 
through the bush, and soon the birds 
would ho seen flying from tree to tree. 
Tho health appeared in full bloom, and 
wins frequented by numbers of honey¬ 
eating birds, of which I he Spin© Bill was 
by far the prettiest; its graceful form. 
