Natural History

Our Board and members can be justly proud of the species richness and diversity of our landscape.  We know of no other Golf Course with such a figure.

These data will be useful for present and future Golf Course Architects and Landscape Architects as we continue to develop our site.  They may one day be made available to the wider public, portraying IGC favourably as the custodian of this wonderful complex.

Many of IGC’s trees predate the Club’s move to Long Pocket in the 1960s but many more have been planted since.  In this version we have presented the trees in such a way that members can trace the development of the landscape over a 60-year period, from Ancient Trees and Brisbane River Vegetation, to the early Arboretum Period, on to the Landscape Period and finishing with the New Millenium Period.  With the current Master-planning exercise, we can now look forward to an emerging Period.

Our aim has been to identify, locate, record and photograph as many species of plants, animals and fungi as possible and to make this information available to members via spreadsheets and linked images on the ‘Our Club’ section of the IGC website.

For the larger life-forms, such as Trees, Shrubs and Birds, we have provided lists of species arranged alphabetically by their common names, with hyperlinks to photographic images and some textual information.  For some of the smaller life-forms that can be illustrated using smaller images, including Butterflies and Fungi, we have combined the list with images and text in the same document.

The Flowering Calendar for the trees is continued in Version 2, although the mixture has been changed with a longer period (3 years) of observations.  The list is presented as a monthly calendar showing approximate flower colour for each species and hyperlinks to the images and text for members who wish to learn more about them.

As a practical spin-off from this project and with the assistance of other members, management and staff, we have organised for a representative set of tree identification signs to be fixed to tree trunks where appropriate, on each hole.  This will facilitate member identification when the trees are looking their finest, throughout the year!  One hundred signs have already been applied and more are planned.

Although most of the species lists are arranged using common names, we have also provided complete lists of Flora, Fauna and Fungi arranged by scientific names, by way of Appendices, for those who wish to browse in this way.

Future Versions

Version 2 of this Natural History comprises the results of three years’ observations but is not yet a complete account of what may be observed, and we intend our work to continue.  We have not yet been able to photograph nearly all species, some of which do their best to elude our efforts!  This version is still very much a work in progress.  We also hope to increase the number of stories about the biology of significant species in future versions.

Some birds only visit IGC occasionally and we are lucky if we witness these visits. For example, a pair of red-kneed Dotterels (waterbirds) was observed in January 2020 near the pond between Red 3 and 7.  This was a one-off observation and they have not been spotted since.  A pair of Black-winged Stilts has also been observed only twice, both during October in both 2019 and 2020.

Other fauna (termed ‘cryptic’) are difficult to spot or are purely nocturnal and these have not been fully surveyed.  A special effort will be needed to capture their presence.

The intention is to continue revising the study and any future observations by members, preferably with photos or videos, would be most welcome, especially if you have an interest in a particular group. For example, IGC member Jack Wade has given us his valuable list of observed butterflies and some wonderful photographs. We are grateful that other members have also sent emails with details of their observations.

So if you have any special or new observations, please let us know via the Club Administration or direct to our emails that are located in the member section.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many golf buddies who encouraged and helped in this project.  We are grateful to Past-Presidents Mike Hume and Sam Christie, CEO Stephen Lamerton and Course Manager Ben Grylewicz for facilitating this work and enabling it to be published on our website.  Thanks also to Vice-President Lyndal Plant for reviewing the work and making several suggestions for improvements.  We are deeply indebted to Joan Wilkinson for proof-reading and sharing her considerable information on bird lists, photographs, recent plantings, identifications and nomenclatural changes.  The technical assistance of Dee Hadlington  is also appreciated for posting this material.  Finally, we thank the following IGC members who have communicated their interest and or observations:  Konrad Berger, Wendy Eckert, Ron Fraser, Joan James, Catherine Legh, Robin McFarlane, Sam & Richard Paviour and Jack Wade.  Lindsay Agnew has also given permission to cite his Fauna Survey data, including the microbats.

Copyright Statement

David Hassall (DH) and John Walthall (JCW) invest the Copyright of all data and other associated material posted to the website in Indooroopilly Golf Club.  Members are free to use portions of the material for private purposes, but should acknowledge the Copyright ownership of IGC.  We do not warrant the accuracy of any data or other material and readers who rely on these should undertake their own checking research.  All digital images are by DH or JCW, unless otherwise stated.

Fungi

13.0  Fungi

13.1  Fungi by Mycological Name with Images

14.0  Further Reading

Suggested Further Reading The following books have been used as references for the researching and writing of our IGC Natural History project and are recommended to readers who may be interested in furthering their understanding of our Flora, Fauna and Fungi.

General Texts

Glenn Leiper, Jan Glazebrook, Denis Cox & Kerrie Rathie (2017) ‘Mangroves to Mountains (revised edition.  A Field Guide to the Native Plants of South-east Queensland)’ Logan River Branch, Society for Growing Australian Plants (QLD Region) Inc, Browns Plains.

Bruce Fuhrer (2016) ‘A Field Guide to Australian Fungi’ Bloomings Books, Melbourne.

Peter Slater, Pat Slater & Raoul Slater (2001) ‘The Slater field Guide to Australian Birds’  Reed New Holland, Sydney.

I F B Common & D F Waterhouse (1981) ‘Butterflies of Australia’ Angus & Robertson.

Queensland Museum (2009) ‘Wildlife of Greater Brisbane’  A Queensland Museum Guide, Brisbane.

Queensland Museum (2003) ‘Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane’  A Queensland Museum Guide, Brisbane.

Special Groups

M I H Brooker & D A Kleinig (1994)  ‘Field Guide to Eucalypts, Volume 3.  Northern Australia’ Inkata Press Sydney.

Les Pedley (1993) ‘Acacias in Queensland’  Queensland Herbarium, Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane.

John Beasely (2006)  ‘Plants of Tropical Queensland.  The Compact Guide’  Footloose Publications, Kuranda.

Ivan Holliday (2004) ‘Melaleucas. A Field & Garden Guide (2nd Edition)’  Reed New Holland, Sydney.

Margaret Elliott (2008) ‘Grasses of Subtropical Eastern Australia’  Nullum Publications, Murwillumbah.

Penny Watsford, Margaret Elliott, Robert Price & Lui Weber (2007) ‘Plants of the Forest Floor. A guide to small native plants of subtropical eastern Australia’  Nullum Publications. Murwillumbah.

Useful Websites

Weed identification for Brisbane at:  https://weeds.brisbane.qld.gov.au

North Queensland Plants at:  https://www.jcu.edu.au/discover-nature-at-jcu/plants

APPENDICES

I     List of Flora by Botanical Names

II   List of Fauna by Zoological Names

III  List of Fungi by Mycological Names