Lost little cottage

One of our neighbouring land care groups very kindly asked us if we were interested in a photo call for the local paper today.  Seeing that I never ever lose an opportunity for publicity for the Park, I was there with bells on along with two others from the committee.

Briefly, the story is that there are two minority groups of native bandicoots.  One group is in our Park and the other in the bush land across the road.  The road is extremely busy and so the bandicoots can't cross to mate and mingle, with the result that their genetic code is weakening. 

The idea is that a tunnel will be bored out under the road to provide a safe crossing for these rather cute little critters to get together, strengthening their groups and providing a genetic diversity.

The local papers have realised that it makes a great story so we had reps from our Park, from the park across the road, and a couple of rangers. 

It seems that at least one private road building company has expressed interest in helping with the project.

If it comes off it will be a brilliant result for everyone concerned, not least the bandicoots themselves.

This little abandoned cottage is across the road from our photo location, and it's interesting for lots of reasons.  It's absolutely dwarfed by the massive pine tree, of which you can see a portion of branch.  The front looks like painted stone, but is actually pressed metal.  The sides of the cottage are plain old corrugated iron.  The abandoned stove out front is a "Adelect" brand - short for Adelaide Electrical - and almost the only style of stove available Pre-World War 2.

We reckon that the cottage is at least 100 years old, and the tree probably pre-dates that.   

It's all very abandoned now, but has been lived in up to about 4 or 5 years ago.  I guess it will be demolished, but I do hope that a modern megalith won't be built on the land because it would look totally out of place.