Looking up ...

... is a good way to admire this Banksia flower, in late afternoon light and with blue sky behind.  Its botanical name is Banksia aemula, given to it by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown who collected it near Sydney in 1801. It grows naturally from north of Brisbane to Sydney, generally close to the coast. The Kabi first nations people (from the Sunshine Coast area, north of Brisbane) called it Wallum. They used the same name for the coastal environment in which it grows.  Here it is growing on the western side of Lake Ainsworth, just north of Lennox Head.