Please note: If you have registered to attend the lecture via Zoom, the lecture link will be emailed to all registrants closer to the lecture date. This lecture may be recorded. If you have any questions, please email us at info@rgsq.org.au.

Photographs and videos may be taken during RGSQ events for use in promotional materials including, but not limited to, the RGSQ website, social media channels, newsletters and other publications. By attending an RGSQ event, you consent to the use of your likeness for these purposes, unless you inform the event organizer or photographer otherwise. Click here for more information. 

Time: Self-drive to Mt Glorious for a 10.30 am start at the Phoenix Sculpture Garden, 59 Fahey Road, Mt Glorious. After the tour of the garden concluding at approximately at 1.00-1.30 pm, participants can choose to have their own lunch at Maiala or the Mt Glorious café.

Two routes:

Parking: Fahey Road is a one lane sealed road off Mt Glorious Road (easy to miss) – there is limited parking available at the site which is accessible via up a gravel driveway. Two-wheel drive vehicles can access this. Depending on the number of participants, it may be necessary to meet beforehand and carpool to the venue. (More details available after registration.)

Where: This event commences at 10.30 am at the Phoenix Sculpture Garden on Fahey Road. The garden features the work of Graham Radcliffe, a world-renowned sculptor, in a two hectare rainforest setting with over 150 marble, onyx, and bronze sculptures.

The gallery and garden are located on the peak of Mt Glorious with views towards the coast and Moreton Bay. We will be welcomed with a morning tea provided by Margit Radcliffe in the garden before starting a guided tour along the paths through the rainforest examining the sculptures and their significance. We will also be able to see how the sculptures were designed and engineered.

The site is not suitable for wheelchairs or wheelie-walkers. Sturdy footwear is strongly recommended. Bring a camera! There are birds in the rainforest canopy… Gravel paths and wooden planking are designed to complement the rainforest setting and there are several seating areas around the site and near the gallery if a respite is needed. Toilets are available on-site.

Lunch: Participants may choose to BYO at the Maiala Picnic area or have lunch at the Mt Glorious Café (open to 3 pm daily – kitchen closes at 2.30 pm).

Access: There is ample parking available in the carpark at the picnic area. Turn right off Mt Glorious Rd into Maiala Rd to carpark.  Park picnic area facilities – electric/fuel barbecues (free of charge), picnic tables (some sheltered), wheelchair access, toilets.

Afternoon: Participants may choose to leave after lunch or meet at Maiala to complete a bushwalk on one of the three tracks.

Mount Glorious Walking tracks are Grade 3, defined as suitable for most ages and fitness levels. Tracks may have short steep hill sections, a rough surface and may have steps.

 Option 1: Rainforest Circuit: allow 1 hour. This is the shortest track, 2 km in length. It can be walked in either direction, has steps and some handrails.

Option 2: Cyprus Grove Circuit: 1.5 hours. This track is accessed from halfway along Rainforest Circuit - (sign posted) – it rejoins the Rainforest Circuit on completion - 2.5 km round walk.

Option 3: Greenes Falls Track: 2 hours. This walk includes the Rainforest Circuit - it is approximately 4.3 kilometres return.  The walk to the falls is mostly downhill – be prepared for an uphill return. It has some stairs and ends with a small viewing platform over the falls.

Participants please note: Choice of walks can be made on the day. Walking tracks are not pram or wheelchair friendly. There are stairs. Insect repellent, sunscreen, water bottles and walking shoes suitable for hiking are strongly recommended.

Limit: 20 participants. If the trip is fully booked, please use the waitlist. There is often a good chance of late places being available.

Cost: Members $30 and non-members $40, includes morning tea and a guided tour around the sculpture garden. Please register and pay by Wednesday 2nd April.

Coordinator: Kaye Schwede

Our presenter Giselle Pickering is an early career geographer working in freshwater ecology and water planning for the state government, applying her skillset with modern GIS technology to support ecological research and water management practices. Giselle is also an RGSQ Young Geographer and Vice-President of the Society and enjoys helping geographers of all ages to learn more about the wonderful world around us.

Giselle’s work has recently taken her out of the office and into the field to investigate the resilience of fish populations after periods of drought and flooding in the Queensland catchments of the Murray Darling Basin. Rather than using traditional tag-and-track methods to monitor fish movement throughout the system, Giselle and her colleagues have taken a more novel approach – otolith microchemistry. This technique analyses the chemical isotopes stored within the otolith (ear bone) of the fish as it grows and compares this signature to known values across the landscape, enabling researchers to trace lifetime fish movement without setting up and maintaining extensive arrays of tracking equipment.

Come along to learn how Giselle combined existing open-access spatial data with field records from water and mussels to create a high-resolution map that’s being used to interpret fish movement in the northern Murray-Darling Basin. You may even learn how you too can leverage digital data and mapping tools to answer your own questions and curiosities.

Cost:-   RGSQ Members $5:00.  Non-members $10.00 which includes a special morning tea.  This presentation will be available on Zoom but will not be available on YouTube at a later date.  Register and pay via the website.

Coordinator:-  Neville McManimm

Photographs and videos may be taken during RGSQ events for use in promotional materials including, but not limited to, the RGSQ website, social media channels, newsletters and other publications. By attending an RGSQ event, you consent to the use of your likeness for these purposes, unless you inform the event organizer or photographer otherwise. Click here for more information.