This column's nature fashionista, Rose Higgins of Kambah, is up to her old tricks again.
Regular readers may recall it was the colourful nature-lover who beat a path to the large patch of fluoro yellow moss (Funaria hygrometrica) growing in in Namadgi National Park back in 2020. Then, last year, she posed in the same retro garb at a very red azolla-covered pond in Chapman.
This week she donned her yellow 1950s-style swing dress for a stroll to the magnificent display of daffodils, jonquils and snowdrops at the former Sherwood Homestead site near Uriarra which, due to the warmer end to August, are fast approaching full bloom.
"I just love dressing up to highlight the changing colours of nature," says Rose, who splayed her dress to "imitate a cluster of petals" and who believes that the Sherwood bloom will probably be at its best over the next week or so.
How to get there: There are several ways to access the old Sherwood Homestead site, and all involve driving on unsealed roads and a short walk. The most direct route is via the East-West Road off Brindabella Road. Avoid getting lost by consulting a map before heading out.
Did You Know? After being vacant for many years and undermined by rabbits, the homestead was demolished in the mid-1900s. Some garden fences remained until the 2003 bushfires and "Sherwood" was added to the ACT Heritage Register in 2015.
About 150 metres south-west of the homestead site is a small graveyard - the final resting place for Henry Phillips (1913, aged 89) and his wife Eliza (1922, aged 84) who settled at Sherwood in 1863 and planted many of the exotic bulbs and trees that continue to enamour visitors more than 150 years later. Their infant son was also interred here.
The burial plot, consecrated as an official Anglican cemetery, is marked by a plaque as well as an oak tree. The original tree was sadly destroyed by the 2003 Canberra fires but was replaced several years ago.
- CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au/ or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
