Ornithologist and naturalist Tanya Loos is publishing a book with em PRESS this coming spring organised around six seasons. Yes, you read that correctly... six seasons, which is the number that Aboriginal people would have once observed. We plan to reintroduce the concept of six seasons – a concept tailored to suit the Australian landscape, rather than the European construct of four seasons designed to suit a different continent.
The two added indigenous seasons are pre-spring and late summer. The former is when the first burst of fecundity begins. The latter time was when Indigenous people undertook much of their burning, clearing patches choked with undergrowth in preparation for their underground larder of orchids and herbs to burst through after the rains. Tanya and I have adapted other Australian seasonal calendars to match conditions in central Victoria's foothill forests. We have consulted with local senior Wathawurrung elder Brien Nelson.
Tanya is writing stories for the nature diary on plants and animals that can be commonly seen in the foothill forests each season. Walk out your back door in this region and this is what you are most likely to observe. Many of the stories are based on her nature columns in the Daylesford/Hepburn Advocate newspaper.
We plan to produce a six season wheel calendar to go with the book. Delicate, water colour illustrations are being prepared for the book and calendar by graphic artist Anne Mason – her illustration for autumn can be seen above. Anne drew the illustrations for another em PRESS publication The People of Gariwerd.
The two added indigenous seasons are pre-spring and late summer. The former is when the first burst of fecundity begins. The latter time was when Indigenous people undertook much of their burning, clearing patches choked with undergrowth in preparation for their underground larder of orchids and herbs to burst through after the rains. Tanya and I have adapted other Australian seasonal calendars to match conditions in central Victoria's foothill forests. We have consulted with local senior Wathawurrung elder Brien Nelson.
Tanya is writing stories for the nature diary on plants and animals that can be commonly seen in the foothill forests each season. Walk out your back door in this region and this is what you are most likely to observe. Many of the stories are based on her nature columns in the Daylesford/Hepburn Advocate newspaper.
We plan to produce a six season wheel calendar to go with the book. Delicate, water colour illustrations are being prepared for the book and calendar by graphic artist Anne Mason – her illustration for autumn can be seen above. Anne drew the illustrations for another em PRESS publication The People of Gariwerd.
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