From Croxton to Thornbury: 


Some native plants on the railway siding.

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              About the exhibition.

                    

Late in 2019 I started recording some of the individual plant species that were in flower on the railway siding next to Croxton Station where I had noticed a rich array of native plants flowering whenever I passed by. I began to draw them in water-colour pencil  This project, which covers 13 months, took on new meaning during Melbourne's long COVID lockdowns. Unable to swim during lockdown, as we usually did, my longstanding friend, Joan,  we took to rambling around our suburban side streets and along the railway siding to check what flowers were in bloom.

I have tried to identify the plants to the best of my abilities, and I was pleased to find online the City of Darebin's list of plants that are indigenous to  the area. This is a tremendously valuable resource and I was delighted to discover that around 75% of the species I drew are indigenous. I confess that identifying some of the plants, especially eucalypts and melaleucas defeated me, and I'm happy to accommodate corrections. All but a couple of the non-indigenous plants are native to the state. It is possible that, in general, Australia's railway sidings might be valuable repositories of endemic species.  Along with many noisy birds including rosellas, corellas, sulphur-crested cockatoos, and galahs, other species thrive amongst our railway siding's indigenous plants. The proximity of this native garden ensures that the people who live in this inner suburb have native bees and butterflies providing fertilisation services in  their nearby gardens along the Croxton to Thornbury railway siding.

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