© Edna Walling Collection, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria

Source: MSS SLV

The telephone goes - a call from Orbost..."Yes, I'll come", I answered.

"Who was that? You sounded very affable." T. said.

"Well who knows what we shall find on the roadside around Orbost. Besides she sounded very nice."

"Good! When are we going?"

I glance at our desks. "When we have done some of this, I suppose", I replied rather flatly. T.'s fingers sped over the typewriter and I bent over a drawing board and tried to keep my mind on the plan and off the highway. "I say, I'll tell you what we could do, we could go and have a look at the Snowy River at its source before the bulldozers go to work."

"You don't mean Kosciusko?" T. said in a hushed voice for fear the answer would be no.

"That is what I had in mind." I may have imagined it but the typewriter seemed to literally fly now - couldn't help wondering how many corrections that article would require - however the pace was good and after achieving a reasonable amount of my own work I straightened up and walked over to have a look at the map of Australia on the wall. "I think we ought to go to Sydney while we are at it - there's a job at Holbrook and several awaiting us on the North Shore, we will keep off the Hume Highway as much as possible. I want to go to Wood's Point for one thing, I'm longing to show you those lovely old stone chimneys, they're relics of the gold mining days. It's a pity they're in such remote places - I'd like to buy one and build a little house around it."

"We should see some Black Sallees thereabouts" T. said, "I love that Snow Gum."

On all journeys we allow extra hours in case we come across plants we don't know. We see something of interest and the car is pulled into the side. I leap out of my side with camera and T. out of hers to collect specimens. Funny thing is that although she is the acknowledged botanist I frequently find the treasures though I'm only supposed to be the mere taker of pictures.

I'm never given due encouragement - that's the strange thing about botanists, they seem to like to find the things themselves and give small quarter to others who do - at least that's my experience of them. All the same it's amusing being out with them - much more fun than being out with mere view finders. The energy of those who struggle to the top of some eminence in order to see more view always astonishes me - I can appreciate views but have no inclination to seek them out. They may be part of any expeditions, not the be all and end all of them; the trees we shall see and the plants we shall discover growing on the ground arouse much more interest in me. In Australia the gum trees alone get you in, once you start trying to be familiar with them they lead you a fine old dance.

"This is lovely. What is it I wonder?"

"An ironbark." T said with the proper intonation of a botanist's aloofness.

"Don't be silly," I said, thrilled to catch her out. "It's got a smooth white trunk. Ironbarks have almost black, deeply furrowed bark."

"All but that particular one." Said T. coldly.

"Oh gosh yes, I forgot. Doctor Patton told us about it, didn't he? Isn't it heavenly?"

"Eucalyptus lecoxylon," replied T.

"Thanks," I said.

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