Claire Saxby - Aussie STEM Stars: Georgia Ward-Fear: Repitle biologist and explorer

Aussie STEM Stars series

Published by Wild Dingo Press

Melbourne, Australia

wilddingopress.com.au

This work was first published by Wild Dingo Press 2020

Text copyright Claire Saxby

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

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Cover Design: Gisela Beer

Illustrations: Diana Silkina

Series Editor: Catherine Lewis

Printed in Australia

Saxby, Claire 1961-, author.

Georgia Ward-Fear: Reptile biologist and explorer / Claire Saxby

ISBN: 9781925893342 (paperback)

ISBN: 9781925893359 (epdf)

ISBN: 9781925893366 (epub)

Follow your curiosity, express your unique self and always stop to observe the wonders of Nature; we are just one species amongst millions.

Georgia Ward-Fear

Disclaimer:

This work has been developed in collaboration with Dr Georgia Ward-Fear. The utmost care has been taken to respectfully portray, as accurately as memory allows, the events and the stories of all who appear in this work. The publishers assume no liability or responsibility for unintended inaccuracies, but would be pleased to rectify at the earliest opportunity any omissions or errors brought to their notice.

Contents

Home in the hills

Mum? Have you seen Harriet? Georgia plopped the box of groceries on the kitchen table. She had her backpack slung over one arm and her coat threaded through the other strap.

Have a look in the lounge room thats the last place I saw her. Mum turned the tap and let water run into the sink. The water was rust-red as it always was when they arrived for the weekend. But soon it ran clear. She filled the kettle and set it on the just-lit stove. By the bookshelf?

Ill check.

Can you find Elliot and fill up the woodbox first? Before it gets too dark, please.

Georgia dropped her backpack and coat in their bedroom. She knew where Elliot would be. It was the same place he always went when they first arrived at their holiday house in Hampton, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. And there he was, at the back fence staring into the trees.

Are they there? she asked him.

Elliot nodded.

She could see the wallabies, too, now. Georgia joined him at the fence and they moved slowly enough not to spook the shy animals. There was a watchful dad, a mum with a small joey leaning out of her pouch, and a bigger joey beside them, nibbling at the grass. This wallaby family had been here for weeks now, almost as if waiting for their regular Friday afternoon arrival. Georgia wondered what they did during the week when she was home in Leura.

Look how big the pouch joey is! Elliots whisper was loud enough for the dad to pause, but not so loud that he took his family away.

Georgia knew the joey would soon be too big for the pouch. Then his mother would stop letting him ride with her. Mum had told her that it was almost certain that another tiny jellybean joey was getting ready to make its way into the pouch. There it would latch onto a teat. But it would be a while before they would see it and know for sure.

Down by the house, the car door banged shut and the wallaby family instantly took flight, hopping away between the trees. Georgia watched for another few seconds, mesmerised by their agility and speed. They never crashed into anything, never. Just vanished. When the wallabies were close, they looked nothing like trees not in colour or shape but somehow the minute they were on the move, they were almost impossible to see. It was like magic.

Come on, she said to her brother. How high can you stack your load of wood? She ran down the slope to the shed, Elliot close on her heels. Georgia took the older wheelbarrow because it was broader and easier to stack. Side by side they piled split logs high then wobbled their way to the back door.

I win! Elliot threw his arms in the air. His barrow wheel slid on wet leaves at the edge of the verandah. Oh, no! The barrow leaned and the wood tumbled out, almost in slow motion.

Hurry! Ten-second rule. If were quick, it wont even get wet, said Georgia.

Together they filled the woodbox, carefully placing logs alongside each other until it was full. Once the barrows were back in the shed, they gathered armfuls of dry bark and twigs from the shelter of the woodshed and put them on top of the wood box ready for when they would set the fire.

But not just yet. Georgia wasnt ready to go inside. She walked back up to their fence line, Elliot close behind.

Georgia?

She put her fingers to her lips. Tonight, there would be a full moon and she knew thered be more wallabies than usual. They always came together to the edge of the forest at full moon. There was one wallaby she was particularly hoping to see. A few months ago, in summer, the young females leg had been caught in fencing wire. Georgia and Mum had managed to loose the wire but the wallaby hopped away before they could do more than take a quick look at the S-shaped wound on her leg. Since then they hadnt seen her.

Was she okay? As Georgia and Elliot watched in silence, the wallabies returned. Georgia listened carefully and could hear the soft thumps of their hopping. First to appear was the family from before, then others, until there was more than a dozen. They settled to feed on the fresh rain-washed grass while a gentle breeze moved through the eucalypts and rustled the leaves. Birds called, and in the distance, she heard others respond. She took a deep breath. She loved this place.

Look, she whispered to Elliot. The does back. And I think shes got a joey of her own!

Georgia could hardly believe it. She was sure she saw a tiny nose peek out, then as if to confirm it, the pouch wobbled. She knew it was the same doe that had been stuck in the wire because she could see the scar, and also because there was a darker patch near one shoulder. Shed thought it looked a little like a map of Tasmania. Mum had nodded when Georgia had mentioned it, as if pleased that shed noticed the detail. Her mum said they were all different, you just had to look closely.