Jack Roper Reserve

Artist: Lisa Buckland

‘Our lovely neighbours fill the skies, announcing the day with many sounds, it's a source of joy. I count the species: raucous cockatoos, a chatter of little corellas, a new arrival - currawongs, sweet cheep, cheep of gentle galahs, noisy rainbow lorikeets, flying swift and free. But in our neighbourhoods nature has turned with our population growth. Land clearing for urban growth, loss of habitat, planting too many flowering eucalyptus.

In 1990 there were no rainbow lorries, little corellas or currawongs in the south of Hume. Corellas would only flyby in February looking for food. Now they eat the plane tree pods in Essendon. Flying south looking for tree hollows to replace the ones lost to urbanisation. Rainbow lorikeets arrived earlier, jumping over the freeway, migrating north, eagerly chasing the nectar.

My arts practice celebrates nature and the intransient world of moving connections, our native neighbours are heard and observed, living in a peaceful place’ -  Lisa Buckland