22 Feb 2026 FILM DIARY

I wanted to photograph the cycad for several days. It had been relocated to the edge of a block which was cleared of buildings and vegetation. It was beginning to establish itself when a fierce wind split the trunk, causing part of it to fall to the ground. The trunk can grow to a diameter of 80 cm. Its outer layer is covered by the persistent remains of leaf bases.  The cycad is an ancient, long-lived and slow-growing species, which is endemic to coastal south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales. The cylindrical cone is among the largest of all cycad cones.