Big Bird Emu cannot fly. Got long legs and big brown eyes; slender neck and smiley beak; stringy feathers, mega feet. Big Bird Emu sits on nest. Eight whole weeks, no food no rest; nearly faint from heat and thirst; wants those chicks to hatch out first. Shading babies, outstretched wings, eating grass and insect things. Eighteen months ‘til they’re full-grown, big enough, safe on their own. Big Bird Emu dedicated. Caring love for little babies. Get too close might make him mad, ‘cos he’s their Big Bird Emu DAD!
Teacher’s note: This miner’s cottage, built in 1860, is typical of many homes built in the Ballarat, Creswick and Clunes district during the Victorian Gold Rush.
Teacher’s note: Lamington and Springbrook National Parks are located on the Scenic Rim of the Gold Coast hinterland. Two hundred and twenty-five million years ago, the continents of South America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica, along with India, New Zealand, Madagascar and Arabia made up a single land mass called Gondwana. When Gondwana broke up 120 million years ago, Australia remained attached to Antarctica. Seventy million years ago, when Antarctica was covered with rainforests, Australia separated and moved north. This AntarcticBeech has survived to this day. Sadly much of the ancient rainforest was lost to logging in the 19th Century.
Teacher’s note: Ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand. When trouble approaches, they lie low and press their long necks to the ground. Mostly, ostriches escape danger by running at up to 72 km/h. The world’s heaviest bird, they are also the world’s largest, fastest flightless bird, capable of killing predators such as lions and humans with a kick.
Hoo hoo hoo, and he haw hay laughed the Kooka on his way. After him the Magpies chased winging past in reckless haste. What was it that the Kooka heard to cause the Magpies get so stirred? An ornithologist rushed to meet a Magpie walking on two sore feet. ‘I’m scared to fly,’ the Magpie wailed. ‘They laughed at me because I failed.’ He then limped on, a bird unique, an unhappy agoraphobic freak.