Hidden away in a narrow side canyon of Carnarvon Gorge, is this isolated community of ferns dominated by Angiopteris evecta. Protected naturally from fire and grazing and now from tourists this community is an isolated outlier. It is well watered by seepage from the Precipice sandstone that forms the walls of the canyon.
Angiopteris evecta is commonly known as the king fern, or in our region it is also known as Fraser Island Fern, for that is the other location where they are known to grow, naturally. (We have some in our fernery!) It is a very large rainforest fern in the family Marattiaceae native to most parts of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Fraser Island is a coastal sand mass and yet it supports rain forests including this giant fern. If that is not unique enough, the photographed example is at a location 500 kms away and 500 kms from the coast and in the grazing region of central Queensland!
It has a history dating back about 300 million years, and is believed to have the longest fronds of any fern in the world.
Angiopteris evecta is a self-supporting evergreen perennial fern with very large bipinnate fronds. The trunk-like rhizome is massive, measuring up to 1 m in diameter. The older portions of the rhizome lie on the ground while the newer growth may rise vertically up to 1.5 m high.
The arching, glossy green fronds, which emerge from the tip of the rhizome, may reach up to 9 m long and 2.5 m wide, with the fleshy green petiole (leaf stem) making up 2 m of that length. They are recognized as the longest fern fronds in the world. Despite their enormous size they have no woody strengthening tissues in the fronds to keep them erect—instead they are supported entirely by the hydraulic pressure of the sap.
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This bluff and the range in which is embedded was a very significant landscape to the local First Nations. Not only were there story and nomenclature that were passed through generations of the Baiyambora clan of Kabi Kabi nation, but the area was regularly occupied and tool making was a significant activity. The tools enabled their sustenance but also were traded during intra- and inter-tribal gatherings for bunya feasts and the coastal pippi harvest.
Geologically, the rock is tuff, fused volcanic ash. There are two major overlying deposits and their declination suggests that the ash derived from eruptions somewhere to the northeast. The ash was deposited in a valley, but through erosive pros cesses the bounding ranges/valley sides have been removed and the tuff deposit now stands as an inselberg in the landscape. Thus the landscape has been inverted, where the valley was is now this elevated range of tuff (underlain by porphyry) whilst the valleys of the Mary River to the east and Coonoon Gibber Creek to the west are now the lower landscape.
When surveyors first came to map the area, this feature was called Kenilworth Bluff on their maps, because it was seen from Imbil Homestead and the Bluff was in the direction of Kenilworth Homestead, though still on Imbil run. However in recent times, Kenilworth Bluff has been officially defined as the line of bluffs at the Kenilworth end of the inselberg/range. And while long-term locals often refer to this bluff as Brooloo Bluff it is best known as "Duwirri".
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