Banksias provide balance
By Charlotte Knottenbelt
In academic circles, Professor Phil Howlett is best known for his work as director of UniSA's Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, where his research has used mathematical principles to make transport systems safer. But there's another side to his life that provides some balance to the equations, computer modelling and lecturing, and it involves getting his hands dirty in the great outdoors.
For 24 years, Phil and his wife Lorraine have been planting and tending banksias and other Australian natives on their block near Mount Compass on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
They have planted all of the 76 known banksia species, which range from small shrubs to trees up to 60 metres tall.
Banksias – distinguished by their hard, woody, cone-shaped fruit – are most prolific in southern Western Australia, but different species occur all over Australia in sandy soils, from southern Queensland to Tasmania.
“What I like about banksias is the way they look, and the fact that they're so well suited to sandy soil certainly makes planting and weeding much easier,“ Phil says. “They're rugged, they have an array of colourful flowers, and they just look Australian …. Roses are nice flowers but I'd choose a banksia over a rose any day.“
When the Howletts first bought their block, the land had been cleared of most native vegetation and was covered in African veldt grass. They estimate they've planted at least 5,000 plants over the years, and the once-bare property is now a popular spot for black cockatoos and a myriad of other native birds.
Phil has been pleased to note a changing attitude towards planting natives from the farming community – “some of the best planting is being done by farmers these days and that certainly wasn't the case 20 years ago“ – but hopes the importance of understorey plants will become better understood by those outside of revegetation organisations. “When we started out I was all fired up to grow every species of banksia, but now I'm equally interested in regenerating the local scrub,“ he says.
“Most people will look at a patch of trees and think 'that's native bush', but they're forgetting that in most areas there's very little native grass and there are many species that have disappeared.“
As for any parallels between his day job and his weekend passion, Howlett says he'd like to find a professional connection, but so far to no avail.
“The one thing I can say is when you plant banksias you notice an exponential growth pattern which is certainly interesting to mathematicians. We were here six years before we saw the bushes pushing up through the grass, the next year they were a metre high and the year after that they were two metres tall. The following year it was like a jungle.“
Five to Nine is a column about UniSA staff members who have an interesting hobby or passion outside of work. If you'd like to see someone you know profiled, email your idea to unisa.news@unisa.edu.au