15. Oxley Common

The tenor of the afternoon is set by the pace of walkers. This is a place of motion, sometimes slow, fast in other moments, but never static. Stillness is the illusion of lazy observation.

Over the grasslands Rufous Songlarks trill with a feverish, almost electronic song. Their emissions are disparate, territorial and reveal a sense of depth spilling across the somewhat mono-dimensional grassy plains. There’s a lushly bucolic atmosphere at Oxley Common, a sense of Brisbane from earlier settler times; agriculturally aspirational. Now though, there is a promise of reclamation.

Planes whistle and dully roar along the flightpath, their extended tones stretching towards the city, and beyond. Occasional duets are struck between propeller aircraft and jet engines. The completing engine types modulate the air, forcing a low frequency energy to roll across the flatlands.

A flock of Double Barred Finches launch from their feeding site below the crests of the grasses as sympathetic ripples pass over the ocean of green. The physicality of wind expresses chorographically¹ as thousands of flexing grass blades shimmer of gold in the afternoon light.

At the edge of the fields, banks of Casuarina catch the breeze. Their fibrous and tendril-like leaves acting as an Aeolian harp² might, but one in which the sound is low and haunting. Their presence melts away the vague drone of traffic, and occasionally the horizon of audition is shrunk to only the trees in the immediate vicinity.

– Lawrence English

1. The art of describing or mapping a geographical area.
2. A stringed instrument played by the wind.