ESTV take you on a tour of Sydney's magnificent Botanic Gardens.
"Beagle"
Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens has been celebrating Charles Darwin this year - the 200th anniversary of his death and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, "On the Origin of Species."
It was with this landmark book that Darwin put forward his theories of evolution, adaptation, diversity and competition for survival that radically changed the way we saw our heritage as human beings and that of the animal life around us.
Much of his revolutionary thinking came from an epic voyage of exploration 30 years earlier, which included sailing into Sydney Harbour in 1836 on HMS Beagle.
In commemoration, the Botanic Gardens is featuring a garden display and huge mirrored sculptures forming the name "Darwin," under the event title "Charles Darwin and the Trees of Life."
And when ESTV video producer Derek Maitland and his partner Jan O'Neill filmed throughout the gardens a week ago, those trees happened to be sheltering a form of life that neither of them had ever seen before.
It looked like just another short broken spar of a tall paperback, right next to the Darwin mirrors, until they noticed it move ever so slightly and open its strange slitted eyes. It was a rare tawny frogmouth, a bird so perfectly camouflaged, able to perch motionless for so many hours on end, that it's said you could have one living in your garden and never know it.
This one had a chick with her, snuggled between her feathery comfort and the crook of the tree. Many people think they're owls, but in fact the frogmouths lack the strong legs and curved talons that make owls such effective predators.
"Darwin"
And there was more life stirring in the gardens that day - in the ornamental duck pond a couple of moorhens were guarding and feeding a chick that could hardly have been more than a few hours old.
The Royal Botanic Gardens lies between, the Sydney Opera House and Lady Macquarie's Chair, and roams right back to the Domain. Originally an initiation site for the Cadigal aboriginals, it was set aside with the Domain as a private reserve by Governor Phillip in 1788. His personal servant, Henry Edward Dodd, established a grain farm where the actual gardens are now.
"Plaque to Darwin"
Derek Maitland has been filming the gardens regularly since he and Jan returned to Australia in 2000 from years of residence overseas. "It's a beautiful place, so tranquil, so full of colour and life, right in the shadow of Sydney's eastern skyscrapers," he says. "There's always something new happening there - very much like the sudden appearance of such a strange and rare bird as the tawny frogmouth.
"It's little wonder that its vast lawns and its harbour side vista, right next to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, have become a romantic setting for weddings at weekends - adding to the general richness of life that I think Charles Darwin himself would have marveled at if he were alive today."
Share Link: 
