Image Description from historic lecture booklet: "Healsville is full of quiet Australian charm. Hemmed in by forested hills, with a clear mountain atmosphere and cool summer nights it has become one of hte great resting-places of the South. Ferns are characteristic of New Zealand forest. Some, like our own, love the moist shady depths of deep gullies; some hang from crevices and drape the faces of cliffs with a film curtain; some- the tree ferns, have trunks as thick as trees, are so large that they must be hewn down with axes, and are often 50 feet high, with an umbrella like spread at the crown, of some 30 feet in diameter. They often form dense groves."
Image Description from historic lecture booklet: "The whole country is broken by a network of deep gullies and steep hills, and thickly covered with ferns and tress. The Eucalyptus mannifera is gathered by the natives for food. Another form of vegetation is the grass-tree. The rugged stem grows to a height of from 2 to 12 feet and from its top springs a tuft of drooping wiry foliage, from the center of which rises a spike like a huge bulrush. In winter when it flowers, this spike becomes covered with white stars. A heath covered with grass-trees in bloom is a singular and beautiful sight."
