Shot Notes

The bushfires, which burned fiercely and tragically through parts of Canberra in 2003, torched trees around Dairy Farmers Hill and prompted the resurrection of Walter Burley Griffin’s original plan for an arboretum at the western end of the lake. Some 22,600 native, rare and endangered trees have been planted in 41 forest lots, complimenting existing historic plantings of Cork Oaks and Himalayan Cedars. The site will also feature a variety of public facilities and spaces and a selection of outdoor sculptures. There’s already a fabulous sculpture of a raptor and bird nest, made out of old tools, nuts, bolts and found metal objects and I’d like to think this ’74 Mazda is part of the plan, but I’ve got a feeling it may have been stripped, torched, trashed and abandoned on what was a quiet forest track some time ago and may ultimately be dragged away for recycling. Shame that. It looks comfortable and, for the time being, the PEN captures the car flat out and going nowhere.