Gallop has a party making a timber access road between Maalan and Sutte Ck., on the Atherton Tableland. Offers us transport to the camp, and shelter there, if we have time for field work before the ar- rival of our cargo. George, Van and I to the annual meeting of the Cairns Orchid Society. A few nice native and exotic spp. on display. Gave a short talk on New Guinea orchids. Saturday, February 28 - Sunday, February 29 Left Cairns 7.15 AM (George, Van and I) on a trip to the Atherton Tableland, arranged by S. E. Stephens, President of the Naturalists Club. Object, an attempt to collect fruiting material of Austrobaileya scandens in the Boonjie area, where Kajewski discovered the plant years ago. Party: Ern Stephens and his brother Gordon, Tom Webb, and George Brooks. Transport: Brooks' can and a 1-ton truck. Traveled the new military highway up the range to Kuranda, where we had breakfast. On through Mareeba, Tolga and Yungaburra to the dairying area known as Boonjie. Parked the vehicles on cleared edge of the rain-forest and within an hour I found Austrobaileya, a rather insignificant climber within the rain-forest. It was sterile and I could not be very sure of it at first. Spent rest of day on the search - at Old Boonjie, and down the metalled road leading to the Sawmill and Topaz - and finally decided that the plant I had must be Austrobaileya. Stayed the night at the Lake Eacham Hotel in Yungaburra. George and Van set 35 traps in the rain-forest (actually a National Park) be- tween Yungaburra and Lake Eacham and got nothing. Shooting along the road at night, they got a paddymelon wallaby and female and male Pseudocheirus Archeri. Much interest on part of guests as they skinned their beasts in the fern garden of the hotel. Split the party on Sunday; the Stephens and I going back to the Boonjie area, the others driving about the tableland collecting insects. Brooks collects beetles. Van and George also collected insects. Near Boonjie we stopped to examine a remnant patch of good rain- forest on Lammond's Hill, 2950 ft. and the highest spot on the Table- land. There found Austrobaileya fairly common in the rain-forest and along the edges. Searched all morning for fruiting specimens but could find none, and no flowers or flower buds. Took wood specimens and pre- served them in Prof. Bailey's "F.A.A." solution. Also collected sterile herbarium material. Now we know where the plant grows, there is a good chance of getting fruiting material through Stephens at a later date. Stephens has a fairly good knowledge of the rain-forest flora and a good eye for plants. Returned to Cairns via Mareeba and Kuranda, arriving about 9 PM. A pleasant trip for which we have some good material. Van shows him- self very keen and observant and a good preparator, though somewhat prone to disregard the passing of time. George and I agree that he will work out well. Monday, March 1 More woe. The government set the strikers a 10:00 AM deadline on which to get back to work today. Nothing happened, and today the seamen and wharf lumpers all along the Queensland coast have gone on