178. Monday Oct. 18: Gave a talk on Nyasaland at a meeting of the Queensland Natural- ists' Club. Marie has been on the air (National Network) on the subject of her visit to the north. Tues. Oct.19: A long car drive through the far flung western suburbs with J. T. Brooks (father of George Brooks of Cairns) gave us an opportunity to see the new buildings which are going up on the new site of the Queensland University at St.Lucia. Construction of the huge main building is well on the way to completion, and walls are rising from the foundations of several college buildings. Work was held up for years during the war and evidently is not being pushed very strenuously now. Post-war shortage of materials is said to be a factor. Building is of dressed Ipswich freestone, and of brick faced with free- stone. The pale purplish brown of the freestone gives the great straight-lined pile an airy look, as of a distant desert butte softly aglow at sunrise, but what will it look like when the stone loses its freshness? The interior is attractive, and well lighted by windows set more than head high above the floors, but ventil- ation seems poor, in fact there is no cross ventilation at all and air conditioning is not part of the scheme. Bulldozers are smoothing the sloping grounds and drives are being made. In rooms of the Law department on the second floor, the Queensland branch of the 2x CSIR, headed by , has established temporary head- quaters. Dined with the Brooks at their home at Kalinga. Brooks interested in insects and economic plants, especially medicinal plants. Is experimenting with the commercial culture of ginger. Plants it in beds covered with about 4-6 inches of sawdust. When grown this way, the rhizomes develop in the sawdust, and are easy to harvest and free of blemish through contact with the soil. Sat. Oct.23: George arrived from the north during the week. He is to leave for Sydney on Monday 25th, and from there take Pan-American plane for San Francisco on the 27th. George saw a lot of country but collected very few mammals on this final part of his independent reconnaissance financed by the Museum. The first trip on his itinerary after parting company with our expedition was to the Windsor Tableland. I envied him this trip. It was to take him into a big highland area quite unknown biologically, in the mountains roughly west of Mossman. Gallop of Main Roads has a scheme for building a road across the Windsor Tableland as a link between in the strategic road which is being planned to penetrate the Cape York Peninsula. Gallop's proposed road will also open up valuable timber lands (the Forestry Dept. will provide half a million pounds for this) on an area lying at approximately 3,000 ft., and larger than the Atherton Tableland. At the present time the Windsor Tableland is unpopulated, and is only used by graziers of the upper Mitchell River who drive cattle up there for pasturage in times of drought. Gallop has chosen an alignment for a road up the steep southern approaches to the tableland, an approach now possible only on foot or on horseback. He wished to traverse the top of the tableland and try to find a way down from its northern end, and he invited George to join his party. They drove from Cairns to Mt. Carbine, and on to the foot of the climb, where arrangements had been made for them to be met by a pack horse outfit. But the horses did not turn up, and the whole trip was a washout. George climbed a 1000 feet or so up the slopes, but did not reach the tableland. From Cairns, George took train to Townsville and out west to Mt.Isa, where he had an introduction to the manager of the great silver-lead mines. Did a little trapping there, then took train south to Winton, in to the coast at Rockhampton, and south to Brisbane. He found mammals scarce in the northwest. Attributes this to the present drought, or to a cyclic downswing in abundance.