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Allegra
and her husband Adrian are owners of the ‘Labillardiere Estate’
which lies at 43o 27' south on Bruny Island, off the south east coast
of Tasmania. The estate is named in honour of Jacques -Julien Houtou de
Labillardiere, the famous French naturalist.
Labillardiere was one of the large scientific team on the
expedition commanded by Bruny D'Entrecasteaux in search of La Perouse in 1791-1793.
A ‘Land for Wildlife’ property, the Labillardiere Estate consists of 1500 acres of diverse wet and dry schlerophyl forest and coastal heath vegetation. The landscape undulates from Mickey’s Bay on the west spilling into the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, to the enormous Cloudy Bay with the Southern Ocean and its roaring surf to the east of Lighthouse Road, and with its southern border, adjoins the South Bruny National Park . An
Orchidaceae herbarium collection has been established by Allegra to make a
contribution to botanical research in Tasmania. Allegra is especially
fascinated with the beauty of the islands unique orchids which she
photographs using a 35mm SLR, macro lens and ring flash. The orchids
species are tiny, some a mere 25 mm tall, and as all photographs are
taken in the field, the task can be somewhat awkward. Approximately 90 orchid
species are known to Bruny Island and as such, Allegra's existing catalogue of 70 species records
for the estate will require many
additional years of dedicated research to complete.
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labillardiere estate |