Monday 4 June 2007

Bankstown: Stevens Reserve

It is quite rare to see such a lovely display of autumn colour in Sydney, where evergreen trees prevail. This reserve, on a busy corner (Stanley and Stacey Sts) is beautifully kept.

What kind of tree is this?

Bankstown is a middle distance southwestern suburb which is home to very large Vietnamese and Middle Eastern communities. It has a "bad image" in the popular imagination (well amongst suburb snobs, anyway) but I really like it. I taught at the girls' high school here for several years, and my husband still teaches in another school in the suburb. The students are just great, and Bankstown is a lively place, popular for yum cha lunches on weekends!

The suburb is named in honour of Captain Cook's travelling companion, Sir Joseph Banks. Revesby, (another suburb in the Bankstown area) is named for Banks' father's estate, Revesby Abbey , in Lincolnshire, England. Banks inherited it and so he was known as the Squire of Revesby.

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful! Look a bit like a maple tree, however the crenate and waxed leaves make me think it believes to another species.
    Can't wait to know the answer :-)

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  2. Was going to ask you the same question Sally. Gorgeous colours, against the deep blue sky.

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  3. Wish we had something like that in Malaysia.Must be nice to take a stroll while looking up to see lots of beautiful coloured leaves.I just love autumn!

    Have a nice week.

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  4. ces arbres sont magnifiques, mais c'est deja l'automne de l'autre côté de la terre ?


    are these trees splendid, but it is already the autumn on other side of the ground?

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  5. This is a beautiful scene. And it reminds me that you are about to enter winter.

    Abraham Lincoln's kidney stone attack...
    I rolled on the floor, puked, screamed, and passed out. When I woke up the neighbor was gone.
    Brookville Daily Photo

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  6. Now I believe that you have autumn over there :)
    Wonderful photo! Beautiful colours and composition.

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  7. Beautiful photographs. Is it a beech tree? Not at all sure tho.

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  8. Beautiful trees. I've never seen any kind of trees which have leaves in different colours. Winter is coming right? :))

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  9. Jilly - I googles images of beeches, and I think it is correct.

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  10. So, mystery solved!

    I love the way you give a positive image of Bankstown. Once again it shows that people fantasise about what they don't know. It's tragic.

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  11. They are flowering pears, and they will be a lovely sight in spring too; the flowers are white.

    They look to me like the Manchurian pear, Pyrus ussuriensis, but they might be the rather similar Chinese pear, Pyrus calleryana, which often impersonates it in Australian nurseries.

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  12. i used to have soccer practice at this reserve back in the sixties & was wondering who was the "stevens" this park is named after?

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