Nature wonders of Victoria

Last year I was invited to create a conference bag design that showed some of the most-loved and/or unique native species of Victoria. It was for the Ecological Society of Australia’s annual conference, which was held in Melbourne in December 2024.

Apparently the conference was a roaring success, I think it was the biggest ESA conference to date. But for those of you who weren’t there, here’s a look at the conference bag design.

A section of the design is shown above, and the full design is shown below. How many species can you identify? Answers are at the end of this blog post.

I had a lot of fun thinking of the critters and plants I encountered in the first 28-odd years of my life that I lived in the Garden State (do they still call it that?). I wasn’t very aware of fungi back then, I’m embarrassed to say. But I did have vivid memories of encounters with the Little Penguins, Mountain Ash, marine invertebrates, freshwater stream critters, the deserts of the north-east, and even a Leadbeater’s Possum.

I was born in Dandenong, Victoria, and was a nature-crazy kid from the start. I grew up in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and we had many family day-trips and camping trips to natural places. This no doubt helped to foster in me a great curiousity about, and love of, nature. Here’s me feeding the rosellas at Wilson’s Prom, with my gorgeous mum Tina keeping a close eye on me in the background.

I also trawled through lists of endemic / threatened species of Victoria to come up with a variety of plants, animals and fungi to include in the design.

Here’s the list of species illustrated – how many did you guess?

ESA 2024 conference bag design – Species list

Plants

River Red Gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis 

Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans

Snow gums Eucalyptus pauciflora

Commersonia prostrata

Westringia crassifolia (Whipstick Westringia)

Nematolepis wilsonii (Shiny Nematolepis)

Brachyscome walshii (Howitt Daisy)

Spyridium furculentum (Forked Spyridium)

Pterostylis basaltica (Basalt Rustyhood)

Fungi

Hypocreopsis amplectens Tea-tree Fingers or 

Clasping Hypocreopsis

Invertebrates

Sponge Aplysilla rosea

Verco’s Chromodorid (nudibranch) Verconia verconis

Pallenopsis macneilli Sea spider

Gippsland giant earthworm Megascolides australis

Mt Donna Buang wingless stonefly Riekoperla darlingtoni

Glenelg spiny crayfish Euastacus bispinosus

Fish

East Gippsland galaxias Galaxias aequipinnis

Frog

Spotted tree frog Litoria spenceri

Reptiles

Gunthega skink Liopholis guthega

Grassland Earless Dragon Tympanocryptis pinguicolla

Birds

Regent parrot

Orange-bellied Parrot

Plains-Wanderer

Little Penguin

Mammals

Long-footed potoroo Potorous longipes

Leadbeaters possum

Indigenous presence

Grey box Eucalyptus microcarpa with Koorie scar