Coast Banksia at Murrays Beach, Jervis Bay

(Pictured: Long Beach, Jervis Bay. The bay is surrounded by the whitest sand.)

Murrays Beach is a beautiful beach in the Booderee National Park on the South Coast of NSW on the shores of Jervis Bay. It is a sister beach to nearby Hyams Beach which is reputed to have one of the whitest sands of any beach in the world.

What do you do in a pristine setting like this? Build a nuclear reactor of course! Fortunately good sense prevailed and the plans were withdrawn in 1971. Although the area cleared behind Murrays Beach for the reactor remains as an unsealed carpark.

We visited here on a day excursion to soak up some winter sun and it is here where I obtained the Coast Banksia (Banksia integrifolia) specimens here (artwork #192), here (artwork #193) and here (artwork #194) that make up the Life of a Banksia Flower triptych (artworks #192-194). Each picture in the triptych depicts a stage in the life of the flower. The leaves are olive green on the topside and white under.

When the salty sea winds drive hard, this banksia rotates its leaves to minimise evaporation and this changes the apparent colour of the foliage from green to white.