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ABC News
3 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
Ghost mushroom season off to slow start under dry conditions in SA's south east
Drought conditions have slowed mushroom growth in South Australia's south-east, including the glowing fungi that has become a popular tourist attraction. Walk the Limestone Coast owner Natasha Dawson has been running ghost mushroom tours in the lower Limestone Coast for the past five years. She said that while the bioluminescent species Omphalotus nidiformis was found across Australia, the Limestone Coast, particularly its forested areas, was the hotspot for them. ForestrySA set up the Ghost Mushroom Lane tourist attraction in 2017, but a poor season in 2023 led to visits to Glencoe confined to tours run by Ms Dawson. So far this year, even she has yet to find enough of the mushrooms to take groups through. "I've found small patches [but] not enough that I would normally like to run a tour," Ms Dawson said. "The key thing is they're just not glowing." Local photographer Steve Chapple said he had also noticed a slow start to the mushroom season. "There's been a fairly significant lack of rain for everybody," he said. Ms Dawson said the ghost fungi species was sensitive to changes to the microclimate. "Of course they need rain, but we also think that they might have needed those really cold nights that we start getting in May to help as well," she said. Flinders University mycologist Michael Taylor said a lack of moisture in the soil meant the fungi had a harder time forming mushrooms. "A really good winter season is normally preceded by a good wet summer," Dr Taylor said. "So the longer it is dry for, the less likely it is that we're going to see a whole lot of mushrooms pop out." Dr Taylor said while no surveying had been undertaken, his observations were that it had "not been a great year for mushrooms so far". "We might see what we call a flush [of mushrooms] towards the end of winter, or into spring, if conditions stay a little bit wet and a little bit more moderate in temperature," he said. "Or we might just have a crumby season all round. Hopefully, we get some better rains next year." He said the lack of glowing could be an indicator that the fungi were not well-fed or were stressed. Ms Dawson said that with recent rain and cooler temperatures, she was hopeful the mushrooms would appear soon. Mr Chapple said he had recently started taking groups out on photography tours as mushrooms have begun to appear, including ghost mushrooms. "It's always cyclical," he said. "But I was panicking about some of the rarer ones that people come from interstate to see. It was a bit difficult to find them this year." In the long term, Dr Taylor said climate change could also change the distribution of different species. "There's probably going to be a mixture of introduced fungi, temperature, rainfall, and a few things that may well change what fungi we see and where we see them over the next 10 to 20 years," he said.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Mount Gambier's queer art trail celebrates regional creators during Pride Month
Chelsea Dynan has only been in Mount Gambier a short time, but reconnecting with art has helped her find her place in her new home. To start Pride Month, a queer art trail has been established to promote LGBTQIA+ visibility in common community spaces. Dynan has entered art competitions and exhibitions before, including winning the Packer Prize at the Penola Art Show. But putting her work in the first local queer art trail as a bisexual woman has been one of her most vulnerable experiences. "When I was back home, I didn't feel safe to be myself. "Having this opportunity and showcasing that we can put ourselves out there and be seen and heard and feel safe in doing so, that's been the biggest impact for me." Dynan's art captured a group she felt a strong connection with — medical students who had just moved from home to Mount Gambier to study. "I wanted to celebrate other people as well as being able to showcase myself in some form of anonymity, so that it's not me in the image," she said. "I get to celebrate women and other people who are living in this township." The queer art trail includes work from LGBTQIA+ artists throughout the Limestone Coast region of South Australia. The exhibition is on display in public places throughout SA's second-largest city, including the Riddoch Art Gallery, shopping centres and cafes. Artworks are on display from people aged nine to 50. Kit Cooper helped organise the event and also entered their own pyrography work, something they started after being diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). "These particular pieces were created from a point of calm and zen, just a chance to centre myself amidst the chaos. "I have four children and obviously a lot of organisation going on, so my art is my safe space for myself." Cooper said having the exhibition in busy places in Mount Gambier was important. "I'm incredibly proud of what has been pulled together," they said. "The artists have come together, the community is taking notice and appreciating queer artists. "It's been wonderful seeing it be so successful, more successful than I admit I even estimated that it might." Patrick Smith has been a long-term advocate for queer representation in Mount Gambier and is working on a set of artworks for a full solo exhibition in his home town. He said visibility for the local LGBTQIA+ community was important to create lasting change. "The incidental appearance of queer iconography, queer motifs, and themes is also to show that you are going to bump into a queer person regardless of the space you're going to be in," he said. Smith said his art focused on subverting the normalised way of looking at the human body. "You can then get a very homogeneous and very staid look on the world," he said. "But to be able to bring in different ways, different angles, to interpret and understand the world around us, it will only make it better and richer."
ABC News
07-05-2025
- ABC News
South Australian MP Nick McBride appears in court over assault charges
Independent MP Nick McBride has appeared in court for the first time since being charged with assaulting his wife. Philip Nicholas McBride, 55, of Robe, appeared in the Naracoorte Magistrates Court on Wednesday where his lawyer adjourned the matter to next month. The South Australian MP was charged with three counts of assault last month. Court documents provided to the ABC state that Mr McBride allegedly assaulted his wife three times on April 10 at Conmurra, in South Australia's Limestone Coast region. The charges against Mr McBride came after unrelated criminal allegations against several other former South Australian Liberal MPs, including Troy Bell, Fraser Ellis and ex-leader David Speirs. Loading
