The following text is from a speech by SERF site manager Lorrelle Allen, given at the SERF Engaging Science Trail and SERF Showcase Day on 4 June, 2024.  Forest Art Intelligence is now proudly listed as one of the stops on that trail.

The Samford Ecological Research Facility rests on a land rich in natural beauty. It is a land freshwater creeks and ponds, lush rainforest, thick eucalypt woodland and towering mountain peaks. It is a sanctuary to many rare and endangered native animals. From the tiniest marsupials to Australia’s largest owl.

It is also Aboriginal land that was never ceded.

This Country holds many sites of great significance to its Aboriginal custodians. Samford was an important location for kippering, or initiation ceremony, and is also home to a Bora ring and a burial site belonging to the land’s first inhabitants.

QUT acknowledges the Elders and Ancestors of this land, and thanks them for the care they have shown to this Country. QUT will show the same respect for Country, and will continue the long tradition of learning, teaching and research that has always taken place on this land.

 SERF was bequeathed to QUT in 2009 by Dr. Patricia Marks, an amazing woman and world-leading entomologist, known for 8her service and leadership in the scientific  community and her local community in Samford. Pat published more than100 scientific papers, described 38 new species of mosquito as well as other insects, and was a member of sixteen societies incouding service as the President of the Royal Society of Queensland.

In 1990, Pat was appointed a Commander Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her services to science and had a long and active association with the Samford Community.

The 51 hectares that Pat bequeathed to our was what remained from the original family property. It consists of 38 hectares of dry remnant sclerophyll forest; the only remaining patch left in Samford Valley and only 30% of this original forest type remains in QLD. We have 3 hectares of remnant gallery rainforest, currently endangered and only 10% of this vegetation type remains in QLD. Finally, we have 10 hectares of pasture cleared post European settlement. As you can see, SERF is very special indeed.

Due to these rare natural features and its close proximity to the Brisbane CBD, this amazing facility now hosts over 800 high school students per year through the high school engagement program and over 600 undergraduate students per year covering subjects such as Biology, Ecology, Soil Science, Architecture and Creative Industries. We’ve hosted school camps for the local Steiner School and numerous visits and retreats from OUT, business units, industry and community groups. We host infrastructure to monitor acoustics 24/7, infrastructure to monitor changes to the carbon cycle, screenhouses and an apiary to house native and European bees for research and field plots for carbon sequestration trials end Pasture Die back studies. Additionally, we host creative industries projects involving the integration of art into reforestation becoming a nexus between art and science. It’s a heady mix and we hope you’ll join us for the presentations at 12:30pm to learn more!! 

When Pat bequeathed SERF to QUT, Pat requested that the property be used for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, community engagement and learning opportunities and academic research involving staff and students of QUT or other educational institutions. The diversity of activities on the property and the broad scope of users proves we’ve taken that responsibility to heart and it’s something that we are incredibly proud of, and I know that Pat would be too.

Lorrelle Allen, 4/6/24