Koby Wilson - Gouldian finch

Koby Wilson (age 15) is one of those creative people who see something in their minds and manage to accurately transfer it to paper.  She’s an artist and a jewellery maker and when she was interviewed, she was wearing lovely starfish earrings that she made herself.  Making good art involves careful research or preparation before setting pen to paper or creating beautiful objects.  For her entry in the QCC Art Competition in 2022, Koby needed to find photographs of a log grappler and a paddock excavator to get the mechanical details of her entry accurate.  It took her a full day to fact check the machinery and put the ideas onto paper. She contrasted the mechanical elements of her image with the softer, rounder curves of the two Gouldian Finches that take centre stage in her piece.  Though popular as aviary birds, Gouldian Finches in their natural habitat, which is under threat from logging, are difficult to find because their numbers are in decline.

Koby loves walking and camping in National Parks and gets the opportunity regularly because her best role model is her Mum who is an environmental scientist.  This means Koby is constantly exposed to ideas about nature and, even though they live on a normal sized suburban block, they know how to use every square centimetre to support nature.  Not only do they grow herbs, for example, but they also nurture bee-attracting plants.  In this way the all-important task of pollination is encouraged.

Koby loves Marine National Parks most of all and recalls snorkeling in Moreton Bay’s protected areas looking at some of the coral that can still be found there, as well as various shipwrecks, which themselves act as reefs for the fish. Protection of marine environments in a country of outdoor leisure lovers can involve bans on fishing, limits to catches where it is allowed, and, on inland waterways, the banning of engine powered craft. Perhaps the most memorable animal related event for Koby, however, was the rescuing of a turtle that she and her mother came across one late afternoon.  It had a hole in its shell, probably caused by a boat propeller, and they became responsible for getting it to a wildlife carer to receive assistance.