We were wandering about Central Queensland when I heard a story on ABC National about the mating habits of brush turkeys. Brush turkeys are those curious native chooks that inhabit coastal NSW and Qld. The interviewee went on to describe that the nesting mound is made from several tonnes of leaf mulch piled up by the male bird to attract a mate. The guy with the best pile of leaf litter gets the girl basically.

A few days later we are watching clay target shooting in Roma and I ask one of the club members mothers what the odd shaped hill beyond the shooting range is for. It looks to me like protection from stray shot.

“Oh that.” She says “that’s just a turkey mound.”

“Holy shit that’s huge!” I reply. She and her friends collapse in laughter. A ‘Turkey mound’ is what they call the pile of dirt made by building a dam. Oh damn. And the dam is to provide water for cattle using the stock route.