Jo on her way to a Brook Islands pigeon count, circa 2007. Photo by Liz Downes.

Bird lovers around Australia and beyond, and an army of friends from many walks of life, will have been deeply saddened by the passing of former NQCC member and supporter, Jo Wieneke. 

Jo spent her earliest years in south-west England, before migrating to Australia with her family. After schooldays in Sydney, she trained and then practiced as a teacher, before meeting her husband Graham and moving to Magnetic Island in the 1960s.  Here, they acquired one of the Island’s most historic houses “Our Island Home”, situated on pristine Bright Point, overlooking the calm waters of Nelly Bay. As well as raising their three children in these idyllic surroundings, they started the Island’s first rent-a-moke business.

Jo had an absorbing interest in natural history and became an increasingly knowledgeable birdwatcher. A strong friendship developed between Jo and another former Englishwoman, Andree Griffin. Together they made a formidable team on all things bird-related in our region. It’s safe to say that, for many years, they shared the mantle of the north’s “best birders”!

As Jo’s observations and understanding of birds grew, she shared her knowledge through the publication of three books, and by regularly leading small groups of Australian and overseas birders on camping tours to some of the top  birding areas in North and Far North Queensland. The books were particularly important. She compiled Birds of Townsville and Where to Find Them on behalf of WPSQ Townsville in 1989, with profits going to the Thorsborne Trust. This was followed by Where to Find Birds in North East Queensland (1992) and Birds of Magnetic Island (1996); all became must-have guides for locals and visitors alike. For each title she consulted widely with other leading birders in the north who inevitably soon became friends.

Among these friends were the redoubtable conservationists, Arthur and Margaret Thorsborne, with whom she often stayed on her trips north. For around 20 years Jo was a regular volunteer on the famed North Brook pied imperial pigeon counts, started by the Thorsbornes, her presence adding value through her careful observations of the island’s other birdlife.

Jo’s love of birds undoubtedly prompted her to become an active and valued member of many conservation and natural history organisations. Birdlife Australia (then RAOU) was among the first, while locally she was a loyal NQCC member, volunteer and donor and an active member of Island Voice, and Friends of Hinchinbrook.

The Townsville Branch of WPSQ remembers Jo as a quietly efficient organiser, serving for many years as their vice-president and publicity officer. As well as presenting many talks at the group’s public meetings, Jo was the perfect guide on field trips, and a frequent contributor to the monthly newsletter, Brolga. She was a source of impeccable information and advice at executive meetings and the valuable connections she built with QPWS staff and city councillors greatly assisted the group’s conservation advocacy.

Jo stirring the pot at the Northern WPSQ Branches get-together, Paluma 1994.  Photo by Keith Fisher.

Jo was active in many conservation campaigns, especially those to protect Magnetic Island’s Florence and Nelly Bays in the 1980s, and Hinchinbrook Island and Channel in the 1990s. While Florence Bay was saved, at Nelly Bay Jo witnessed the heart-breaking destruction of Bright Point and the loss of her former home. 

After moving to the mainland Jo’s 10-year study of Townsville’s bowerbirds, in which she monitored close to 100 bowers scattered around the suburbs, was a perfect example of citizen science. She became an ‘honorary’ at the Museum of Tropical Queensland, helping to establish a taxidermy group (using the bodies of birds that had been fatally injured or euthanased). And when she wasn’t birding she loved getting her kayak into the water and enjoying many paddling trips with Museum staff and friends. 

Jo travelled widely and was a regular speaker at Townsville WPSQ and Birdlife meetings, recounting her adventures in South Africa, the sub-Antarctic Islands, the Galapagos, Shackleton’s Antarctica and Western Australia’s Abrolhos Islands, as well as enlightening us about birds and their habitats across Australia.

Jo (blue shirt) in the Galapagos, circa 2006. Photo by Cliff Frith.

As an avid reader, talented artist and musician, Jo was as much engaged with Townsville’s arts community as she was with its naturalists and conservationists. For many years following her move to NSW, Jo and a beloved dog would make the long drive north in her elderly campervan to attend the festival of chamber music concerts, before heading to Cairns and the Tablelands for more encounters with birds and friends. 

Jo was a wonderfully loyal and entertaining friend – independent, intelligent, witty, adventurous and passionate – and while she will be hugely missed, her memory will be long-treasured by her host of friends. Fly free with your beloved birds, Jo!

Tribute lovingly written by Liz Downes