Get ready to leave your burrows this September for a very special community festival weekend in Tammin, WA.
Marking 50 years of continued study of the wild trapdoor spiders of Tammin, and in honour of the remarkable scientist who spent a lifetime researching them, we invite you to celebrate with us on September 5-7.
Professor Barbara York Main OAM dedicated herself to the study of spiders, and made regular visits to the burrows of one particular population of trapdoors. Her incredible, decades-long survey made worldwide headlines when the oldest spider in her study died at age 43.
There’s plenty to keep you busy over the weekend, including exclusive documentary screenings, theatre, poetry, citizen science, workshops, special guest speakers, competitions, and interactive family activities.
See what’s on at the Matriarchs of the Wheatbelt festival weekend. Photo by: Caitlin Henderson