There they encounter the Coot Club, a gang of local children comprising Tom Dudgeon, twin girls 'Port' and 'Starboard' (Nell and Bess Farland), and three younger boys — Joe, Bill and Pete (the Death and Glories).
Coot | Mount Coot-tha, Queensland | Coot Club | coot | Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha | Mount Coot-tha | Red-gartered Coot | American coot, ''Fulica americana'' | American Coot | American coot |
The panel in which Cornelius Coot's journal is removed from a vault in the Coot Library for reading is a direct homage to a scene from Citizen Kane.
Many rare trees (remnants of a botanic garden) and animals such as mallards, moorhens, coots, and even Egyptian geese and rose-ringed parakeets thrive in this urban environment.
The lake is listed as a site of international importance for the Shoveler and a site of national importance for the Coot and Tufted Duck.
He falls in love with Doreen (Lyell), who works in a pickle factory, but faces competition from a more sophisticated rival, Stor' at Coot.