bottlebrush

A member of the genus Callistemon, the bottlebrush is much loved by nectar feeding birds and insects and judging by the bees burrowing into the flowers there was a feeding frenzy going on.
I was surprised to see the three stages on the same plant and here they are, the buds, flower spike and very fresh fruiting capsule which will eventually become a knobbly woody cluster containing hundreds of seeds. These remain viable for years and when wild growing, fire will release the seeds for new growth after the burn.

The Crimson Bottlebrush, which this may well be, was introduced to England as a garden plant by Joseph Banks in 1789, so for you poms there may be a little bit of Aus lurking in a nearby garden being surprisingly hardy souls and frost tolerant.