That's looking more and more like the Teneza. Yes, it has small thorns, hardly enough to stick you and they are widely spaced. This photo of my younger tree shows the texture of the bark and the thorns ... New leaves on the younger tree ... The dark green tree in the center of the photo is my more mature tree which is about 18 ft. tall at 12 or more years old ... It can get larger, but is fairly show growing. I saw one on the south side of town that was about 35 ft tall. One of the nicest things about them is they keep their leaves during the winter which is very unusual for this type of tree. The leaves are slightly more sparse, but that's all. Also the blooms are very fragrant. They produce long seed pots which split open as they dry. Is that a bean pod on the lower left of your last photo?

Welcome to the forums and i hope you will find great pleasure in your gardening. It's a continual learning process, so there are wins and losses along the way. First can I say that whichever family member managed to dig up your couple of mature birds of paradise, deserves a medal, because these plants would have to have one of the deepest and toughest root systems! I shifted a baby one once, and it took me a crow-bar and a great deal of sweat! They are often started by removing suckering new plants, but also division. In either process I suspect there is some damage to the root systems, and that's probably what you are seeing now. Please don't worry too much, these guys are sooooo tough that they are almost certain to survive. Just, as you say, its not an ideal time of year, as they won't be in growing mode to recover. I'm sure the problem is only initial transplant shock. Try a couple of doses of seasol, that sometimes helps. Cut off the leaves that are struggling, and as soon as the flowers are past their prime (or do so now - they last well as cut flowers) cut those off, too. The position and drainage you've chosen sounds fine. If there is any chance that they are actually getting more sun than they were in their previos home (even though the tems are getting wintery, the Qld sun is still quite strong) then you might help them "harden up" to their new position by giving them some temporary shade. This could be a bit of shade cloth or even some unwanted other greenery - shrubby stuff, cut off and stuck in the ground nearby to shade them. If you have watered them in well at planting time, don't overdo the water from now on, or any damaged roots that are now recovering, may simply rot. Normally they would not get much rain over winter and they are better on the dry side in that season. Also, don't waste fertilizer on them yet, that would do more harm than good. There's almost no large plant, that will not suffer a little set-back from being completely re-located, we home gardeners usually don't have the equipment or the man=-power to dig up a big enough root-ball to make it that easy. But most plants are also very forgiving, and eager to survive. I think yours will be fine in time, don't stress if they look much worse before they look better, you may have to wait till spring or summer to see an improvement. New leaves, will be a good sign at that time. good luck with them.

First of all, the snarky comment from Arunski about shoulda coulda was unnecessary --who says something like that? I love plants and I'm pretty good at growing them, but sometimes we plant lovers see a plant and buy it, not really knowing that much about it. I bought a white bird of paradise summer 2019 from Home Depot because I loved the look of it. It was about 2 feet tall. Planted on my covered porch in a beautiful pot and it grew unbelievably over the summer. I had to bring it inside for the winter and it has continued to grow in a corner that has a window, but it is extremely filtered light from plants outside. I purchased a cheap LED floor lamp from Amazon that I can bend to whatever position and the plant seems to love it, even though 2 feet of it are above the lamp. Watering has been limited due to spillage issues, and still it grows. It's about 6 feet tall now with new growth all the time. I had no idea it would get this big, but I have 4 more feet to go before I have to move it so we will see what happens. I could move it back on the porch, but it has grown too big to move I think and everyone who walks in the door has a fit over it. I think I will buy a nice self watering planter and see if that helps. I've only fertilized it twice. Who knows? Maybe it knows it's loved and likes the home it lives in. We have a good vibe.

No,you would usually plant the clump. You COULD divide them like any other clumper out of the pot.. a sharp knife/tree saw. After that? Its hard to get enough roots and the shoots at the same time. I couldn't. Some say yes- easy. But, unless you need dozens of them.. cutting them at the ground works best. Like thinning Banana's or Bamboo. They NEVER stop trying to be a clump. Its up to the owner to decide if you want an impenetrable 25' GBOP clump ..or a palm like grouping of 3-5 stems and all other shoots cut off at ground level. No dead growth will show. Some have cut them to a single trunk..not such a good look.