Living in the bush is as equally rewarding as it is challenging and at some times unnerving! As it went last Friday morning at 3am sharp! Our beautiful 100 plus year old Messmate Eucalyptus Tree decided it was her time and that she was ready to go and with a cracking that just ripped through the dead of such a cold, still, damp night, its massive being thrashed to the ground, scaring the beans out of all of us!
In my local area, at the time when this tree was just a sapling, this was home to a very large logging industry and this tree was lucky enough to survive the frenzy. It also had some other history as the logging industry had built a tramway system to cart all the logs and it ran along where our back fence now is then crossed over our little creek and fern gully via a trestle bridge. Our tree was at one end of the trestle bridge and at the other end of the where the bridge stood is another large Messmate tree of around the same age.
Image courtesy of http://upperyarramuseum.org.au/
Unfortunately in 1939 bush fires scolded the area and burnt out large populations of the local trees. The mining industry nearly came to a complete stop and the tramway was deconstructed. But its kind of a good thing because all the trees have been able to grow back and what ever logging industry is left out here is much more sustainable (although still destructive on their scale). Also it is a beautiful place to live!!!
So anyway, I will leave you with some images of this marvelous sight that my family and I will never forget and some gratitude for the wonderful tree! Birds have already been flourishing around the rotten base and finding a treasure trove of insects and even though most of the tree will need to be removed, the base will stay and I will regenerate it with local and indigenous plant species as i have done in many areas of the garden.
