big red...

This is E. camaldulensis, red gum, the big tree of the western plains of Victoria. This tree is on the roadside south of Ararat, a few miles south of the turnoff to Barton, Richard Hanmer Bunbury's run from the squatting era. The bushfires of 2006-7 have been through this area and the trees have taken a singeing. The tree pictured is quite large as are many trees along the road verges in this area. I stepped out 12 metre circumference half a metre out fromthe base of the trunk, my maths suggests a trunk of about 3 metres diameter, which is a fairly substantial tree. It is hard to estimate tree height without a theodolite or an alidade, but I would hazard a guess at 40-45 metres.


Down the road half a mile from the tree above is this log of an old red gum fallen. Again perspective belies the size of the trunk. The diameter at the left hand side, a metre in from the break is about 2 metres, being my guess from standing on the embankment next to it. This, like the previous tree, is an old gum, probably several hundred years old, and predating the European settlement of the area in the 1830s, and probably predating Captain Cook's voyage down the east coast of New Holland in 1770 by several centuries.
The uprooted end of the tree, showing the trunk as partly burnt out.

This is a branch of the tree a metre across on the longest axis. This branch was hidden in the fork of the tree in the picture two above. This wood is intensely red when polished, although it is a timber with many flaws. It was much used for fencing and railways sleepers because is it is resistant to many insects, to water rot, and is hard and stable and very long lasting. Even now it is possible to buy timber which has been sawn from trees felled a hundred years ago and left in the paddocks and only sold because there is a demand for such a beautiful timber.