mind the gap...

Look at the picture above. There's something odd about it. Two trees, a gap, then rows of trees 20 or 30 metres back. This is Camperdown, a town in western Victoria. The local Shire Council is responsible for the gap. The citizens of Camperdown, under the sponsorship of the Finlay family, planted the trees in 1876. Every tree was planted by school children or their parents, every tree was apparently duly recorded with its planter and the records exist in the local historical society. There are 500 or more trees, elms, English elms. 500! How many cities or towns in North American or Europe would give a palace or two, and the burgemeister's left arm for 10% of those elms in the conition they are in. Envy is is not a fatal disease, but a local council is, especially for the trees.
This beautiful building in a normady romanesque style-my car is the grey station wagon parked outside-is the Shire Council building. The building with portico, not sure of the style, is the Shire information centre. I dropped in for a coffee the other day because I saw this sign:
I can't remember if I paid for the coffee but I had a couple hours of talking to the barista of friends of Camperdown's elms. These trees are about 130 years old, there are a couple of dead ones, there are a few gaps unfilled from trees which died, especially in the ends of the avenues, and there are several of these avenues and they are long. Finlay Avenue runs right through the centre of town.
Here is the plaque. Finlay's used to own Glenormiston, which is the original Neil Black homestead, now an agricultural college. Across Finlay avenue is another avenue, here is the northern half of it:
The council has decided to removed blocks of trees to replace the dead and dying, the sick and lame. Various arborists have been in town looking at the trees, and according to my informant, very few trees are rotten or dying. She said the arborist they used was an expert, an English expert, with experience with old trees and he claimed the trees had up to a hundred years left in them. He also said they could cut out the single trees which were diseased or rotten and replace them, and this had already been done in the avenues anyway. Council, what does the Council do?
This! Remove blocks of trees regardless of their condition and replace them with cloned elms, a metre inside the line of the older trees, and put in some nice furniture. They want to do the lot.
Here you get an idea of what it is like now. Imagine the rest of the trees, for at least a mile up the road you can see above, looking like the gap.
Here is the clock tower in the middle of town. That's the view when you turn around from this gap:
Little trees off line...ah for a Council with imagination. Then I drove a hundred yards to this one...

There were quite a few more of these gaps. Nothing it seems will change the Council's mind on this matter. They have established reference groups, got the Heritage people onside, but won't listen to external experts brought in by the citizenry to argue for a more selective approack to the great elm massacre, won't even listen to their own ratepayers, the people who live in the town, who grew up with the elms.
This lady is a representative of another country, of the empire that was when the town was established, to whose aid Camperdown's sons went in various wars. The dead are listed on the sides of the plinth, and there were many. They grew up with the elms, some may have even planted them, or their parents. She seems to be in quandary about the disturbance of her peace, as she is drawing the sword...
Whilst in the Botanic Gardens on Mt Leura, behind and above Camperdown, Robbie Burns muses, though not amused. This was a Scots town once, Finlay and Black at Glenormiston were both Scots. That's why Rabbie is there.

Anyone wanting to comment on the Corangamite Shire's decisions should look them up on the web-I am writing this in the Warrnambool caravan park-and send them a few words. I am sure encouragement to change their minds can come from everywhere there is a web connection.

Good luck Linda.